Motivation 3.0: How to Love Learning Under Uncertainty

Traditional educational models are outdated – the school-university-work trajectory does not guarantee either success or self-realization. The main trend of the near future is a humanistic approach and personalization of learning

Apathy, procrastination, lack of inspiration – we are used to learning and working, constantly overcoming ourselves. We procrastinate, choose a series over a webinar, hate Mondays and look forward to Fridays every time.

It would seem that in the 21st century we have received the freedom to choose where to study and who to become.

But for some reason, many still remain hostages of the old paradigm, which seems to leave no choice and force them to follow the prescribed path.

This is precisely the problem of lack of motivation. We are moving along the kindergarten-school-university-work tunnel, at the end of which a well-deserved reward awaits us: recognition, expertise, success, money and other symbols of social approval. It seems to us that we ourselves build a career and go to the goal.

If everything is done correctly, then we will be waiting for the “light at the end of the tunnel” – a well-deserved success and a long-awaited rest. This system is based on constant supervision, followed by reward or punishment. Daniel Pink, author of Drive: What Really Motivates Us? calls this carrot and stick model Motivation 2.0.

In conditions of relative stability, this tactic worked – a person performed the tasks prescribed by society and really achieved success. However, he relied only on external motivationbuilt on social approval.

But today, in the face of uncertainty, such a strategy is doomed to failure.

The realization of the infinity of the path is not inspiring at all. After all, it turns out that now you need to fulfill other people’s instructions again and again without hope for a happy ending.

How to solve this problem? Build a new model based on intrinsic motivation. Experiments with an alternative learning format began as early as the 1950s, but in the last decade they have become increasingly popular. In the field of school education, the term humanistic pedagogy is used, and specialists who teach adults talk about creating a humanistic environment for learning.

What does it mean? First of all, the destruction of the traditional trajectory school-university-work-success. Learning is not moving up an abstract ladder from the bottom up. This is a continuous process that a person builds on his own. It is based on intrinsic motivation, not factors of social approval.

According to the principles of the humanistic approach, in the process of studying, the student does not master specific disciplines, but receives universal tools for understanding the world, and at the same time himself. This helps him to independently build the trajectory of education, and in the future, the professional path. In this system, a person is an author, not a submissive performer.

A similar concept was described by Daniel Pink. He noted that the old methods of motivation were outdated.

Intrinsic motivation does not have a social load and there is no abstract “worthy goal” to which one must go at any cost. A person does not strive for an imposed image of a bright future, but determines what a bright future means for him personally. He takes the position of the author, not the performer. And his main task is to live the way he likes, making efforts for this.

Many educational platforms and institutions still rely on a system of rewards and punishments. But gradually there are more and more projects that focus on intrinsic motivation. This applies to schools, online universities, and advanced training courses. But how to build an educational process based on self-knowledge and self-development, and not social approval?

Intrinsic motivation is an acquired meta-skill. It can be pumped in the same way as emotional intelligence or time management ability. But in the early stages it is difficult to do it yourself. To do this, innovative educational methods involve the participation of a large support team: tutors, coaches, game technicians, psychologists and methodologists.

They do not push or force, but carefully support a person in understanding their own educational trajectory. That is, they teach to learn, set personal goals and improve.

Such professionals do not use the traditional reward system that only cults successes and glosses over or condemns failures. On the contrary, they observe the process at all stages and monitor what works and what does not. In a corporate environment, “turquoise companies” work on such a system. They abandon the traditional hierarchy and build horizontal connections, where there are no dominant experts who know “how to”.

Schools, universities and online platforms in such a system encourage interaction between students. Students are united by interest and passion, they jointly seek tools for knowing themselves and the world in a comfortable and interesting way. And on this basis, students become like-minded people. It does not matter what teachers they work with and what subjects they study. They are united not by the educational content itself, but by the approach.

To have access to a community of like-minded people, it is not necessary to study at school or university. You can be self-taught, but turn to coaches, mentors and senior teachers. They help people who have already abandoned the standard “tunnel” trajectory to feel confident in their path, which society is still skeptical about.

In other words, a team of specialists helps a person not only find intrinsic motivation, but also “legitimizes” it, that is, it gets rid of imposed stereotypes and inspires confidence in one’s own strengths.

Why are we so fascinated by serials, and we are reluctant to listen to webinars? Why in a mobile game do we show amazing perseverance trying to pass the next level, but quickly give up when we can’t remember English words or master a new program?

The human brain has not yet been studied enough to accurately answer these questions. However, it has been proven that people are inspired by quick and visible results – dopamine is responsible for rewarding and reinforcing motivation in the human body. Hence the desire to achieve results in the most accessible way. The process of gradually gaining knowledge and, as a result, a growing respect for oneself, gratitude for one’s own work, fall into the category of slow pleasures – the result is achieved gradually, so the dopamine trigger does not work immediately. You can set up a positive reinforcement system so that the “long game” also brings satisfaction.

But there are ways to turn a slow process into a fast one. That’s what game mechanics are for. You can use “achievements”, as in computer games, or storytelling techniques. For example, a YouTube video in which the conflict between economists John Keynes and Friedrich Hayek is explained through a rap battle has garnered 7 million views:

Tens of millions of people have subscribed to blogger channels that explain complex scientific concepts in plain language. They manage to turn slow pleasure into fast pleasure, using the ability to talk about the subject with enthusiasm and interpret the material in an original way.

The education system has been trying for decades to adjust a person to the market situation: “You need to be flexible, you need to be punchy, you need to be self-confident.” The humanistic approach rejects this violent practice of “fitting”. It is important to find a balance between the requirements of the market and the personal characteristics of a person.

At the heart of the new educational process is an understanding of the uniqueness of each student, as well as the creation of an atmosphere of trust and security that will allow him to develop and form internal motivation.

The student receives support and confidence, he can ask questions, share worries and doubts. From teachers and other students, he receives understanding and support, and not constant pushing and encouragement only in case of success.

With this approach, each student is not only the author of his educational trajectory, but also the author of his curriculum. He prefers granular formats, which allow you to build the learning process from individual pieces, like a puzzle. In this system, there can be no single textbook to follow. The priority is a digital educational environment with a set of various activities.

The concept of the target audience also fades into the background. Since everyone independently forms the curriculum, students cannot be united by some kind of abstract target audience. A pensioner, a schoolboy, a student, an accomplished professional – division into such groups in the new educational environment is unacceptable.

In the system of personalized education, a person has freedom for self-expression and self-knowledge, which inspires and inspires, regardless of age and background. Under these conditions, he no longer needs to listen to motivational speeches and force himself to study – motivation becomes gratitude to himself for the efforts made and joy from how we live our life, which we ourselves choose.