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 😅🧐.
I publish this newsletter sporadically. Here’s what you’ll find here:
Three Things that got me thinking, a short list of items I read/heard/experienced that made me reflect about intrinsic motivation;
Personal and/or reported pieces about intrinsic motivation1 and how it shows up at work, at home, in parenting, and everywhere else;
Q&As and occasional podcast interviews with thinkers and scholars. Previous interviewees included Dan Pink, Amy Edmondson, and Ayelet Fishbach, among many others.
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 intrinsic 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 nuggets 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 and a contributing correspondent for Science, the weekly magazine of the AAAS since 2013.
I won the Attuned Writer Fellowship 2021-22, which funded my time to create and run Why Would Anyone for one year. Now that the fellowship has ended, I write the newsletter sporadically.
In October 2022 I also launched Home Mixed Home, a separate newsletter celebrating and exploring the joys and challenges of living in a multicultural family. You can read it and subscribe here:
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.
