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I can’t help but simplify “intrinsic motivation” to “liking it”. I accept that there may be a distinction. Perhaps you don’t have to like something for it to be motivating in and of itself, but I can’t think of any such examples off the top of my head. (It seems that if you don’t like something, the only reason you’d do it is for an outside reward or punishment.)

If, then, we’re on the topic of an experience where my motivation was “liking it” and “liking it” alone, the example that immediately comes to mind is CLCV 115: The Mythology of Greece and Rome. I briefly mentioned this course in one of our discussions as something outside my field of study that kept me interested.

As a preface: CLCV 115 did not

- have any relevance towards my major, minor, or academic plan of study in any way

- teach me any practical skills that I would later use in any other class

- grant me any academic knowledge that I have since used in any useful way

- seem important to me at the time or since

The last bit seems like a strong insult towards the course, but understand that I mean it in the most endearing way. Regard it the way you would an elderly wife calling her husband “that senseless oaf.” A loving way. I wouldn’t remember the course with such admiration if there was any other gain than the pure joy of taking it.

The class was in no way one that I was innately good at. I am good at taking math tests. I am good at answering questions where there is one correct answer. I am good at applying given rules to new situations and producing a single, clean, concrete result. I struggle in situations where the prompt may be, “What does Zeus’ part in the creation of the Minotaur say about the ancient Greeks’ view of omniscience?”

It should be noted (as context) that Zeus was well-known for his habit of seducing and impregnating mortals. As far as pregnancy-success rates go, Zeus holds the global record, hands down. Literally every one of Zeus’ recorded liaisons ends in a baby.

Zeus, it may not be commonly known, also had the ability to take any form he chose. One time he chose to appear as a bull. This bull, being Zeus and all, was so ravishing and utterly magnificent that the queen of Minos (now Crete) was instantly enamored. Her husband, chagrined as he was, accepted his wife’s obsession and set out to find a way to allow her to satisfy her desire.

King Minos commanded a local engineer, Daedalus, (who later built the perilous wings for his son, Icarus,) to build a cow suit for his wife so that she may successfully (in an anatomical way) invite the Zeus bull’s affection. Daedalus did, so Queen Minos did, allowing Zeus to.

Without fail, a child was soon born. “Child,” of course, being a stretch of the term: apparently, the godly shifting of form had impact on Zeus’ DNA, and the child was born half bull. The Minotaur (“Minos” + “Taurus”,) a monster, was nonetheless King Minos’ son, and no one had the heart to kill it. Instead, the ferocious, deadly creature was put into a labyrinth so that it could never cause any harm. (Later it was slain by Theseus, but that’s neither here nor there.)

I loved learning that absurd background of an even more absurd fictional creature, and I love that I still remember it. Something about ancient lore is extremely interesting to me. I did well in CLCV 115, despite the aforementioned lack of reason or academic worth.

To answer the prompt: it is interest, the “liking it” motivation, that accomplishes the most. Since this motivation is highly personal and almost completely impossible to induce unless it already exists, I can’t say that it will be useful in any way towards our final project. It’s worth noting, however, that if “liking it” is felt in a person’s course or profession, that person would be best off pursuing that feeling, if only because it will give them happy memories.