3 Takeaways From Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
“Living a satisfying life requires more than simply meeting the demands of those in control. Yet in our offices and our classrooms we have way too much compliance and way too little engagement. The former might get you through the day, but the latter will get you through the night.”
― Daniel H. Pink
Ever feel like rewards become punishments? Ever feel that grades suffocate the joy of learning? In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us Daniel Pink challenges the way we think about motivation, showing how the carrot-and-stick approach can actually stifle our intrinsic drive. Instead, he unveils the power of autonomy, mastery, and purpose: not just for success, but for a more fulfilling life.
This evidence-based and practical book provides a litany of good advice. The book is geared toward managers and employees who are mostly in office-based jobs. My job as a non-manager in the healthcare field and a blogger without any employees has enough restrictions that many of his suggestions, while poignant to many others, were not very applicable to me. That being said, I found many takeaways that I could still apply to my jobs but others I could apply beyond that, including in my life outside of work and more specifically, my role as a dad.
Here I chose 3 takeaways from Drive including the difference between Motivation 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, why Motivation 2.0 lags behind Motivation 3.0, how to become more intrinsically motivated (“Type I”), and strategies to improve your kid’s intrinsic motivation.
Drive: 3 Takeaways
Motivation 1.0 vs. 2.0 vs. 3.0
Humans possess three primary motivational drives: the biological drive for survival (Motivation 1.0), the drive to respond to external rewards and punishments (Motivation 2.0), and a third drive known as intrinsic motivation. While the world has yet to fully leverage intrinsic motivation, Motivation 2.0, rooted in external rewards, proves incompatible with "how we organize and do, how we think about what we do, and how we do what we do," according to Pink.
In a study with preschoolers drawing over three days, those expecting rewards exhibited less interest and spent less time drawing when faced with contingent rewards, exemplifying the Sawyer effect where extrinsic rewards transformed play into work. The crucial factor was the contingent nature, not the rewards themselves, as subsequent studies with both children and adults affirmed.
Controversial at the time, these findings were substantiated by a 1999 study reviewing 128 studies over three decades, unveiling a significantly negative impact of tangible rewards on intrinsic motivation. This negative influence extended to various tasks, with studies on paid performance indicating worse outcomes. Whether it's weight loss, smoking cessation, or meeting quarterly earnings, incentivized behaviors often diminish once the incentives are withdrawn. Here are other reasons why Motivation 2.0 is not ideal.
The Seven Deadly Flaws of Carrots-and-Sticks
They can extinguish intrinsic motivation.
They can diminish performance.
They can crush creativity.
They can crowd out good behavior.
They can encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior.
They can become addictive.
They can foster short-term thinking.
2. Tips To Awaken Type I Motivation
Pink divides people into two types: intrinsically motivated (Type I) and extrinsically motivated (Type X). While Type I is the preferred mode, we are not born as this type. So, he provides a list of eight exercises to awaken the motivation to obtain more autonomy, mastery, and purpose to become a Type I. Here are two of them.
Ask a big question. Which sentence will define you? Lincoln's was "He preserved the Union and freed the slaves.” Roosevelt's was, "He lifted us out of a Great depression and helped us win a World War." While you might not be winning any World Wars you can still control your sentence. Other examples: "She devoted her life to promoting mental health awareness and destigmatizing mental illnesses." "He raised two resilient and compassionate children who contribute positively to society." What's your sentence?
Ask the little questions. Before going to bed, ask yourself if you were better today than you were yesterday. It can be as vague as this or it can be more specific. Did you spend more minutes with your children than yesterday? Did you exercise? Did you make all of your sales calls? He writes, "Reminding yourself that you won't be a master by day 3 ensures that you will be one by day 3,000."
3. Turn Kids Into Type I Learners
To prepare kids for the future and promote their happiness, we must change our teaching approach. Offering rewards like pizza for reading books or iPods for attendance doesn't encourage real engagement. Instead, Drive encourages parents and teachers to focus on autonomy, mastery, and purpose to turn kids into Type I (intrinsic) instead of Type X (extrinsic) individuals.
Here are a few of my favorite of the 9 ideas that Pink provides.
"Turn homework into home learning" by asking these 3 questions about assignments:
Am I offering students any autonomy over how and when to do this work?
Does this assignment offer mastery by providing a novel, engaging task (as opposed to rote formulation of something already covered in class)?
Do my students understand the purpose of this assignment?
Keep allowance and chores separate: Allowances teach autonomy, helping them learn about money, while chores instill the value of mutual obligations within a family. Combining them, however, turns the allowance into a transaction and sends the wrong message turning it into an "if-then" transaction and diminishing the intrinsic value of familial responsibilities. He writes, "This is an example where combining two good things gives you less and not more."
Offer praise the right way. Praise is a way to provide feedback but there is a wrong way to do it. In short, keep praise effort-based and not outcome-based, keep it specific, offer it in private, and consider praising less (more on that here).
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