What is this?
Why Would Anyone is a newsletter exploring the reasons we do what we do. You may like reading it especially if you are wrestling with people-pleasing and overthinking tendencies 😅🧐.
The newsletter usually comes out twice a week. In general:
On Tuesdays, I publish Three Things that got me thinking, a short list of items I read/heard/saw/experienced that made me reflect about intrinsic motivation.
On Fridays, I send a personal and/or reported piece about intrinsic motivation1 and how it shows up at work, at home, in parenting, and everywhere else.
Why Would Anyone subscribe to this newsletter?
To stretch your mind. I ask lots of questions (to myself, to academics, and other thoughtful folks) to understand motivation, and share that process with you. I’m wary of prescriptions and ‘hacks’: what I’m after are a-ha moments that sediment into new ways of looking at things, or guide gentle real-life tweaks.
To save time. I’m a voracious reader and listener who finds motivation insights in unexpected places. I share my favourite finds with you, so you can go straight to the juicy bits.
To make your life easier. You’ll get every post sent directly to your inbox and will never miss an update.
To be a pal. Subscribe to help this newsletter grow! 🌱 Why Would Anyone is a one-woman operation and every subscription counts.
Because you want to. This newsletter is all about your own volition, not what others think you should do. It starts with this sign-up button:
Who is this?
My name is Tania Rabesandratana. I’ve been a freelance science and policy journalist since 2010. I was a contributing correspondent for Science, the weekly magazine of the AAAS, from 2013 until I started this newsletter. I also worked as a staff writer at SciDev.Net and Research Europe.
I won the Attuned Writer Fellowship 2021-22, which funds my time to create and run Why Would Anyone for one year. The Fellowship leaves me free to choose my own topics and angles, and I do not write corporate content.
The newsletter's visual identity was designed by Mimology 💙
That is, the drive to do something because you enjoy it, not because you expect a reward or punishment.