What motivates great inventors? A 1991 study by Ford and Nichols looked into this. They asked 247 inventors to list their top three motivations for doing what they do.

The inventors mentioned 24 different goals that motivated them to invent. The top 4 responses were: Mastery, Entertainment, Exploration and Happiness. The goals with the fewest votes were resource acquisition, equity, and management. This shouldn’t be surprising. Resource acquisition isn’t motivating. In all of human history, no army has ever lined up before a battle and shouted “For resource acquisition.” Though, to be fair, they likely never shouted “For Entertainment” either.

Inventors, and by extension, creative people, are clearly motivated by intrinsic, internal rewards. We do what we do for us, not because we need the outside world to give us something.

Here are the top 10 goals the inventors mentioned: Mastery, entertainment, exploration, happiness, resource provision, intellectual creativity, task creativity, superiority, individuality, and material gain.
7 out of the top 10 goals related to some type of intrinsic motivation. These inventors clearly weren’t motivated by outside rewards, they were motivated by themselves.

Why is Mastery ranked so high? Not only is it number one, but it’s not even close. It beats number 2 and 3 by over 20%. Mastery is a powerful motivator. It’s intrinsic in nature, so it doesn’t depend on outside circumstances. You can pursue mastery when you’re at the top of your game or when you’re at the bottom. The pursuit of mastery never depends on what others do or even on how often you succeed or fail. Like the Japanese word “Kaizen,” mastery is about continual improvement.

Mastery is a creative person’s northern star. When you’re just getting started, mastery is this amazingly inspiring goal. You see other people in your industry do amazing work and you dream to one day achieve the same success. As a novice, mastery means learning how to use the basic tricks and tools of the trade. As an expert, it means taking your mastery of the old strategies and techniques and adding something new to them that the world hasn’t ever seen before. To the expert, mastery is about expanding the domain, not merely performing competently inside of it.

Even world-class creative talent continues to use mastery as an end-goal. When asked what motivates him, Dave Chappelle, arguably the greatest stand-up comedian working today, said mastery. He already has all the money and fame he could ever want. He could do anything he chooses or do nothing at all, yet he chooses to get back on stage because the pursuit of mastery is such an enticing goal.

As you’re creating today, think about what mastery means to you. If you’re a complete beginner at what you do, then pursing mastery means gaining competence in your field. You choose one idea and hammer away until you understand how it works and how to use it effectively. Here, mastery often means mastering smaller techniques within a field, like an aspiring comedian learning to write different types of jokes. You master small pieces of the puzzle, then put them together. For the seasoned creatives, mastery is more abstract. It’s whatever it means to you. You are far beyond the level of competence. The question is no longer IF you can do something, but HOW you want to do it. This is where creativity becomes deeply personal. It’s more than just problem solving at this point. What you create represents who you are as a person.

For me personally, mastery is about knowing what’s possible. My top 3 motivators tend to be contribution, exploration, and mastery, in that order. Contribution continually pushes me forward, whether I’m doing a podcast like this one or writing comedy. Exploration is what keeps me curious. It keeps me wanting to learn more so that I have more to give people. Without exploration, I’d have nothing to contribute to my industry because I wouldn’t be adding anything new to it. Mastery, of course, is the intensely positive emotions I feel knowing that, in some way, I’ve contributed to my industry or helped people achieve their goals. These three values by themselves are enough to wake me up in the morning inspired to do more. None of these values depend on what I’ve already done. I’ve been podcasting for about a month now, and I’ve been teaching stand-up comedy for over 10 years, yet these 3 basic values drive me forward in both areas of my life. What you value will powerfully shape your actions in the future. It’s the source of your motivation. This is true regardless how much experience you actually have.

What are your top 3 motivators? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What can motivated you through setbacks? If you’re not sure, I highly suggest using the three core values that guide me: Contribution, Exploration, and Mastery. If you’re new, mastery might feel like something far in the future, but it isn’t. If you want to process, you need to master what’s in front of you. You cannot master advanced principles before you master lower-level ones. Mastery begins exactly where you are.

Take a moment to write down your three guiding values. As a creative person, it’s very likely that mastery will be in the top 3, but it doesn’t have to be. Write them out on a piece of paper and keep them near your desk this week. Come back to them again and again. When you’re facing an unforeseen problem or getting frustrated, remember why you’re doing this in the first place. Having that long-term vision will put your current problems into perspective. You can then take meaningful action based on who you are and what you want to achieve in life rather than simply reacting to today’s biggest problem.