Wellness 2.0: Who Do You Want To Be?

What It Covers

Psychologist Ken Sheldon explains why people pursue misaligned goals despite abundant advice, revealing how external pressures corrupt intrinsic motivation and how self-concordance—matching conscious goals with unconscious preferences—leads to lasting fulfillment.

Key Questions Answered

• •Intrinsic motivation undermining: External rewards destroy internal drive. Student athletes on scholarships felt controlled by coaches and fans, losing interest in their sport decades later, while walk-ons who played for enjoyment maintained lifelong engagement with the activity.
• •Self-concordance framework: Match goals to both conscious values and unconscious preferences through three stages: preparation (ask yourself difficult questions), incubation (let nonconscious mind process), illumination (notice subtle signals), and verification (test insights through experimentation before committing).
• •Lawyer well-being paradox: Study of 6,000 practicing lawyers found income correlated weakly with happiness, while intrinsic motivation—enjoying work and believing it contributes meaningfully—showed significantly larger effects on life satisfaction, contradicting conventional success metrics prioritizing status and compensation.
• •Identified motivation sustains effort: When intrinsic motivation fades during difficult pursuits, identified motivation—doing something because it expresses core values and feels meaningful rather than fun—maintains commitment. Pacific Crest Trail hikers lost enjoyment but continued because the journey aligned with personal values.