Intrinsic motivation can be built when something in the environment grabs our attention and when we are curious to learn more. Curiosity is a wonderful tool in building your child’s intrinsic interest in learning and exploring their world but is often lost as we get older. Use the simple question “I wonder what will happen next?” to get your children more intrinsically motivated and engaged with the world around them. You can even use this question for yourself, helping to prevent what we think we know from our past in shaping our futures.
Jim Quik, a thought leader in the world of accelerated learning, says the first thing we need to do to speed up our minds and learn new information quickly is to forget everything we thing we already know. Only in this state of open minded curiosity can we boost our intrinsic desire to learn and retain new information.
Sometimes effort and hard work gets a bad reputation. We are prone to thinking that if we have to work hard at a particular task or activity, we’re not ‘good’ at the activity. We assume that effortless mastery is the ideal situation.
However, mastery of whatever we love in life tends to come from investing lots of effort over time. The happiest people find joy in the effort of working towards something.
Try to pay attention to everything that’s happening with your child. Notice the things that you can see they’re working hard at. This will help them to see effort as a positive thing and help them to invest in the process (not just the outcome!).
Today’s tip for building intrinsic motivation with your kids is to create a learning environment at home.
What does a learning environment look like? This is a space where play and learning intersect. Make sure that your kids have access to items which stimulate learning, such as books, in these spaces.
Welcome to Spring, April and Intrinsic Motivation at the Umbrella Project. Intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from inside you instead of from external rewards like money or grades. It’s the pleasure you get from doing something because it is interesting, challenging and absorbing.
Failing to hit the goals, marks or achievements we are hoping for it can be tough and can prevent us from moving forward, especially when the outcome was the only thing we cared about. When we enjoy the process, it takes some of the stress off the end result and makes us feel happier overall. In fact, being intrinsically motivated increases our wellbeing and our success at the end of the day. Building well-being for a lifetime begins from the inside!
