Yesterday I launched The Motivation Quiz. You get personalised insights to help you unblock your motivation in under 5 minutes.
If you're one of the ~60 people to complete the quiz, I want to say a big thank you for trying it out and sending us your feedback. It's been thoughtful and generous, and we've already made some changes based on what you told us.
One person told us "It clarified that I’m pretty disillusioned with my industry as a whole, and see my work as offering about zero value to society. Maybe it’s time to start thinking about doing something else, or at least developing some skills so that I can".
We got one bit of feedback in particular that I thought would be interesting to explore. There are some people who when taking the quiz found it difficult to answer some of the questions. They said that their answer would change based on which part of their life they were thinking about. It's because they experience different motivation levels at work versus at home, or on different hobbies and activities, and on different tasks and projects. They said that it was difficult to answer some questions when their answer changes based on what context or situation they were thinking about.
This really stood out to me, because it's such a common experience. Motivation isn’t a fixed trait, and it makes sense that it will be different depending on what part of your life you’re thinking about. It’s not always easy to give a single answer that captures that. But seeing this for yourself is part of what the quiz is designed to help with.
There isn’t one right way to approach this and it really depends on your own situation. When your motivation feels different depending on the area of life you're thinking about, it can help to pause and reflect on which of those situations feels most relevant right now, or which ones you're likely to be living with for a while.
And remember that it's perfectly normal to feel motivated at home but not at work, or vice versa. The same is true for different tasks, hobbies, projects, and even friendships and relationships.
It’s also worth remembering that these different parts of life don’t exist in isolation. What you do in one part of your life affects the other. Seeing how much you enjoy being motivated about one thing can colour how you feel about another. I know that I've felt resentful toward things that I have to do when there are activities I want to do are so much more motivating. And if you've had a frustrating day tackling tasks, it's no surprise if your motivation feels flat in the evening, even for unrelated tasks that you enjoy.
According to Self-Determination Theory, if one area of your life persistently frustrates your needs (say you feel very ineffective and controlled in a particular project), it can put you in a defensive, demoralised state that makes it harder to satisfy or pursue needs elsewhere.
My recommendation is to try to answer in a balanced way. So, if you feel like 75% of your life feels really motivated and the other 25% doesn't, then say you Agree. But if it feels more like 50/50, then consider answering "Neither agree nor disagree." Similarly, if you really can't decide, don't overthink it and answer "Neither agree nor disagree".
I thought this feedback was really interesting and valuable and I've already added some support to the FAQ. I'll also be looking for ways I can make this easier to know when taking the quiz.
I built The Motivation Quiz to help people explore what's going on with their motivation. I'd love to get it in front of people or organisations who support those struggling with this, and hear what they think. So if you know someone who might be interested, I'd really appreciate an introduction.
Please share it with someone you think might benefit, or with a coach, therapist, or support worker who could signpost it and offer me feedback.
If you haven't tried it and want to see what I'm talking about you can take The Motivation Quiz for free at www.motivationquiz.fun