The Difference Between Drive and Motivation and Why Parents Should Care

The Difference Between Drive and Motivation and Why Parents Should Care

Today I found myself researching a rather fascinating topic…the difference between drive and motivation. To make a long story short, I could not find any scientific research that defined a difference. I could only find theories and opinions.

However, there are some very well thought out theories and opinions out there. I recommend after reading this, if you have enough interest, do this search on Google.

My conclusion is although there is no evidence that differentiates drive from motivation, there’s still reason to separate the two.

Generally speaking, the consensus opinion revolves around 3 beliefs.

  1. You can have motivation without having drive, but you can’t have drive without having motivation.
  2. Drive is innate, thus you can’t stimulate it artificially. Whereas motivation can have an artificial stimulus.
  3. Drive requires the intersection of passions with purpose (or the need to fulfill a basic human need). Conversely, you can have motivation to do something you’re neither passionate about nor find purpose in.

Why Parents Should Separate Drive and Motivation

If you accept the three premises above, then parent’s must pay special attention to their child’s drive. For one, parent’s should do their best not to fight against a child’s drive. For example, many kids have a natural drive to play video games such as Fortnite. So much so that the World Health Organization added “Gaming disorder” as an official mental health condition and is recognizing video-game addiction as a public health crisis.

If you are a parent of a child driven to play video games, the best thing you can do is find out what innate need or passion the child is fulfilling. Is it acceptance, independence, power, social bonding, competition, or a combination? Once you find this out, then you can work to fulfill this natural drive with an alternative “real world” activity.

Furthermore, even if your child is not facing a crisis such as video-game addiction, understanding what drives them is foundational for strengths based parenting. A child is at their best when they are doing what their best at. Thus, the better a parent understands what drives their child, the more likely they can activate the child’s strengths to do what their best at.

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