What motivates us? Is it the reward; money, recognition, peer validation, or is it something darker, like fear? Fear of embarrassment if you fail? Fear is really good at breaking down self-confidence, and paralyzing motivation. Thankfully, when it comes to source of motivation, evidence points in a completely different direction, supported by endless quotations from successful people. Jobs, Wozniak and Gates have all said, while they had no fear, they were also never in it for the money. It was curiosity about the untapped possibilities of computer technology that drove them to push its limits, and success followed. Einstein said there is no such thing as failure. Failing at something one hundred times means you have discovered that many times how not to do it. Then there’s Mark Roper, inventor, entrepreneur and youtuber who simply does not see failure as an event, but a teachable moment towards inevitable success. He points to gaming culture as prime example, where studies show; players who endlessly repeat games, and advance, become apt at using failure as a learning tool. They learn to navigate the bend successfully next time. That’s all it is. No amounts of reward coins, ammo, tools or, on the flip side, punishment, loss of a level, lives or other forms, motivate or discourage the players simple drive to learn, adapt, evolve and inevitably succeed. It is success itself, to accomplish something, that motivates players most to succeed, and is its own reward. We all have this self-motivating drive. All we need to do is tap into it.
