100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People, 2nd Edition

55 People are Motivated by Progress, Mastery, and Control

Why do people donate their time and creative thought process to Wikipedia? Or the open source movement? When you stop and think about it, you realize that there are many activities that people engage in, even over a long period of time, that require high expertise and yet offer no monetary or even career-building benefit. People like to feel that they are making progress. They like to feel that they are learning and mastering new knowledge and skills.

Small Signs of Progress can have a Big Effect

Because mastery is such a powerful motivator, even small signs of progress can have a large effect in motivating people to move forward to the next step in a task. For example, Figure 55.1