Sparks, a Story of Interest
To start this week’s letter, I’m going to take a step back to the first piece I wrote for Becoming Polymathic. Those of you registered for the newsletter will know what piece I’m referring to. Those of you who are not registered, you will see this piece when you do. That’s my shameless plug, now back to this week’s letter…
The First Becoming Polymathic Piece
In this first piece I discussed my history with pursuing multiple different “curiosities” before committing to Becoming Polymathic. It’s a story of me being interested in many things, but not deciding one was worth pursuing beyond a certain point: until Becoming Polymathic. This cycle of gaining and losing interest is what we’re going to examine today from both a behavioral and neurochemical perspective. But first, I have another story.
An Old Friend Reaches Out
I had an old colleague message me this week asking if my current company was hiring. I’m close to this particular colleague. We were literally and figuratively in the trenches together trying to build a hospital in Utah. That project ultimately drove us out of Utah and onto the next stages of our careers. His next stage was a similar role with a different construction company, whereas mine was a completely different role with a consulting firm.
Over the course of our conversation, I asked him if he ever thought about leaving the construction industry all together given his dissatisfaction. He said yes but did not indicate he was willing to yet given his tenure within the industry and the specific skill set he had developed. It would be a very difficult move, but it’s also one I argued in favor of him making. At a minimum, I told him he should consider it given the fact he’s still got 40–50 years of his career left and it would be worth pursuing something he was genuinely interested in.
The Process of Developing Interests
The process of developing interest has long intrigued me, and I’m glad this convergence of past and present gave me the opportunity to dive deeper. To build on my earlier statement, it is a combination of external, environmental factors and internal, neurological processes.
Sparking One’s Interests
When I use the word “environmental”, what I’m referring to is our external world: our friends, family, locale, career, etc. It is these factors which give us that “spark” of interest which we either build upon or let die. This “spark” quite literally occurs when we associate a new idea with an old one.
Great! So how do we generate these “sparks”? Well, unfortunately, there is no way to determine what exact ideas or external settings will cause them to take place. We do know, however, they tend to occur in novel settings, and we tend to arrive at these novel settings via our own curiosity. To use more technical jargon, we position ourselves to enable triggered situational interest.
The Four Phase Model of Interest Development
Triggered situational interest is the first phase of the Four Phase Model of Interest Development. The Four Phase Model was a learning development model published by educational psychologists Suzanne Hidi and Ann Renninger in 2006. The four phases are as follows:
- Triggered Situational Interest
- Maintained Situational Interest
- Emerging Individual Interest
- Well-Developed Individual Interest
As an individual progresses through these phases, they are transitioning from being primarily extrinsically motivated to intrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation is well-documented as the primary driver of sustained personal growth. While this model may seem rudimentary, there are powerful, complex neurological forces behind it.
The Neuroscience of Developing Interests
These neurological forces are located in the mid-brain area. This area is where you will find the seeking system, also known as the brain’s dopamine production center. When stimulated, this area becomes extremely active and, as its nickname indicates, begins to release dopamine. The specific part of the mid-brain releasing dopamine is the Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA).
This dopamine follows two pathways — the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopamine pathways. The mesolimbic pathway travels within the mid-brain and evaluates the significance of the external input we just received. The mesocortical pathway travels to the outer (cortical) part of our brain where the motor centers reside and associates the dopamine release with a particular set of actions.
The Dopamine Feedback Loop
When these two pathways are repeatedly stimulated, they form a feedback loop which engrains these dopamine-stimulating behaviors into our brain. Repeated stimulation is where the aforementioned environmental factors come into play. In simple terms, that “spark” needs to be acted on for it to become an interest, and then acted on more to become something greater. The Four Phases do a thorough job of outlining what needs to happen at each phase for interest to progress.
How Communities Help Advance Individual Interest
For a situational interest to become an individual interest, the individual first needs to feel his or her actions are being valued by the community. This feeling of value then needs to drive the individual to ask more specific questions, which the community needs to answer to maintain the individual’s curiosity. Curiosity stimulated, the individual then needs to internalize and place a unique value on this interest, which is where the extrinsic motivation transitions to intrinsic. When this flash of intrinsic motivation begins to show, the community’s job turns into one of challenging the individual to dive deeper. Sustained challenge will, theoretically, cause the individual to continue pursuit for purely intrinsic reasons. That is how we arrive at the final phase — Well-Developed Intrinsic Motivation. In other words, purpose.
It is paramount to understand the first step in this multi-faceted process is to put ourselves in position for it to occur. We need to allow ourselves novelty. That means constantly putting ourselves in new situations where our brain has no choice but to adapt and grow as a result. I cannot explain where or when these “sparks” will occur, but I can definitively tell you they will not occur at all if you are not pursuing new experiences.
New experiences are what keep us alive. They provide us with the necessary mystery which allows life to be more than just survival. The more of them you have, the younger at heart you will remain, for there are fewer joys greater than discovering something new…
Be More.
Become Polymathic
Quote of the Week: “The person who has lived the most is not the one with the most years, but the one with the richest experiences.” — Jean Jacques Rousseau
