Recently I did a post on why do people follow the rules ‎which is tightly linked with this one. One could say that the external motivators may be the rules and the internal motivators the discipline. But in my opinion it does not work like that. External motivation comes from others cheering you but also from environment changes -laws-, the market, etc. Internal motivation is the motivation that people should aim for. You should do things because you believe in them, not because they tell you but because you deeply believe that it is the right thing to do.

If you knew you would get never caught would you kill a person? For most of us, unless there is something wrong with your head, this idea give us disgust. It is not because you would spend 20 or 30 years in prison, this is because you know it’s wrong. So why don’t we apply the same logic to the rest of our lives?

Do you work in a company because you like it or because it pays the bills? If you do it to pay the bills you’re going to do an ok job so you don’t get fired. Whereas if you do it because deeply inside you think that you’re making a difference and love it, then you would not mind going for the extra mile. The extra mile is what sets the difference now a days.

So think: What do you do because there is nothing better around? What do you do because otherwise your life would be bland?