Principlev1PR-1257
Structure energy investment to satisfy basic psychological…
Structure energy investment to satisfy basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness) rather than optimizing for apparent productivity, because need-satisfying expenditure is self-sustaining while need-violating expenditure depletes regardless of external rewards.
Why This Is a Principle
Derives from autonomy/competence/relatedness driving intrinsic motivation (Satisfying the psychological needs of autonomy, competence…), these being basic psychological needs with behavior satisfying them being more persistent (The three basic psychological needs are autonomy…), and motivation existing on a controlled-to-autonomous spectrum (Human motivation exists on a spectrum from controlled…). The principle prescribes need-alignment as design criterion—actionable across energy allocation decisions.