Extrinsic Motivation as a Tool

There is no shortage these days of podcasts and inspirational posts and the like featuring stories of people who’ve built huge followings and landed on shows like Simon Sinek’s A Bit of Optimism, or Rich Roll’s The Rich Roll Podcast, or Tim Ferriss’s The Tim Ferriss Show. And what strikes me is how many of the guests say their journey all started with something totally extrinsic: they wanted to prove themselves to their family, impress their peers, earn approval, get attention.

And yeah, our current technology and social culture are designed in ways that make it easy—almost natural—to get addicted to that attention, to those extrinsic rewards.

But the part no one seems to talk about is: would they—those worthy of being featured on a major podcast—ever have found intrinsic motivation if they didn’t use extrinsic fire to get there first?

Would Andre Agassi have ever found peace or purpose if he didn’t first chase greatness for all the wrong reasons?

We’re a tribal, social species. Our brains didn’t evolve for self-actualization—they evolved for survival through connection, validation, and belonging. That wiring hasn’t changed much since the Neolithic era, around 10,000 years ago, when we started shifting from tight-knit tribes toward agriculture, cities, and organized power structures. It takes a very long time for evolution—biological and cultural—to adapt.

Simon Sinek has even pointed out that extrinsic motivation—when it’s rooted in service or inspiration—can be a powerful tool for growth. This has been supported by research as well.

Maybe extrinsic motivation doesn’t block fulfillment. Maybe it’s an early stage rocket fuel that gets us to a place where fulfillment becomes possible?

Dr. Sunita Sah recently shared a great framework on the Coaching for Leaders podcast: Ask yourself, What kind of situation is this? What kind of person do I want to be? And how would that person respond?

That kind of reflection helps. It builds agency. It slows us down and turns us inward. But maybe that’s not always enough to make us go out and write the book, win the race, or leap into the unknown?

Maybe extrinsic motivation doesn’t ruin us. Maybe it’s necessary. Maybe it’s unavoidable. Maybe it's a tool to be used along our (often) long and tedious journey to finding self fulfillment?