Drive

Drive

Daniel H. Pink

5+ Post-its

This book about what drives us in the arena of motivation.  Is our motivation coming from the outside or inside?

Moving from the old form of motivation which is all about surviving, to the rewards and punishment which is not exactly motivating us to live up to our potential, to a more internal form of motivation.

The external motivation is familiar to us as the carrots and sticks method.  The internal motivation is doing things for their own fulfillment and in the long run leads to greater work performance, health, and a way higher sense of enjoyment of life.

Autonomy or having the ability to direct one’s self is so much more noticeable in today’s society.  People want to know what they are doing matters and be able to choose when they get it done not to mention that they would like to figure out or be in charge of who they do this work for and finally how they approach getting the job done with their own twist or take.

Mastery is pretty much what happens when we adopt an open mindset and decide that we want to improve ourselves by getting better at something we are interested enough to immerse ourselves.  This type of mindset can often times lead to a state of flow which is that awesome feeling we get when we are in the zone of feeling like we can accomplish something but there is enough challenge that it gives us purpose and can bring an internal sense of reward.

Purpose is that set of goals we each have for ourselves.  Sometimes we use profit to reach our purpose and other times we identify with other self-interests that can allow us to pursue purpose on our own terms, which really just boils down to money isn’t everything.  It is certainly useful and allows us our needs and some wants but working just for money can leave us feeling empty and less than rewarding.

I chose to read this book because as an educator I am always curious as to why some students will work, and work and work often times not because they want straight As but because they like learning and then there are other students who have had the love of learning sucked out of them.  I really would like to help move those minds back into gear to be lifelong learners.  The more we know the more we understand we cannot possibly learn it all but the process of learning is pretty sweet.  I give this book 5 plus Post its since I was able to talk a group of friends into reading this as a book study.  Very valuable information and I really enjoy Daniel Pink’s style of writing.

Click here to find the book on Amazon