Myth: “Internal motivation” and “intrinsic motivation” mean the same thing.
Truth: They don’t. And understanding the difference might be one of the most freeing things you learn about motivation.
Intrinsic motivation is about joy. It’s the motivation that comes from the inherent pleasure of an activity itself. It’s about the pure love of doing it.
Internal motivation is about choice. It’s the drive that comes from within you, separate from whether you enjoy the task or not. It’s what gets you out of bed to do the hard thing even when nobody is making you, and even when it isn’t particularly fun.
These two things can overlap—and when they do, it’s wonderful. But they don’t have to.
The myth is that we need intrinsic joy to have strong internal motivation. We don’t. And once you understand that, a lot of the pressure falls away.
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