BehavioralDPDaniel Pink 2-min read 10-min action

The Autonomy Prompts

Replace assignments with four short questions that hand back control.

The concept

Autonomy as the engine of intrinsic motivation

Pink's synthesis of self-determination research shows performance and engagement rise when people have autonomy over task, time, technique, and team.

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Sourced from

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Chapter 4: Autonomy

By Daniel PinkView source

Get reminded to actually run this

Pivots only work when you use them. Send me a gentle nudge:

Pivot pairs

Curated cross-disciplinary pairings that strengthen this one.

The Motivation Pair

Pair with: The Task Significance Reframe

Grant makes work meaningful by showing who benefits. Pink makes it sustainable by giving people control over how it gets done.

How people ran this

Used this before a portfolio review. Sat with the dread for 8 minutes, then opened Figma and just shipped the worst version. Got the best feedback of my year.

Maya, product designer

Ran it during a planning week when I kept rewriting the same doc. Three rough versions in 15 minutes — my staff eng picked the one I least liked.

Jordan, eng manager

I'm a chronic deleter. The 'name the feeling' step was the unlock. It was almost always shame, not perfectionism.

Anon

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