Page 36 - Hard Goals

Heartfelt 27

time, when nobody’s pressuring or rewarding you one way or
another. Whatever it is, if it’s something you love doing, it’s
probably an example of intrinsic motivation.
Steve Jobs has an intrinsic emotional connection to what he
does. If you’ve ever listened to him launch a new product, the
intrinsic connection positively oozes out of him. You can hear
his heartfelt connection in statements like “This is an awesome
computer,” or “This is the coolest thing we’ve ever done with
video,” or “This is an incredible way to have fun.” Jobs’s pas-
sionate connection to the better world he truly believes he is cre-
ating with his products is what keeps all those great new ideas
coming. It’s also part of the package that turns Apple customers
and employees into Apple evangelists.
Intrinsic motivation comes from the inside, not in response
to external rewards. Not to say Jobs, or anyone playing off of
intrinsic motivation, can’t also seek external rewards. But the
factor that drives the goal forward, the primary motivation,
comes from doing what you love to do.
Coach, lecturer, and author Lyle Nelson is a four-time Olym-
pian. In 1988 he was unanimously elected to serve as team cap-
tain of the United States Olympic Team. Pretty awesome stuff,
though if you met him, you’d see only modesty and generosity.
Lyle’s always got a moment for anyone who asks, and since he’s
a terrifi c problem solver, he gets asked a lot.
When asked to describe how emotions played a part in his
Olympic success, here’s what Lyle had to say: “There I was in
Innsbruck, Austria, the morning of my fi rst race. The weather
was perfect for skiing, cold and crisp, yet bright and sunny. I
can still see the cross-country ski trails as they wandered along
the lakeshore past a church spire and out of sight over the hill.
That’s when it dawned on me that I was about to live a dream.”