Money, power and fame are very common motivators for many people in our society. But there’s a type of personality out there that isn’t motivated by any of it.
These people are called the “Autotelics.” They see the world entirely differently to most people and are driven by the deeper inner forces such as creativity, immersion and “flow”. And guess what? These people are the happiest and most successful ☺
Who is an autotelic self?
Some time ago, we were talking about a fascinating Flow concept. Remember, activities that pose a challenge roughly equal to your skill level will allow you to experience flow, and become a lot happier.
So now. In Flow (check out the notes) Csikszentmihalyi explains that our ability to have an optimal experience (flow) in every aspect of our lives significantly depends on whether we are “autotelic self”.
′Autotelic′ is a word composed of two Greek roots: auto (self), and telos (goal). [… ] Applied to personality, autotelic denotes an individual who generally does things for their own sake, rather than in order to achieve some later external goal.
In other words, an autotelic person has relatively few goals that do not originate from within the self. Intrinsic goals. Intrinsic motivation.
The mark of the autotelic personality is the ability to manage a rewarding balance between the ′play′ of challenge finding and the ′work′ of skill building.
The Autotelic person will proactively look for challenges that demand high skill ability. That’s how they continuously “flow” in life. And where is more flow, there are more creativity and innovation.
What does it mean to have an autotelic personality?
Researchers concluded, that challenge finding and skill-building are supported by different, sometimes even opposing traits or processes which are simultaneously present in autotelic personalities:
- pure curiosity and the need to achieve;
- enjoyment and persistence;
- openness to novelty and narrow concentration;
- integration and differentiation;
- independence and cooperation.
Autotelics are open to new experiences, and are actively seeking for challenges, set challenging goals, want to learn, are receptive to feedback and actively looking for opportunities to build their skills. Their attention is open for new information, but at the same time, they can focus it on those units of information just far enough ahead of current skills to be manageable. They would integrate into the world around them, but at the same time will have an inner drive and internal locus of control.
Autotelic people are actively taking control over their lives and using every minute of it to grow. They are not only enjoying the results of their hard work (WHAT they achieved) but the process itself (HOW they achieved it). The HOW provides a rich source of information from which one can learn and continue to develop.
Autotelics are creators.
How to develop an autotelic self?
An autotelic personality could be nurtured. Wonder how?
Csikszentmihalyi argues that the rules for developing such a self are simple, and they derive directly from the flow model:
1. Setting goals
To be able to experience flow, you have to set clear goals to strive for. And again they have to be a) intrinsic, b) challenging enough, c) you can easily gain feedback.
2. Becoming immersed in the activity
Develop your ability to concentrate on the activity – go deep! And eliminate all the distractions (switch off / hide your smartphone for the beginning ☺). Immersion would allow you to pick up subtle signals and feedback inherent in the task, which in turn will help you to learn the more complex aspects of the activity. You continuously obtain new information, which you can then use to achieve your goals, or even change them as you go.
3. Paying attention to what is happening
Pay attention to an interaction instead of worrying about the self. When you concentrate on something, do it because you want to, not because the urgency of the situation forces you to. Grow beyond the limits of individuality by investing psychic energy in a system in which you are included.
4. Learning to enjoy immediate experience.
“Being in control of the mind means that literally anything that happens can be a source of joy. Feeling a breeze on a hot day, seeing a cloud reflected on the glass facade of a high-rise, working on a business deal, watching a child play with a puppy, drinking a glass of water can all be felt as deeply satisfying experiences that enrich one’s life.”
Enjoy every single moment. And you will get more energy and liveliness.
When you are on the path of developing an autotelic self, you will experience more flow in your entire life. And this is possibly the closest thing to achieving true happiness. It is a life-changing experience.
For most people, it takes time and effort to build a personality that can generate flow experiences on the go. And at the same time, the environment matters. It’s much easier to develop an autotelic self when you have family and school (and work) which simultaneously provide challenge and support, independence and cooperation, flexibility and cohesion, integration and differentiation.
It’s never too late to start building a foundation for the autotelic self development (you can start right now!). And it’s never too early to begin nurturing autotelic children. Wonder where to start? Let’s talk about it next time.
In the meantime, here is the question of the day: what can you do today to get more enjoyment in your life?
Loads of love,
Irina & Dawid
