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Extrinsic Rewards And Its Motivation

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We live in a society in which people are believed to be motivated by highly energizing and engaging rewards such as pay, job security, benefits and working conditions, all of which are extrinsic rewards. According to Daniel Pink’s book Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, he writes that these extrinsic rewards are in fact not the best ways in which to obtain and maintain motivation. Pink gives a new perspective on motivation in the workplace; it is argued that human motivation is largely intrinsic and that the aspects of this motivation can be divided into autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Based on the extrinsic reward motivation theory, low financial compensation can hinder motivation and performance in your profession, …show more content…

I had only the extrinsic motivator of money. This allowed me to show up every shift, despite my stress and nervousness of the job. Over time however, I became better and more confident at the job. The stress went away because I knew I was good at my job and that the swimmers were in good hands. I began to open up more since I was less worried about making a mistake. This allowed me to earn a promotion and soon I was teaching lessons to the babies and toddlers. Meeting great friends, having confidence in myself, and being able to spend my time at work interacting with the little kids all served as intrinsic motivators. I enjoyed my job a lot more despite only making slightly more money than I did when I started.

When you are regularly receiving rewards with material things you will never learn how to motivate yourself with intrinsic rewards, such as joy or pride in the work. The value of the work will never be understood because completing it will not be seen as important. Drive states, “Rewarding an activity will get you more of it (pg. 70 chapter 2).”Although in this society most people believe rewards help motivate us, but I personally disagree. When thinking of intrinsic motivation, you feel a sense of achievement and accomplishment. I feel accomplished and satisfaction after I complete tasks such as reading, and exercising. When I think about swim lessons I found intrinsic rewards, such as accomplishing a task well, surprising myself out of my comfort

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