Asking the Question


Over at the Frontal Cortex there’s a brief article on the power of questioning ourselves. It seems asking yourself if you can/will do something is more motivating than jumping straight into the “I will do it!” mode. The article talks about intrinsic motivation.

It was interesting reading the article today after spending yesterday interrogating myself. Basically I’ve been hitting enormous speed bumps as I’ve tried to write my sweet contemporary. So yesterday was all about WHY???

I didn’t have to increase my motivation to write (that is and was high). What I had to do was re-focus. Asking questions allowed my brain to make new connections.

In short, the self-questioning wasn’t simply about intrinsic motivation. It was about creativity. The questions re-engaged me in the task. I literally asked more of myself.

I’m not sure this post gets across the point I’m tentatively exploring. But I think creativity is an important aspect of every person and self-questioning enables us to tap it. That freedom to be creative is part of the article’s finding that intrinsic motivation is stimulated. I just think the article (and the study it reported) skipped this element.


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