Coming face to face with the C-Word in my prime

It is not uncommon to see high achievers, the wunderkinds, or the top performers' motivation plummet within a few, some or many years after their peak performance. Back in 2013, I noticed I was feeling more stress and less fire in my belly. I viewed that period as a challenge, to "Survive My Success". During the years that followed, I read everything from commercial garbage to the gold standard of literary works to understand the root of my complacency. Business theory Most of the material in business books and magazines dealt with the issue at a very tactical and preemptive level. There were a lot of articles looking at lack of motivation and complacency as a workforce issue, a behavioural issue, a silent business killer, an outcome of incompetent leadership and something that could be shaken off of the workforce like snow from your jacket - with a shrug. It has even been suggested in some articles to give employees a sense of urgency. That's just bad advice. For example, if my boss creates a false sense of urgency for an assignment, I will not trust him again. I read the research and theories by psychologists such as Vicktor Frankl, Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The 'what' and 'why' of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination theory These theories provided a perspective that was a glaring omission from the business articles, namely the link between autonomy, human desire and motivation. Needs theory If you are unfamiliar with Maslow's hierarchy of needs, here is a good link. Maslow says, that motivation is driven by needs in the order of Maslow's hierarchy. Those needs are : Air, food, water, shelter are all physiological needs. Personal, emotional, physical, and financial safety are all needs. Love and belonging are also critical needs. Self-esteem needs include competence, mastery, and independence. This leads to self-actualisation. He says that once our need for food is met, hunger will not be the driver of our motivation. Arousal theory Arousal theory suggests that we are motivated by activities that raise our dopamine levels to optimum levels. Several neurotransmitters regulate arousal, including acetylcholine, norepinephrine, dopamine, histamine, and serotonin. Activation of these neurons produces an increase in cortical activity and subsequently alertness. While there is some truth to it, the activation of these neurons gives us the ability to feel the stimulation and alertness we desire and require to accomplish the tasks we otherwise desire and want to be motivated to do. The purpose today is not to rationalise my dismissal or partial acceptance of various theories of motivation. The purpose is rather to share my research and conclusions so far. Intrinsic Motivation Instead of asking ourselves why this activity or job does not excite us anymore, we must ask why did we ever enjoy it in the first place" This could be a difficult question for some of us to answer. It was particularly challenging for me, because my self-identity was conjoined with being a lawyer. This is my research on the topic - even the most ambitious among us, the young and the restless begin their careers driven by intrinsic motivations. My personal journey The fact that my self-identity was bound up with being a lawyer should have been enough to give me all the answers. However, I was just entertaining thoughts, assumptions, and hypotheses, hoping they would be answered through conditioning and reinforcement of my detachment from what I do. In those moments, I briefly detached myself from what I do. I was able to analyse the two separately at that moment; I gained a whole new insight into the processes of my brain when I was making decisions, which had, in my eyes, successfully led me to the point where I was. I believe that my reasons for choosing my profession are not dissimilar, so the reason for many other high achievers and kids with beautiful minds who may or may not eventually find that those reasons were no reasons at all. Although, before joining the legal practice, I was a peculiarly intrinsically motivated student. Two events come to mind: When a classmate asked me in O-levels if I had solved the past papers, I said I never did so because it limits my ability to apply knowledge to any scenario. My cousins were always promised toys and vacations in exchange for good grades. My mother was very dull in this department – what does your grade have to do with toys or vacations? You have to study whether you get a toy or not. I was guided by something more profound. It can be a passion for the subject, a love of challenges, or a curious nature. Giving extrinsic motivation to those with intrinsic motivations However, despite being intrinsically motivated towards my goals and the desire to excel, the extrinsic rewards of being a brilliant lawyer filled my unmet childhood needs. As a middle child, I had ADHD and was, of course, only motivated when intrinsic conditions were met. I was the black sheep. My status as a top-tier lawyer placed me not just on equal footing, but also on a pedestal compared to my siblings. I always had a refined taste and recognition of finer things. The rest was history. It is often noticed that the occurrence of a change in work motivation and loss of enthusiasm was experienced by workers associated with excessive stress. The symptoms of burnout are characterised by physical, mental, and emotional fatigue, also low self-esteem. The brain scans fMRIs have shown that when we are in the (intrinsic motivation condition), the parts of our brain where activity increases are associated with assessments of self-relevance, while increased activity was in the nucleus accumbens. The anterior cingulate gyrus (extrinsic motivation condition) is related to the expectation of rewards and making decisions based on the evaluation of rewards, respectively. In another study, the anterior insular cortex (intrinsic motivation condition) is related to the sense of agency. In contrast, the angular gyrus (extrinsic motivation condition) is related to the sense of loss of agency. As identified by (Deci & Ryan, 2000), there are three drivers of intrinsic movitation, the desire for autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Humans desire autonomy and free will. We want to improve, become better at what we do, and become more competent. We can be motivated by intrinsic motivation when the activity we undertake by free will is not only beneficial to our desire to improve and serves a greater purpose. a greater purpose. Here’s to building more autonomy, mastery, and purpose to produce not just a more productive and effective workforce, but a happier one!