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60 Power Up Your Mind

growth in capacity or intelligence or competence to learn should be
recognized.

How to reward yourself

At a personal level, the issue of rewards is complex. Most theorists
focus on the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for
learning. An example of an intrinsic reward is the pleasure it might
give you to learn a musical instrument or the good feelings created
when you learn how to control your anger. An example of an extrin-
sic reward would be your child being given a sweet after they have
finished their homework or you receiving a degree in return for years
of study. The general view is that for learning to be really successful,
the learner has to be intrinsically motivated, although it is clear that
having external positive feedback is also bound to be helpful.
One of the best-known thinkers in this area of motivation is
Frederick Herzberg. Writing in the 1960s about attitudes to work,
he established a helpful distinction between hygiene factors and
satisfiers. If you think of this in terms of food, Herzberg’s distinc-
tion becomes clearer. Food may be carefully prepared and techni-
cally safe to eat. These are hygiene factors. Alternatively, it can be
deliciously tasty, from an organic source, and very nutritious. These
would be satisfiers. Herzberg showed how the analogy holds good
for motivation at work.
However, the real value of Herzberg’s approach lies in his
development of the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation. He points out that the opposite of being demotivated
is not being motivated, it is not being demotivated. You can minimize
the dissatisfaction by creating hygiene factors, but you need things
that will really satisfy a learner to make them motivated. You can
see this expressed below:

Switched off from learning Not switched off from learning
Not switched off from learning Switched on to learning

If you stop being switched off from learning, it just means that you
stop being against it. It doesn’t mean that you are for it! Many peo-
ple who go on training courses at work reluctantly get themselves