How Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose Apply to you.

My goal is to live a healthy peaceful life and try to enjoy every moment in my life. To achieve that, I need practice to remove some unnecessary stuff in my life to focus on finding happiness and freedom in my mind. Reading the book Drive of Daniel H. Pink, I realize that three elements of intrinsic motivation in the book: autonomy, mastery and purpose are already applied in my living way, and they are part of my daily practices to live a simple and peaceful life.

As Daniel H. Pink mentioned in Drive’s page 106, “The course of human history has always moved in the direction of greater freedom.”. The autonomy of living a simple life is trying to have less stuff in my life, so that I can have the freedom in my mind, not to pay attention or worry about what to wear and eat daily to free my mind to enjoy the peaceful and improve my self-awareness, my self-motivation. I see the unnecessary things around me are obstacles that attach my mind with them to make my mind busy to generate thoughts and that give me more worries and distractions. To remove those attachments, I have created a set of rules for me to practice daily to transform myself slowly to have some good daily habits that help my mind free from those attachments to focus on what I am doing, and I can enjoy life.

Firstly, I have changed my habit of shopping. I will ask myself a couple times before I decide to buy new stuff to see if I buy it because I like it or need it. I force myself to buy it only when I need it and try to make this become my new habit. I have struggled so many times with my mind to practice this for a couple of months, it has become my habit and that helps my mind to have a different mindset when I look at things in the market. Last time I was a huge fan of Apple computers and iPhone. Whenever Apple MacBook or iPhone has a new model, I must trade the current one to have new one immediately and I am proud to own a new one. Now, I am still a fan of Apple, but I do not think it is necessary to change to a new model if I still can use the current one that I have and especially I do not feel proud of owning a new one like that. That is an incredibly good change for me. My mind protects me to make a good decision to prevent me from falling into the attraction of getting a new phone and paying monthly for what I do not need in my life, so I can save money for something else. This also changes the way I think to appreciate what I have and not look for something else that I do not need. Additionally, this habit changes my thinking when I look at the attractive things in the market to help me to reduce the inner desire and greed in my mind and helps me to understand now I have enough of what I need, and I need to stop buying more things that I do not need. Currently, I am at the stage where my mind does not generate any thoughts when I look at new things. I am sure I have already gained a bit of freedom in my mind. Hopefully, in the future I can achieve more focus and less distractions if I practice this way.

Secondly, I have changed the habit of having a lot of stuff at home. I have reduced my stuff in my house to keep only a hundred essential things that I need, and I am slowly in progress to get rid of them more. This practice helps to level up my personal growth and mastery to achieve my goal. I practice reducing stuff to keep only one small carry-on suitcase with a 40-liter backpack, so I can easily move, and I am in the progress to transform me to achieve this. I give away all the stuff in the house that I do not use often in 1 month. I put them in a go-away box, and I keep filling that go-away box until it is full, and I give it away. I feel so relaxed when I live in an empty house, so my eyes always see the emptiness when I stay home. In fact, I feel more focused when I am reading a book at home now because I have nothing around for my eyes to see, so my mind can stop generating any thoughts about the stuff around to give me perfect peaceful mind without any distractions. This is a mastery in this living way to improve what I am practicing daily to enjoy my peaceful, and happiness in my mind. Besides, I believe my vacuum and cleaning robot are also happy because they can do a better job in the empty house. The house is easier to clean, and they can clean it faster than before. Daniel H. Pink said the true that “Only engagement can product mastery” (in Drive’s page 109). The more I practice this way, I have the mastery to make my mind more peaceful.

Thirdly, I have tried to eat the same thing every week to save time to think about what I will eat daily or what I should buy for cooking, and I can reduce the cooking time. This is really an important practice to me because this practice gives me pleasure and enjoyment to fulfil my purpose of living a healthy life. I choose some simple healthy food that I like, and I can cook fast for my weekly menu, then I practice eating that same menu every week. At the beginning, I must change the menu a few times to find the one I like, and I can enjoy it for a while. I choose what to eat and I know that is good for my body, and I can enjoy it weekly. I slowly practice this way and it becomes my habit and I do not have to think about what I will eat later today or tomorrow or next week. The more I practice this, my body learns to accept this way of eating and it enjoys this way too. Additionally, this practice helps my mind to remind myself “Is this food good for my body? Why do I eat this?” when I am dining out with my friends. Those questions appear automatically in my mind, and that is alert for me before I decide to eat. According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Purpose provides activation energy for living” as is stated in Drive’s page 132, practicing this daily gives me the energy I need to continue. Lately, I enjoy dining at home more than going out to eat. I am aware that the food I choose to eat at home is healthier than eating elsewhere, so I slowly stop dining outdoors. This habit is really changing my life in some way, now I feel uncomfortable dining out. My mind is enjoying the same tastes weekly at home. This is the beauty of simple life with the purpose of enjoying doing the same essential things daily. Besides, I can cut dining outdoor cost for something else such as traveling to see more, enjoy more and learn more other new things.

In Drive’s page 112, Daniel H. Pink mentioned the “flow” which is “The highest, most satisfying experiences in people’s lives were when they were in flow”; I realize that I have this “flow” in my daily practices. This “flow” gives me more focus on what I am doing, and I know where I am going to. Additionally, Daniel H. Pink said in Drive’s page 118, “Flow is essential to mastery. But flow does not guarantee mastery because the two concept operate on different horizons of time.” When I have this “flow” in my practicing, I know that I am on the right track, and I need to keep practicing transforming myself. My mind is calm and clearer to keep moving forward to achieve my goals and to enjoy every moment of my life.

Absolutely, the three elements of autonomy, mastery, and purpose in Daniel H. Pink’s book Drive are the foundational elements in my goal to live a healthy peaceful life and to enjoy every moment in my life. These elements are intrinsic motivation which is more than money value rewards in life. This reminds me that I am type I person because “Type X behavior is fueled more by extrinsic desires than intrinsic ones” as Daniel H. Pink mentioned in Drive’s page 75. I never want to follow money rewards, the power of intrinsic motivation in me helps me to keep moving forward to have a peaceful mind to enjoy every moment in my life. Happiness and a healthy peaceful life are not my destinations because I already enjoy it in my every moment of my life. Happiness and a healthy peaceful life are in my practices daily and the more I practice, the intrinsic motivation helps me to fulfill the purposes to achieve the peaceful mind to live a healthy life.