Recent HCI research has shown significant interest in investigating digital working instructions for guiding novices to perform manual tasks. While performance enhancement has been a primary focus, it is increasingly recognized that technology’s impact extends beyond objective metrics. Trainee motivation and engagement plays a pivotal role in enhancing learning outcomes and effectiveness. This paper investigates the utilization of principles from Self Determination Theory–clear attainable goals, meaningful rationale, and perspective taking–in designing multimedia instructions to enhance novice users’ indicators of psychological well-being. We present findings from an experiment involving real-world woodworking, where novice users, in a between-subjects study, followed interactive, in-situ projection-based guidance. Results demonstrate that adhering to SDT postulates can positively influence perceived competence, intrinsic motivation and task execution quality. These findings offer valuable insights for designing digital instructions to guide and train novices, emphasizing the importance of psychological well-being alongside task performance.