We Don't Have To Be Wildly Successful. We Just Need To Do What We LikeWe don't all have to be chasing rainbows, the big bucks, the dreams of fame and recognition. The real joy lies in simply doing something we really like What gets your juices flowing? What do you do regardless of reward or recognition? No-one's asked you to do it, no-one's paying you to do it, but you do it anyway, because it makes you happy. If there is anything at all, you have hit the gold standard, you have nailed intrinsic motivation, a doorway to life satisfaction, meaning, purpose and flow. The ability to be make ourselves happy, independent of anyone else, or any external factors (like wealth, geography, a network of contacts etc) is a bonafide superpower. It is perhaps the single most important skill we will stumble across in our lives. It can give our lives meaning, when perhaps things aren't going our way - and give us the necessary fortitude and willingness to persevere, even if we are not receiving validation for our efforts. It's the polar opposite of obligation. This is something we do purely because we want to, because there is something about this activity that means something to us, that has value. It allows us to experience that feeling of autonomy in a singular area of our lives, even when we lack it in others. And it means we can actually have thrilling inner lives even if we appear to be living distinctly average outer ones. The Work Of Edward Deci Intrinsic motivation theorist Edward Deci first realised this as a kid, as most of us do (and as he discusses in the first video, below). He recognised that there were certain classes at school that gripped him, while others left him cold and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't muster up the same levels of enthusiasm for them. Natural Inclinations He had stumbled across the idea that we have natural inclinations towards certain topics or activities which become a key factor in successfully meeting key psychological needs. He ascertains that it is the honouring of these principles that can lay the pathways to the areas of our lives that are essential to our psychological well-being: feeling happy, experiencing life satisfaction, feeling that we are valued, that we are good at something, feeling a sense of control of our lives and having a sense of purpose: "You have needs of the psyche, of the mind. There are certain things that we need to be experiencing in ongoing ways that are really evolved, that allow us to grow, to develop, to be healthy." The 3 Requirements There are three key requirements that need to be met in order to achieve this, he explains and it's the third that raises eyebrows: We need to feel competent or effective, we need relatedness and we need autonomy: "Autonomy means that you do some activity, whatever it is we're talking about, with a full sense of willingness and volition. If you got reflective in that moment you would think, 'yes, this is what I choose to be doing right now.' ... And it's coming from that inner activity and engagement and excitement that we all have that's part of who we are." The Problem With Control On the other side, "controlled motivation" is about doing something because we feel we have to, whether that pressure comes from other people, society-at-large, material gain - or even ourselves. And needless to say, it's not a great place to be in. Feeling controlled, micro-managed, coerced with rewards (even if it is with attractive sums of money), in a job we don't like can make us lose interest, sap our motivation and make us money-oriented. And that can hammer us psychologically, says Deci in the second video (also below): "When you're being controlled, you're experiencing a lot of internal anxiety and internal pressure and that comes out in a whole range of different negative psychological consequences... So really controlled motivation, we found, is a precursor of psychopathology, it's a precursor of addiction and so on." So the next time we feel that drag, that sense, at best, that we are swimming against the tide, we need to ask ourselves:
We all have areas of our lives where the answer is "yes" to some of these questions. And it's not a question of radically changing everything if it's not practical. But if there are any areas of our lives where we can feel that sense of freedom (even if it's a hobby), it's an important question to ask. It could be vital in safeguarding not only our happiness - but our mental and physical health.
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The Life-Giving Properties Of Having A Purpose In LifeWe can juice, we can jog, we can jettison all junk food but we might be missing a step if we can't justify our existence. Having a sense of purpose in life does a lot more than give us a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, according to a few key research studies. Aside from putting the brakes on late stage cognitive decline such as Dementia and Alzheimer's, feeling our lives have meaning and purpose has been found to act as a buffer against heart attacks and strokes. We could literally be extending our lives by finding what really makes us tick. From Science Daily, referring to a Mount Sinai study in the US: Previous research has linked purpose to psychological health and well-being, but the new Mount Sinai analysis found that a high sense of purpose is associated with a 23 percent reduction in death from all causes and a 19 percent reduced risk of heart attack, stroke, or the need for coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) or a cardiac stenting procedure. "In a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers from the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago followed 951 older adults who were free of dementia. Over a period of seven years, about one in six ended up with dementia. But those who expressed the greatest happiness and sense of purpose in life at the beginning of the study were the least likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. They also had the lowest rates of mild cognitive impairment or other cognitive decline." "Researchers analyzed data from nearly 7,000 American adults between the ages of 51 and 61 who filled out psychological questionnaires on the relationship between mortality and life purpose.... "People without a strong life purpose were more than twice as likely to die between the study years of 2006 and 2010, compared with those who had one." Summing up the importance of having a life purpose is cardiologist Alan Rozanski, who was involved in the Mount Sinai study, quoted in the NPR story: "The need for meaning and purpose is No. 1," Rozanski adds. "It's the deepest driver of well-being there is."
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Angela Duckworth On Grit: In The Long Run, This Is The Trait That Counts
It sounds harsh, mechanical, heartless; a "pull-yourself-together-and get-on-with-it" type word. It isn't particularly reassuring, uplifting or inspiring. And it can feel grating on the ears if offered as a suggestion when you are faced by what feels like an impossible task ahead of you.
But grit isn't about testosterone-fuelled chest-pounding. You don't have to be Tarzan to have it.
And you certainly don't have to be Tony Robbins to use it.
Who Has Grit?
Grit can be gentle, it can be slow, it can be plodding. The people who have grit are simply the ones who can marry their dedication to a wish or a task or a cause with a drive and commitment to carry it out (at whatever pace).
You can still be a loner, the shy one, a dreamer, the basket case in the corner - and have this trait.
Conversely, you can have the world's highest IQ, a god-given talent and come from a blessed background and not have it.
As Angela Duckworth explains in her TED talk, below, what ultimately counts is how we approach life and its obstacles - and how hard we work to overcome them:
"Grit is having stamina. Grit is sticking with your future, day in, day out, not just for the week, not just for the month, but for years, and working really hard to make that future a reality. Grit is living life like it's a marathon, not a sprint."
It is the domain of (and can be learnt by) anyone who is willing to stick at it hell or high-water and, vitally, who is also able to adopt a "Growth Mindset", which is being able to admit that you can improve - always.
And, as Duckworth believes, it is these kinds of people who win in the end - in all walks of life.
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