The life of every person can be viewed as a constant struggle to attain particular success, acquire the desired status, and generate benefits that can be used to create a comfortable environment. However, when some individuals succeed and achieve their goals, others fail and feel unsatisfied. Multiple factors influence the outcomes, including the environment, starting conditions, and community. However, the role of personal characteristics of a person cannot be denied, and they should be viewed as major determinants of success. An intrinsic purpose is a central factor motivating people to move forward, looking for new ways to overcome challenges and attain established goals as it increases motivation and helps to plan further actions.
The role of various factors in people’s attaining success has always been a discussed issue. Thus, cogitating about individuals’ motivation to succeed, Pink emphasizes autonomy, mastery, and purpose as the three main aspects that affect every person and form his/her readiness to move forward, engage in new activities, or overcome challenges (Pink 11). The critical importance of these factors comes from their link to internal rewards, such as satisfaction and personal growth, which are viewed as a more potent stimulus compared to external ones, such as money, privileges, or social status. For this reason, a theory of success formulated by Pink emphasizes the need to affect all these concepts to attain success. However, the purpose can be viewed as the central component of this triad as it influences all other factors.
The first evidence to the thesis formulated above is that the intrinsic purpose serves as a perfect motivator. The existence of a clear goal influences a person’s decision-making, determination, and desire to engage in particular activities to achieve it (Pink 43). The recent research shows that persons without clear purpose demonstrate lower performance levels and poor engagement as they do not see clear benefits that can be generated because of their effort, while external rewards, such as payment and bonuses, are not effective enough (Gesthuizen 68). Under these conditions, a person cannot be successful if there are no goals he/she wants to achieve as they motivate him/her to take specific steps and overcome difficulties which are an integral part of social interaction and career building.
Another factor proving the importance of purpose is its positive effect on planning. Purpose maximization leads to the growth of self-interest and changes in decision-making processes (Pink 42). Under these conditions, having established a clear goal, a person starts planning his/her activities that might help to accomplish tasks and succeed. Moreover, the long-term plans presuppose several stages, and transition from one to another provides additional motivation for an individual, as it indicates the progress in attaining an intrinsic purpose (Pink 45).
At the same time, the structured plan can cultivate mastery as the planned challenges will be matched to abilities, and their overcoming will help to generate additional skills and experiences vital for becoming a better specialist (Gesthuizen 64). In such a way, purpose preconditions better planning and transition from one stage to another.
A clear intrinsic purpose can also encourage a person in his/her attempts to become successful. Along with motivation, which provides a motive for doing something, encouragement ensures confidence, support, and readiness to continue performing some actions and move towards the planned outcome. The analysis of people’s behavior shows that individuals without clear goals are more subjected to depression, frustration, or lack of motivation if they fail at some moment in their lives (Gesthuizen 68). On the contrary, an intrinsic purpose helped to remain focused, overcome challenges, and pass through hard times, not losing hope and readiness to continue moving forward. It evidences the critical importance of this aspect for attaining success.
Finally, achieving a purpose is highly rewarding and serves as a stimulus to establish a new, more complex goal. Such intrinsic rewards have a strong impact on individuals as they affect vital areas, such as self-esteem, confidence, and personal development (Gesthuizen 66). At the same time, other factors, such as autonomy and mastery, are promoted as they are linked to purpose, and there is a positive correlation between them (Pink 45). From a social perspective, a status of an individual also changes if he/she manages to achieve a complex goal, which means that he/she becomes appreciated by its members. Under these conditions, the purpose is a highly rewarding factor motivating people.
Altogether, the role of autonomy, mastery, and purpose in people’s achieving goals cannot be denied. Focusing on purpose, it motivates, encourages, and promotes better planning, vital for moving forward and accomplishing existing tasks. The absence of a clear intrinsic purpose can become a factor decreasing a person’s chances for success, reducing motivation levels, and limiting him/her in psychological and physical resources that can be employed to overcome difficulties. Under these conditions, it is vital to devote much attention to this component to avoid undesired outcomes. Consideration of these three aspects is critical as they should be viewed as success factors and should be cultivated to create the basis for personal and professional growth.
Works Cited
Gesthuizen, Maurice, et al. “Extrinsic and Intrinsic Work Values: Findings on Equivalence in Different Cultural Contexts.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 682, no. 1, 2019, pp. 60–83. Web.
Pink, Daniel. Drive, the Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us. Riverhead Books, 2009.