MAP: Mastery, Autonomy, and Purpose

What motivates knowledge workers?

Hi! Yesterday I said that happiness is a choice. I believe that. But I do think it’s easier to choose happiness when your needs are met. Beyond the basics (food, shelter), humans want to feel useful, skilled, and valuable.

Work makes up a huge portion of our lives, so being fulfilled at work is particularly useful for happiness. Today’s sticky is about what makes work motivating and meaningful at work:

Mastery
Autonomy
Purpose
for meaningful work

This comes from Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, a book by Dan Pink. Pink says carrots and sticks only work to motivate a person when the work is routine and mechanical, not creative or critical thinking. For that kind of work, a person is motivated by attaining mastery (gain and improve skills), having autonomy (freedom to choose), and feeling a sense of purpose (contribute to something larger than themselves).

I made this sticky when I was managing a team of creative types (writers, content strategists) to remind myself to periodically check in about these 3 things. MAP has also been useful for myself when choosing the types of roles where I am happiest.

What do you think? Would you change this?

Love,

Kate