Red Barn

This section from from page 24 of So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport is spot on:

SDT (Self-Determination Theory) tells us that motivation, in the workplace or elsewhere, requires that you fulfill three basic psychological needs–factors described as the “nutriments” required to feel intrinsically motivated for your work:

  • Autonomy: the feeling that you have control over your day, and that your actions are important
  • Competences: the feeling that you are good at what you do
  • Relatedness: the feeling of connection to other people

Not surprisingly I was in a role during my time at Red Hat where two of these three were clearly not being met and barely on a third one. After making a change to a new position where all three of them were met on a daily basis–wow, what a profound difference.

So maybe you’re in a similar spot and you’d like to do something more fulfilling, but you aren’t sure how.  This short video by Brendon Buchard was the catalyst for me and I think you’ll benefit from it too.

You have to decide and then you have to set a deadline for making it happen.  I swear it works.