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Book Review: Drive
Just read Daniel H. Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us and I really liked it. Four out of five stars... and the missing one is just that they didn't go into quite the depth I wanted them to go into.
I don't know why I wish there was more to this book, but I kind of do. Still, it is one of those books where it presents something very simple and not always intuitive and you go... huh. Why didn't I think of that before? Kind of... some of this I got intuitively, but having it spelled out logically was kind of nice.
The basic premise is that people have an intrinsic desire to do good work. That the old economic model of carrots and sticks can actually do harm in the case of jobs that require creativity, versus the old assembly line jobs that were just 'do a certain set of clear steps'. That money and bonuses beyond what they need to live and do what they want with their lives can actually destroy or depress that desire.
I mean... being retired, I know that money for work depresses my motivation to do that. I have absolutely no desire to write code anymore. Period. One thing I really liked was that the fact that we've kept our child's allowance as a completely independent thing from his chores was vindicated in spades by this. Allowance is good for money management. Chores are simply a way to learn how to live with others and do things the right way. This book's good about pointing out that if the allowance is contingent on the chores, then the chores become onerous, something you have to get *paid* to do. Which was the experience I had as a kid, which is why I won't clean a house to save my life, now. *laughs* I'll pay someone else to do it.
Interesting thing is being able to now apply what I've learned from this to my painting and my writing. That getting paid *after* the work is done, especially unexpectedly can only help motivation. So I may well avoid the path of commissions and just go with "buy what I have already done if you want." We'll see.
Anyway, I liked it, though I kind of found the 'exercises' in the back to be more perfunctory than I wanted.
I don't know why I wish there was more to this book, but I kind of do. Still, it is one of those books where it presents something very simple and not always intuitive and you go... huh. Why didn't I think of that before? Kind of... some of this I got intuitively, but having it spelled out logically was kind of nice.
The basic premise is that people have an intrinsic desire to do good work. That the old economic model of carrots and sticks can actually do harm in the case of jobs that require creativity, versus the old assembly line jobs that were just 'do a certain set of clear steps'. That money and bonuses beyond what they need to live and do what they want with their lives can actually destroy or depress that desire.
I mean... being retired, I know that money for work depresses my motivation to do that. I have absolutely no desire to write code anymore. Period. One thing I really liked was that the fact that we've kept our child's allowance as a completely independent thing from his chores was vindicated in spades by this. Allowance is good for money management. Chores are simply a way to learn how to live with others and do things the right way. This book's good about pointing out that if the allowance is contingent on the chores, then the chores become onerous, something you have to get *paid* to do. Which was the experience I had as a kid, which is why I won't clean a house to save my life, now. *laughs* I'll pay someone else to do it.
Interesting thing is being able to now apply what I've learned from this to my painting and my writing. That getting paid *after* the work is done, especially unexpectedly can only help motivation. So I may well avoid the path of commissions and just go with "buy what I have already done if you want." We'll see.
Anyway, I liked it, though I kind of found the 'exercises' in the back to be more perfunctory than I wanted.
no subject
Being discontent with not *enough* financial gain to live or be comfortable is definitely a suck on motivation.
I'm in the odd and weird position of being comfortable...period... so money isn't on the table as a motivator to start.
And, yes, to your first sentence, completely.
*expected* reward is what demotivates. even with praise, as I found. grmph.
I need to fix that. *laughs*
no subject
I wonder if I will ever get out of the "take money off the table" stage, honestly. I mean, yes, we are comfortable, and expect to be, but ze spouse is retiring soon, and I grew up with a grandfather who lived through the Depression, in a family where no one had a "steady, reliable job," and where my emotionally abusive sire constantly used the goad of "if
weyou [my mom] don't do everything I say and work extra hard, the IRS will come take everything and we will be out on the street"...To paraphrase a Bujold quote, I'm not sure if I'll ever be "fat enough."
Especially when I want to throw money at friends so they can be comfortable enough to Create, as well as just worry about my own comfort and not being thrown out on the street.
I wonder if there are people who find enough Purpose and Mastery in problem-solving that the monetary rewards -- even at the point of Too Much -- are incidental? Ze spouse doesn't seem to much care about whether he's going to get one or not, for instance; he knows he probably will get something, but doesn't really... count on it, or think about it, near as I can tell. (Likewise, the kid requires different reward structures that are far more Pavlovian -- ding, treat! -- than the norm.) Spouse -- and kid's behaviorist -- think this is part and parcel of their Asperger's.
no subject
I used to think that way. And, really, no matter how much one has, the possibility of the whole world falling down and the recession we're having makes it harder to think that it's "enough"... in some ways. It's all a risk. The market can fall, medical things can happen.
On the flip side, one could find out that one has only six months to live, and how much money would it take to do that?
I dunno. I think "fat enough" is something of a mindset. We don't have the fast cars, big houses on the coast, helicopters, and can't give grants to fund museums, schools, or art institutes, yet... it's enough.
I help out artists with commissions as I'm able... and that's been enough. It makes me happy.
As to the last, I think a lot of people do find Purpose and Mastery and Autonomy to make the monetary stuff moot. I know that one friend of mine went into create a company he could sell, and came out of it with multi-hundreds of millions of dollars. He's more proud of the fact he was able to structure and create and build the company appropriately then the exact amount of money. And since then he's simply done as he liked, including the grants, but only a nice house on the coast, not something insane mansion, and one fast car, the others are quite slow but electric. *laughs*
no subject
It's true, I probably would have an "enough" at some point, and if the market weren't bouncing around like it is, that might be closer. (Though the whole "provide an 'enough' for the kid" aspect would probably be in there as well...)
I try to compensate for my upbringing, but it can be hard. (For my early life, before age 9 or so, we had the huge house, and the trips overseas, and stuff like that. Going from that to "IRS will take everything"... Really screwed with my sense of "normal spending habits." I know it did. I have these "Ooo, want!" urges, and then they get smacked down with the anxiety of "must not spend." I dunno if it's worse than most people have -- ze spouse seems entirely unaffected by my occasional credit card purchases -- but it's bad enough to annoy me, anyway...)
no subject
*thoughtfuls at the Imposter Syndrome*
I used to have more of that with writing. Now I have less. *laughs* I kind of feel more like a writer, now, oddly enough.
Hm.
And the bonus thing has to do with 'they'd only pay me so much if it was a hard/not fun thing to do' more than 'they're paying me for something I didn't really do...' *thinks*
I think. *laughs*
no subject
(I'd still like to find the limits of TMOTT for myself someday! O;D )