Intrinsic Motivation: The Search For Meaning
The search for meaning is fundamental to intrinsic motivation and personal fulfillment. Having a purpose, clarifying what is most valuable to us, configures a road capable of guiding us daily so that we do not lose our way. Only then will we put passion and pride in our works and fences in front of those who venture far from this personal path.
Curious as it may seem, within psychological practice it is common to ask a very specific question to patients: What defines you, what are your values? What does life mean to you? In a way, we inherit these existentialist foundations that Viktor Frankl left us with logotherapy, where we can bring to light the primary motivation of every human being.
Today, many experts point out that this goal, the search for meaning, is one of the most basic needs of a large part of the population. People are currently experiencing an uncomfortable feeling of emptiness. If a few decades ago religion and spirituality tried to somehow fill these spaces of doubt, personal abysses and deviations, today something more is needed.
We could say that we have already set aside this need to understand our origin or our position in the cosmos. Science gives us valuable answers and we have a great deal of information at our disposal. However, in this present defined by great technological advances, other deeper voids, other anxieties, emerge.
Why am I here? What do I expect from myself? That is, instead of asking ourselves about the very meaning of life, we now question our relationship to life and to ourselves.
The search for meaning is a commitment to yourself
We’ve all learned that motivation can be of two types: extrinsic and intrinsic. The first is orchestrated by the need to perform certain behaviors in order to receive an external reward, an objective reinforcement. The second, intrinsic motivation, is that a person does certain things for the simple pleasure of doing them, without the need for external incentives.
A study carried out at the University of Strathfield indicates that this last motivational dimension is regulated by a series of very specific processes. Thus, realities as important as creativity, curiosity, reflection, critical thinking, initiative and proactive behaviors are those that orchestrate all that impulse that manages intrinsic motivation.
Now comes the problem. For most of our lives we have been brought up under the parameters that govern extrinsic motivation ⇒ “ If you do this, I will give you something excellent. Behave yourself and I will buy this toy for you. If you pass the exams, I will let you travel ”.
Furthermore, society itself also manipulates us in the purest behavioral style based on rewards, punishments and reinforcements. In essence, we live so aware of this gratifying external hand that we can feel very lost in its absence. Being subordinate to this external world creates internal gaps, blocks initiatives, creative impulses, the challenge, the daring to seek their own rewards.
The search for meaning, a personal obligation
The search for meaning shapes our intrinsic motivation. The moment we find a reason, a reason for being, a passion and that golden thread that guides dreams, values and determinations, everything changes. However, how to do this? We are so full of obligations, pressures, restrictions and environmental noise that it is difficult to find that reason for being.
However, there is something we cannot lose sight of: human beings are resourceful, courageous, and witty. The search for meaning can be performed in any setting and situation:
- Talking to someone, allowing us to get to know new points of view.
- Traveling.
- Reading a book, discovering.
- Learning something new, opening the mind to new knowledge.
- Attending a lecture.
- Playing a sport.
- Meeting new people
Commitment to yourself
The search for meaning involves committing ourselves to ourselves. This means, for example, not leaving our needs for tomorrow, it means giving us quality time, serving ourselves, allowing ourselves, taking care of ourselves, giving us new opportunities to experiment, discover…
be curious, challenge, innovate
Sometimes we have no choice but to unlearn to learn again. We spend so much time mediated by extrinsic motivation and this need to be validated or rewarded that we forget how wonderful it is to let go of that barrier and challenge the world.
We must dare to think differently, to be creative, to innovate in ideas, behaviors, projects… Boldness brings discoveries, and the search for meaning makes us capable of doing new things, getting out of the routine.
In conclusion, finding a life purpose is a personal obligation that we must all work on. Let’s make our existential void smaller, filling it with experiences, experiences and opportunities. Life can often reveal not one, but multiple meanings to place our motivations.
