Paul GrahamVerified account

Almost everyone starts off extrinsically motivated to some degree.

Basic version: for most people the levels of the video game go money, power (little power as in managing other people, etc), status (and proving yourself), impact (real power), and finally ‘self-actualization’, eg seeing how good you can be and expressing your curiosity.

All the levels always overlap (most people who do great work were never entirely driven by money, at least not for long, and people on the last level still want more status/ impact), but the mix changes a lot over time. The last level is like infinite Tetris, it never stops.

Also, the last level is intrinsically motivated, and it's where it seems people do their best work.

The way that most people screw this up is to pretend that they don’t care about the earlier levels, which almost everyone does to some extent, and often if you play the levels out of order it doesn't go that well. So best to just go through the early ones as fast as you can.

When people who have done great work tell their early stories, there is a lot of revisionist history :) Which isn't helpful for comparing yourself to.