MOTIVATION

Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes you to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge. Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate behavior, the way you think and feel about yourself, including your beliefs and expectations about what is possible for you, determines everything that happens to you. When you change the quality of your thinking, you change the quality of your life, sometimes instantly. Just as positive words can make someone smile, our thoughts react to the world in real time. You have complete control over only one thing in the universe — your thinking. You can decide what you are going to think in any given situation. Your thoughts and feelings determine your actions and determine the results you get. It all starts with your thoughts. There are four different types of motivation that can impel people to act: - Extrinsic Motivation: Extrinsic motivation comes from outside us. We do it because we are impelled to, for example because we are told to by someone who has power over us. People are motivated by external regulation due to an external acting influence. Extrinsic motivation is often used to encourage employees or students to take part in a behavior that they must complete but may not be genuinely interested in, that way, even if they don't otherwise wish to engage in the behavior, they do so to obtain the reward. - Intrinsic Motivation: Intrinsic motivation is done for internal reasons, Intrinsic motivation is inspired solely from the interest and enjoyment that a person finds in an activity, it fosters creativity and high-quality learning. It also encourages a sense of autonomy because the individual is acting out of his own interest and nothing else. Introjected Motivation: - Introjected motivation is similar to intrinsic motivation in that it is internalized, it is a pressuring voice. The source of motivation for a behavior is guilt, worry or shame. Introjected regulation inspires an individual to enact a behavior not because he wants to, but because he fears not to out of a sense of obligation. An example of introjected regulation is a person who goes to church every Sunday because he fears a negative effect in the afterlife or the negative reaction of his peers at a church event — he doesn't necessarily find enjoyment in the service itself. Avoid this form of motivation if at all possible, as it fosters anxiety. When succumbing to this form of motivation, it's difficult for individuals to feel positive and confident about their actions. - Identified Motivation: Identified motivation is where a person knows that something needs doing but has not yet decided to do anything about it. If a person has personally identified with the importance of a behavior and accepted it as a regulation of her own because it benefits her in achieving a goal, she's motivated by identified regulation. With this form of motivation, the individual doesn't have to find enjoyment in the behavior, and there doesn't have to be an immediate reward. The person also isn't motivated by guilt or shame: She simply recognizes that a behavior is beneficial toward her development and adopts that behavior as her own. Motivation is your desire to do something with your personal life, at work, in school, in sports, or in any hobbies. Having the motivation to do something can help you achieve your big goals and dreams, whatever they may be. Knowing how to motivate yourself can help you accomplish anything you set your mind to, the following are ways to motivating oneself: 1. Create a Positive Environment Music can be as powerful a motivator as motivational quotes. Each morning when you wake up, play a few pump up songs before you start your day to get you going. You can listen to playlists with motivational songs on Spotify to help you get going. By getting your mind in the right mindset, you can inch closer to motivating yourself. 2. Celebrate Your Small Wins When you think of your BIG goal, sometimes you start feeling overwhelmed. Why? Because big goals don’t get achieved right away. Instead, you need to create mini goals to help excite you along the way. This way you can be more goal-orientated and build a habit of being more effective. Celebrating your small wins will help you stay motivated through your journey. Plus, celebrating is always super fun. Maybe you break your goal down to 10 small-sized goals with tasks that get you on track to achieve them. For each of the 10 goals you can add a small celebration. 3. Surround Yourself With Motivated People This goes back to the positive environment point: You need to be around with others who are just ambitious as you. American entrepreneur John Rohn once said, “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with it.” And whether or not that’s true is debatable, the reality is being around the right kind of people can only help you grow. If you’re surrounded by those who love your ambition, you’ll be more ambitious and achieve more. If you’re surrounded by loved ones who tell you your goals are stupid and tell you to change them, you need to avoid them. Be around those who help you feel comfortable being the ambitious, go-getter you are, so you can become the successful person you’re meant to be. By: Sydiqah Uthman @rebirth_2003