I've spent a lot of time this week thinking about motivation and drive. I've been interrogating my thoughts, trying to understand what drives me, what motivates me to do the things I do, why I want the things I want, and why I'm on the path I'm on. These are big questions, so it shouldn't surprise you to learn that I've come up short on the answers. But that's okay because I didn't think it'd be quick or easy.
My thought train has taken me a few places this week, as I've tried to learn more about motivation in a bid to further understand mine. On my mental travels, something that caught my eye is the concept of intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation, i.e. how the prospects of internal satisfaction vs external rewards can influence the things we do. Succinctly put, intrinsic motivation stems from within, i.e. the drive to engage in an activity for its own sake, while extrinsic motivation is extraneous to the self, characterised by the need to engage in an activity for the promise of a reward or to avoid punishment.
While these concepts aren't new to me – I first came across intrinsic and extrinsic motivation a few years ago – it was only a few days ago that I learned about the relationship between them, by virtue of a few studies I came across. A 1973 study showed that when children (3 to 5-year-olds) who were interested in drawing were promised a reward for engaging in the activity, they became less interested compared to other children in the same cohort who weren't promised the same reward. Another 2008 study showed that when children (20-month-olds) were rewarded for playing with toys they already had an interest in, they became less interested in playing with those toys. This effect isn't limited to children, as another study showed that adult smokers who were rewarded for their quitting efforts ultimately did worse (after starting out better) than smokers who weren't given rewards. To summarise the results of these studies in one sentence, intrinsic motivation may decrease when the promise of an external reward looms.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway for me is how it changed my thoughts on motivation. I used to believe that more motivation is always better. I was of the view that motivation, irrespective of the source (I.e. intrinsic or extrinsic), is always good as long as the goal or activity is worthwhile. But I now know better. I now know that it is possible, perhaps even likely that extrinsic motivation in the form of rewards can sully, corrupt or taint one's Intrinsic motivation. But this isn't to say that extrinsic motivation is always harmful, because there are activities for which extrinsic motivation is necessary, for instance when certain essential but unpleasant activities (like completing tax returns) need to be undertaken.
What does this mean for me, and germane to this blog, what does this have to do with art? Well, any artistic pursuit is fraught with highs and lows. The same can be said about life and any worthwhile venture. One day you're playing a sold-out show and the next you're in an empty cafe with only the staff for an audience, one painting surpasses all expectations at auction and the next one gathers dust in an abandoned warehouse pile, one novel flies off the shelves in bookstores and the next one attracts the worst reviews and lowest ratings imaginable. Such highs and lows are a fixture of life, and there's no escaping them. I've previously written about how the contrast between the highs and lows brings balance to our lives and makes this experience more dynamic. And while we celebrate and enjoy the high seasons, we have little choice but to draw on our motivation to get us through the lows. There's almost always something that motivates us to do the things we do, and while said motivation is often clear to us, its source or origin, i.e. whether it is intrinsic or extrinsic, isn't. It is thus possible that the source of our motivation might be robbing us of the joy and purpose we stand to gain from our chosen activities.
For instance, sitting with these thoughts this week has led me to the realisation that it is much more difficult to get through the low points when I'm motivated by the prospects of some financial reward or metrics or numbers, as opposed to the love and appreciation that attracted me to the art form in the first place. I've found that there's always a tendency to get hung up on metrics (how many music streams, how many social media followers, how many blog readers etc). The only thing worse than this is the comparison it fosters (do I have more streams than musician X, do I have more followers than actor Y, do I have more readers than writer Z etc). Needless to say, this doesn't help, and in extreme cases, it can even be harmful.
The right intrinsic motivation for me stems from the realisation that I enjoy the process of making and birthing art, the effort that goes into making a song, composing the melody, writing the lyrics, practising the constituent parts endlessly, performing it live, recording it in the studio, having something at the end of the process that captures a snapshot of a feeling at a particular place and time, that process and the resulting artwork is its own reward.
Of course, extrinsic rewards can help too. If a song or book ends up resonating with lots of people, that's rewarding in its own way, like icing on a cake. Like the icing, it doesn't have a place to go on its own, it just makes the cake more colourful. But the cake itself – the intrinsic motivation – should always be the priority. Anything else should come after.
PS: Just a reminder that my latest single, Feels Like Rain is out now, everywhere. You can listen to it on several platforms. Please share it with a friend, share it with your social networks, and consider subscribing to the newsletter (below), my YouTube channel, or wherever else you listen to music.