How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery

The topic of this chapter is motivation—where it comes from, how to maintain it, and how to channel it. Ashton’s argument is that the best motivation is internal. He gives the example of Woody Allen never going to awards ceremonies, although he is a celebrated writer and director. The reason is that these ceremonies can psych one out. As Allen explains, if you believe the critics when they praise you, you’ll also believe them when they trash you. What’s more, you begin shaping your work to attain outside approval rather than your own satisfaction and vision.

Ashton backs this motivation claim up with research. The Harvard psychologist Teresa Amabile studies how motivation affects creation. Her early studies indicated that evaluation has an inverse correlation with creativity. Studies by another researcher showed that monkeys had more difficulty opening cage doors when given food for success than when just doing it for fun. Still other studies showed a more complicated connection. A reward seemed to have no effect for problems that have just one correct answer (like math), but it impeded the progress for those that involve creative discovery. Finally, Amabile later showed that performance improved when subjects received a reward for a task they chose (rather than had to do).