Is “Doing What You Love” in the Workplace Truly the Key to Happiness?
There are two types of motivations, extrinsic and intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation refers to behavior that is driven by external rewards such as money, fame, grades, and praise. Although extrinsic motivators could be an extremely effective way to motivate employees in the workplace, true passion comes with intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation has to do more with meaning and purpose, service and duty, learning and growth. Intrinsic motivation is an energizing of behavior that comes from within an individual, out of will and interest for the activity at hand. No external rewards are required to incite the intrinsically motivated person into action. The reward is the behavior itself.
What does it mean to be intrinsically motivated?
Intrinsic motivation develops from Edward Deci and Richard Ryan’s “Self-Determination Theory.” The “Self-Determination Theory” states that humans have three innate psychological needs: a need to feel competent, a need to feel related and a need to feel autonomous. Under these conditions, humans have the capacity to freely explore different subjects of life in order to determine what interests them intrinsically. As we stumble upon different interests, our brains tend to automatically start a screening process in which positive and negative aspects of this interest are compared and contrasted to other potential interests, in order to ultimately choose which has the most potential to allow for true intrinsic motivation. Once this interest has been found, its best to then become educated and turn it into your money-maker, right? Wrong.
Don’t let your Work-Life Balance Dwindle Away
Although it is agreeable that participating in activities that promote individual passion and motivation is a very important aspect of mental health and life satisfaction, this does not automatically mean that creating a career based on this is your best bet. There is a huge societal misconception that in order to have a fulfilling job that promotes happiness and satisfaction, it is best to do what you love and are passionate about, or in other words, what you are intrinsically motivated about. The reason for this misconception is that the idea of a work-life balance has unfortunately been dated. Rather, “work” is now playing a more dominant role in this “balance,” which is ultimately causing people to attempt to find a way to cope with work, rather than finding ways to enjoy life and get the balance. In order to cope with work, people are naturally doing everything in their power to incorporate what motivates them intrinsically into their money-making work, which is what is causing the biggest problem in respect to the all-important work-life balance.
Extrinsic Motivators Could be Very Limiting
In a job setting, there are endless amounts of extrinsic motivators including salaries, bonuses, competitive advantages, etc. According to various amounts of studies done both on college students in a classroom and on employees in a work place setting, tasks that involve only the simple use of mechanical skills could benefit with rewards such as salary bonuses or grade boosts. But once you move on to tasks that involve cognitive skills, rewards actually have a harmful effect on the productivity and efficiency of the task at hand. The reason for this is that rewards narrow focus and limit creativity as the workers work towards that reward rather than working towards the simple completion of the project. Not only do rewards limit efficiency, but they also limit intrinsic motivation as well.
Different Rewards for Different Activities
Edward L. Deci is a Professor of Psychology in the Social Sciences at the University of Rochester, and director of its human motivation program. He is well known in psychology for his theories of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and basic psychological needs. Deci involved himself in many different studies regarding this issue. Deci and his associates, on the basis on their meta-analysis, proved that empirical results showed that for interesting activities, performance-contingent rewards and completion-contingent rewards have a detrimental effect on the persistence of free choice and on intrinsic motivation. Events leading to greater perceived self-determination or perceived competence increase intrinsic motivation, whereas events that decrease self-determination or competence lessen intrinsic motivation. Deci argued that reward lessens perceived autonomy, leading to reduced intrinsic motivation.
Let’s Keep our Hobbies Separate from our Work
In conclusion, the idea that “doing what you love” in the workplace is almost necessary for life satisfaction is wrong for multiple reasons. Things that people are intrinsically motivated about are very important for feeling self-worth or self-purpose. If people decide to turn these intrinsic motivators into their career and start receiving money or other types of benefits for it, there is no longer the simple benefit of enjoying the activity, causing the intrinsic motivation to dip excessively. People often find themselves willing to participate in activities they enjoy doing for no external benefit at all, but once they start receiving money or benefits for this activity, they will no longer be able to go back to doing this activity that they once loved for no benefit. This is proof that intrinsic motivation dips with the result of rewards, which is why a work-life balance is more beneficial than attempting to combine what should be two different aspects of life. This of course does not mean that your work should not be something you enjoy, it means that it may not be in your best interest to figure out how to turn your hobbies, something you are truly intrinsically motivated about, into something that will give you further benefits than satisfaction.