Mastery, Autonomy, and Purpose or "Why I love my job."

[blacktigr]

I just read an article called "The Overjustification Effect" about a psychological phenomenon where the love for something you enjoy decreases when you start getting paid for it

Comments

[bryna_pixie]

I love loving my job, and I love hearing that other people love their jobs as well.
Everyone has bad days where things just didn't go right no matter how hard you tried, but knowing that it's not an every day occurance can make all the difference for you the next day.

So good for you! =)

[lowen_kind]

That is the reason, "The Over Justification Effect", I will not become an engineer for Amtrak.

As much as I love to be an engineer I feel that once it becomes my "day job" it will become a job and not just work.

I keep saying it might sound like a cliche, but at the CMSL the dream is unsullied when I'm an engineer. That won't be the case if I would do it for Amtrak. Being an engineer is work at the CMSL, and I take it very seriously, but if I want to take a break I can without fear of losing a day's pay.

Being a radio maintainer is a different story. I like working with electronics and the days are varied enough so not to be too repetitive.

[silveradept]

It sounds very much like a lovely job, with enough variance not to be boring or repetitive.

I'd like to say that my job hits all of those qualities, but it's lacking the last one where the bosses value me and offer praise. There's quite a bit of depending, as I'm finding out, but not a lot of praise or valuation.

[prosewitch]

I only skimmed the article, but a lot of the points make sense--except I'm judging from the outside, because I've mostly only ever done what I loved or what I felt called to do, so the rewards were more intrinsic than extrinsic. I would actually LOVE to get paid more for what I do (academic labor, writing, dancing) because I want to make these things my career, and yet I see myself continuing to do them despite setbacks such as low pay.

If I were local, I'd love to train under you - I believe it's really important to understand one's body and treat it properly! :)