The Addiction of Achievable Tasks

I don’t know about others, I’m sure in this fast world this happens with a lot of people. But ya, all day my brain is producing thoughts, talking to me.

This evening I was just reading something (post spending my own sweet time on Netflix), and this thought just crossed my mind, how is the Work itself a Motivating Factor in Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory??

And I had read this theory earlier, not given it too much thought, parked it in my head. Today it just popped up. It motivates you by giving you Dopamine hits. Lots of difficult but achievable tasks. That’s what one needs. Something that’s oh-so-difficult, you’re nervous about it, maybe even a little anxious. But if you possess decent levels of self-efficacy, or if you really have no choice, you do it any way. And if done right, et voila! Achievement. You are relieved. Finally it’s over. And then the same thing may repeat throughout the year in your work tasks, the low and then the high. The feeling of gaining control over something, of mastering something, that internal reward of your self-esteem boost.?

Dear friend, now you’re hooked. Now each time you achieve something with some difficulty, there’s the dopamine hit. Your brain rewards you for relieving it of the anxiety by completing the work properly.?

Remember this Yerkes-Dodson model of Eustress -?

This is eustress. The challenging task that you can achieve. The hardship followed by the overcoming of hardship, the reward, the control.

Don’t believe / get it? Example from real life - how does it feel when you clean the room after a week of it being dirty - Grand Achievement, doesn’t it feel so? WHAAAT A SIGHHH OF RELIEF-ACHIEVEMENT. Look a my room, and try not to applaud.?

And if you make your bed daily before heading out to wherever, work, studies etc., does it give you a tiny little kick that you crossed that off your list, did a nice little task before the struggles of the day? You may not achieve anything in the day, but at the end of it, at least you will have that neat?bed.?

This is how the work itself can be motivating. Of course, it can be motivating intrinsically if you assign any meaning to it, if it’s aligned to your values and beliefs. Say you’re a Medical Doctor. The Work itself could be motivating for you through 2 routes:

1. You believe that saving lives or alleviating people’s suffering is the noblest, and this is your life’s calling. Thus, doing that motivates you; just seeing the other person relieved. I believe this will keep you happy as you will be at peace, when your actions are aligned to your beliefs, there’s no cognitive dissonance.
2. You couldn’t care less if you were a Doctor saving lives or a Doctor writing research papers, as long as whatever you do, you are good at. As long as it was challenging and You were able to overcome that challenge (and prove to yourself, that you are great). Here’s your self-esteem boost and that dopamine hit.?

Anyway, I’m not saying I’ve done any research on this, whether dopamine is actually being released at completion of tasks. My hunch is, it is. If you come across some papers stating the same, or otherwise, do share. I would love to back my epiphanies with actual data, but my excuse is, ‘who has the time?’.