Motivation and Writing I
I always read or skim books on motivation or learning. Even though I’m no longer teaching, I use it for myself. Yesterday, I discovered Drive by Daniel Pink, which has some hard, scientific studies on motivation and productivity, and my experience as a teacher agrees with his findings.
I’m sorry this is a little long, but I think it’s worth it. It does have some new ideas on the subject, all based in real-world research.
I was surprised that money, beyond that which puts food on the table, does not actually motivate us well. One study found that people will do things for charity or for free far more than they will do things for money.
Mark Twain summed this idea up:
There are wealthy gentlemen in England who drive four-horse passenger-coaches twenty or thirty miles on a daily line, in the summer, because the privilege costs them considerable money; but if they were offered wages for the service, that would turn it into work and then they would resign.
Other findings?
Higher rewards lead to worse performance.
Rewards narrow our focus and hinder creativity. In artists, commissioned works were rated as having the same technical quality as non-commissioned works, but commissioned works were rated as less creative.
“The highest levels of creativity were produced by subjects who received a reward as a kind of a bonus,” of which they had no knowledge until after they completed the task. And those rewards are better if they’re praise, feedback, or useful information about their work, rather than monetary or materialistic rewards.
The studies also show (and I’d say they pretty much 100% agree with my experience as a teacher) that the stick and carrot approach does not work as well as we like to think it does.
Three things work:
Autonomy: A full feeling of choice. The research says makes for happier people. There can be deadlines, but people need to feel like they can get the job done the way they want to get it done.
Writing is like this, of course. Easy-peasy. 
Mastery: Improvement, rather than results, make more effective goals. “The desire for intellectual challenge—that is, the urge to master something new and engaging—was the best predictor of productivity.”
This fascinates me. I said before that “numbers” goals were not terribly motivating to me. Perhaps I need to focus more on mastery goals.
Purpose: People who set profit goals tend to be anxious and depressed while pursuing them, and unhappy when they achieve them. People who set purpose goals are happier as they work, and fulfilled when they achieve them.
In writing, I suppose a goal of “making readers feel understood” is more motivating than “make $50,000 this year.”
In a couple days, I’ve got another post on the practical applications of this information for writers.
What think you about the above? And what motivates you? When are you most productive? How are you most driven?
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
At the risk of sounding sickly, what has always motivated me most is love.
Bernita, that makes sense. Totally! When I’m writing well, I’m feeling love toward someone.
Writing to be published makes me depressed, irritable and downright discouraged. When I do my best and find it simply isn’t good enough I wonder why I even bother.
Writing to tell a story makes me feel good inside – even if I’m the only one who is going to read it. I would like others to read my stuff. I would even like to be paid for it. But I wrote three novels in less than 90-days and had a good time. All remain in draft mode and may stay that way forever. But it was fun. And I felt like I had done something.
But it would be nice to have value. And love.
Value and love would be wonderful! And man, I want some of that 3 novels in three months mojo. Please?
That’s definitely flow!
All of the above apply to me. I’m going to get that book! I love reading books like that.
My library didn’t have DRIVE, but it had another book by Pink that I ordered inter-library: A whole new mind : why right-brainers will rule the future. I’m already looking forward to reading it.
I thought that book was interesting, but only about one-twentieth as good as DRIVE. It just came out Tuesday, so hopefully it will get to your library soon!
We always have a big discussion in my classes about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic comes from inside, such as feelings of pleasure, while extrinsic is from outside, like money. Intrinsic is much more powerful in the long run and much longer lasting.
That’s awesome, Charles. I’m chasing the intrinsic this year, definitely!
Impressive. I think all three are accurate. I’m most aware of the ownership one, and the other two are more like dope-slaps that remind me I know them, but am generally in denial. I know I bitch about contracts all the time, but the truth of the matter is often that I love writing novels, but the money and business and promotional aspects of fiction writing drive me nuts. And I’m not entirely sure that if I were getting 6-figure advances for them it would make a difference. (Okay, yes it would, but I’d probably still bitch about it).
Oh man, Mark, I need those dope-slaps a lot.
And I don’t think 6-figure advances would change my current slump, either. I gotta get me some more of that intrinsic juice.
I’m in total agreement regarding money removing creativity. More or less, money motivates the inner-critic, and it all has a psychological effect on the artist because the more their income is dependent on their art, the more stress involved, which also PUMPS UP that ugly inner-critic.
It can be the tail wagging the dog, though. If a writer creates a brilliant novel and it’s scooped up by super agent/Big Time Publisher, will the big pay check kill the muse? (Didn’t seem to destroy JKR. Could she possibly been more creative if not making millions?)
That’s a great point, Kath! I like the way you put that. I think JKR had big trouble with that, actually. You can see in some of her early interviews, she looks absolutely terrible and uncomfortable, and she had that big stall at Book 4, which was a bear for her to write.
Happy New Year!!!
Happy New Year, Sarah!
Really interesting post, Natasha! I’m definitely motivated by intrinsic “improve yourself” type goals. The guy didn’t mention guilt. I am really, really motivated by guilt.
That’s awesome, Robin! Oh man, guilt. Guilt. Guilt just cripples me, and sends me scurrying under the covers, LOL!
What motivates me is improvement. I REALLY do NOT want people to tell me I’m a good poet——I want to hear that I’m a BETTER poet. *hinthint* XD
Because if I’m not improving, I am, of course, stagnating, which would mean it’s time to call it quits.
LOLOL! Okay. I will attempt to stop calling you a genius. But it’s true, I LOVED those really cool poems you showed me. Oh gosh, now I forgot what they were called. They were like puzzles. I mean, yeah, you are better. That was just the absolute coolest!
I seem to need deadlines to motivate myself to work, and to avoid the temptation to never finish a project because I can never get it to be perfect. However, the deadlines have to be ones I set myself, or agree to, which give me sufficient time to do the work correctly. I had a big problem when I was an employee in that deadlines were constantly imposed that I found to be unrealistic, at least for producing good work, and trying to produce lousy work to meet a deadline doesn’t inspire me.
What I have also found, and is applicable to every task, is that the moment I take my eyes off the process and start thinking about the goal, I’m doomed.
[...] to apply the research to writing. A few days ago, I posted about my latest readings on motivation and productivity. I have three “idea” and personal goals for the year, but I’m still working on my writing and [...]