I am not easy to motivate externally. I don't usually don't respond to awards, gold stars (drove my mother nuts as a child because her attempts at motivating me usually caused me to just quit), more money, etc. If I am interested in something or an aspect of it, I am motivated. If it doesn't interest me but has to be done then I do it but no more than the bare minimum. The second woman stated a few times that "[stopdog], pushing you doesn't work. You don't respond to being pushed" - like she was surprised every time. But at least she recognized it. The first one would push and be rejected every time.
It doesn't really bother me. I am interested in how external things motivate others. My sibling would just about kill himself to get the highest score on a test, collect a medal, etc. My person often opined how external kudos made her work harder - they shut me down.
In therapy I was motivated to try and find out how it was supposed to work (read books, took classes, interviewed a lot of therapists, etc) but not motivated at all to let a therapist overtake me.