ABSTRACT
What does the research say about how we develop the kind of motivation that leads us to do our best creative work?
There are two types of motivation – autonomous and controlled. Autonomous motivation comes from within – we decide to do something. Controlled motivation comes from outside – we do something because someone else tells us to.
But controlled motivation doesn’t lead to your best work or make you feel good about yourself.
Forget bribing your children to do their homework or punishing them if they don’t. Rewards and punishment might work in the short term to make your children do what you say but they could permanently damage your children’s approach to all kinds of work.
If children are to be motivated autonomously, they need first to feel confident and effective in what they’re doing, they need to feel sense of belonging and to feel cared for and to care for others and they need to be able to decide what do rather than be coerced by others.
It’s the role of the adults in the child’s life to provide those conditions and help them make the right decisions. No one ever said being a parent was easy.
