Illuminating the True Nature of Human Motivation

The title of this book states that motivating people does not work. It also promises an answer to the question, What does work? The essence of the answer lies at the heart of the science of motivation and the revelation of three psychological needs—autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Regardless of gender, race, culture, or generation, the real story behind our motivation is as simple and as complex as whether or not our psychological needs are satisfied.

You will note that I use the terms autonomy, relatedness, and competence when exploring the individual attributes of these needs and ARC when pointing out their collective power—which is substantial.

If you need confirmation that these three psychological needs are essential to our thriving and flourishing, you can delve into the plentiful evidence provided by research over the past sixty years—much of it referenced throughout this book and listed in the notes, bibliography, and resource sections. You can consider the anecdotal evidence found in the stories, examples, and mini case studies generated from my experience in more than fifty countries over the past twenty years. You can also simply observe babies or recollect your own experience with toddlers. As you will discover in the next three sections, you can witness our psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence playing out from the moment we are born.