Why Extrinsic Motivation Matters

I think optimal motivation requires a balance of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors.

It’s common to think that “learning for the sake of learning” is better than “learning for the sake of achieving an extrinsic goal,” but I’m not convinced that’s true.

People whose motivation is entirely intrinsic sometimes prioritize “fascinating distractions” over other things that would be more productive to their long-term happiness, in a sense “nerd sniping” themselves.

I think optimal motivation requires a balance of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors:

• Intrinsic motivation gets you working on interesting things with a unique perspective.
• Extrinsic motivation keeps you on the rails with your long-term goals and keeps you from falling victim to fascinating distractions.

Furthermore, intrinsic vs extrinsic is a false dichotomy. It’s not like you have a limited amount of motivation to split between intrinsic and extrinsic factors. A percentage tradeoff is the wrong way to look at it.

It’s the other way around: there’s no limit to how many motivational factors you can accumulate in each category, and in turn, there’s no limit to how motivated you can get.

So regarding intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation, here are my 2 rules of thumb:

1. a balance across both sources is better than the same amount concentrated on just one source, and
2. more overall is better than less overall