Tweak Your Internal/External Motivation Dial

In part 2 of my blog series on how to Be Your Own Cheerleader to beat burnout, I explain how knowing what is motivating you in different situations can help you meet own your needs.

Think back to when you were at college. When you handed in an assignment, did you know how good it was before you got your grade? Now, at work, are you doing a reasonable job? How do you know?

Your answers to these questions says a lot about how you assess your worth. Some of us evaluate our own performance based on internal standards, and others need feedback from external sources.

In this post I’m going to explain internal vs external motivation, why it is important to know where you stand in specific contexts, and how turning the dial can help you meet your needs, stay healthy, and avoid burnout.

What’s Your Motivation?

In her book Words that Change Minds--Mastering the Language of Influence, Shelle Rose Charvet describes the Internal vs External Motivation Pattern:

“People with an internal pattern provide their own motivation from within themselves. They hold standards somewhere within themselves for the things that are important to them. Their motivation is triggered when they get to gather information from the outside, process it against their own standards, and make judgments about it. Internally motivated people resist when someone tells them what to do or decides for them.”

“People with an external pattern need other people’s opinions, outside direction, and feedback from external sources to stay motivated. They do not hold standards within themselves. They gather them from the outside. Externally motivated people need to compare their work to an external norm or standard, and outside information is taken as a decision.”

Which is Better; Internal or External?

The truth is, neither pattern is better or worse. In some situations you may be more internally motivated and in other situations you may be more externally motivated. The point Shelle makes is that it is helpful to recognize which you are and whether it is working for you in the context you are in.

External Motivation and Collective Cultures

Our upbringing and experiences can heavily influence which motivation pattern we are more likely to hold.

In individualistic cultures such as North America, individuals are taught from a young age to be self-sufficient, to trust themselves and their opinions. They grow up more likely to be internally motivated. These people assume no news is good news when it comes to their performance at work.

The cultures of Asia and South Asia are based on collective decision making and group harmony. Actions benefit the good of the group over the individual. 

Problems arise when you are raised in (or by parents from) a collective culture and work in an individualistic culture. You may struggle to see your worth in the absence of positive comments. Or, you may struggle to recognize when you are done because you’re waiting for someone to tell you when you have achieved the objective. Both of these things can lead to feelings of low self-worth, a compulsion to work harder to make up for your perceived shortcomings, and, eventually, burnout.

Striking the Right Balance

Although internal motivation sounds like a 5* superhero recipe for success, it can prevent you from seeking and acting on feedback from others to improve your performance and mental wellness at work. It can make you resistant to management or a less than capable team player because you don’t like being ‘told what to do’.

On the other hand of course, external motivation can be debilitating. You are putting your self-esteem and self-worth in the hands of people who may not have your best interests at heart. Negative feedback — even a lack of feedback — can set your confidence on a downward spiral resulting in low self-efficacy. However, in other situations, like when working with your extended family to organize care for your aging parents, being externally motivated is essential to making sure everyone’s points are heard.

So ask yourself in different contexts, which pattern am I using and is it the most beneficial? If your internal motivation isolates you at work, decide whose opinion you most value and ask them directly for feedback or career advice. If you spend too long on every task because you don’t know what ‘good enough’ looks like, try leaning into your own intuition. The answers are already there.

Conclusion

Those of us who are completely internally motivated can fail to benefit from feedback, and those of us who are too externally motivated can suffer when we don’t receive positive feedback even when we are highly accomplished. Developing an awareness of where our motivation lies in different situations enables us to decide whether to tweak the dial to help ourselves feel mentally well and enhance productivity at work.