WHAT IS SELF…MOTIVATION?

WHAT IS SELF…MOTIVATION?

SELF…MOTIVATION is having the capacity to inspire oneself to take initiative and action to pursue goals and complete tasks. It’s an inner desire to take action, to create, and to achieve. It is what motivates you to continue working on tasks, particularly those that you are pursuing on your own initiative and not because someone else has asked you to. The ability to motivate oneself is essential when pursuing a major goal. However, changing your life involves persistence, and for many of us, it can be challenging to maintain motivation over time.

When aiming to achieve a long-term goal, whether it be to enhance one’s health, change occupations in midlife, or realise a personal dream, the beginning is straightforward. You have to be motivated and persistent enough to tackle the problem. But many of our most important goals take time to achieve. To transform your life, you need to put in effort, be persistent, and be disciplined. It’s normal to get frustrated and find it difficult to stay motivated when things don’t go as planned or when results don’t come as quickly as you’d hoped.

Investigating your motivation will provide you the skills to overcome setbacks, build mental toughness, sharpen your concentration on your goals, and maintain a steady route to success. Let’s start now!

For you to discover motivation, we must first comprehend the subject at hand.

Motivation is simply the force driving your behaviour. It’s the “why” behind everything you do, and the reason you could support a cause, commit to a course of action, or strive towards a particular goal. All of our actions are driven by a mix of conscious and unconscious needs or desires.

When we talk about self-motivation, we go beyond fundamental drives. What we really mean by this is the capacity to carry out a constructive transformation in one’s life without giving up. You must have confidence in yourself, remain motivated, and persevere in the face of obstacles in order to be self-motivated.

We are discussing grit, in other terms.

Long-term success is largely fueled by passion and tenacity, according to research on high achievers. After the thrill of excitement fades, grit gets you farther than the original reason for your goal. You can reach the goal line with grit.

How can we then acquire these skills and cultivate the drive to succeed inside ourselves?

What Drives Motivation?

Although SELF…MOTIVATION necessitates a long-term perspective, it’s crucial to consider what drives you to pursue change. Your ability to maintain concentration on your work and to build the life you want will increase with how clear your “why” is.

Sometimes subliminal motivations might be hidden from view and let us know deep down that something needs to change. Desires can change over time, sometimes in a moment of inspiration and other times via gradual self-discovery.

Knowing the reasons behind your goals will help you maintain your motivation. Understanding these impulses and where they come from enhances self-awareness and keeps you moving in the direction of goals that are important to you.

You can classify the reason behind your goals in two ways: intrinsic and extrinsic.

Do You Really Know Yourself Better Than Anyone? Check out my “YOUR…SELF” post.

10 (proven) ways to uncover your deep identity.

Intrinsic Motivation

Pursuing a goal based on internal motivations is referred to as intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsically driven behaviours have a built-in personal benefit in place of external rewards like money or recognition. Pursuing goals that are intrinsically driven leads to positive emotions, a sense of purpose, and excellence.

In other words, our motivation is driven by our innermost aspirations, wants, and dreams.

Examples of intrinsic motivation include making lifestyle changes to become healthier, pursuing a lifetime artistic passion, or forging deeper, more meaningful connections with others.

What heartfelt desires drive you to become a better person and pursue your dreams? That’s where you will find intrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation refers to behaviours we pursue in response to outside factors. Extrinsic motivation occurs when we pursue rewards like money, status, or superior performance.

Extrinsically motivated goals can include achieving the highest grades possible in school, exceeding sales targets at work, or altering your looks to appease others.

What types of motivations push you to work hard for observable, quantifiable rewards? Your extrinsic motivators are those.

Because each person is unique, they each have a unique set of intrinsic or extrinsic motivations. There is no right or wrong answer as to whether you are motivated more by internal motivation, external influences, or both.

However, you should take care to identify them so you can stop chasing meaningless goals. You can’t enjoy success when it was all about realising someone else’s goal after all the hard work of a major accomplishment.

How to Become Motivated

Nobody finds change to be simple. It takes confidence, dedication, and a long-term commitment to find self-motivation. But that does not imply that it cannot be done. It simply means that you must learn how to encourage yourself when you are down and keep going rather than quitting up.

Regardless of how strongly you want to give up, the following strategies can help you stay motivated:

1. Simplify to focus your energy

When it comes to SELF…MOTIVATION, living a simple life will keep distractions at bay and keep you from feeling overwhelmed, particularly during times of change. Simplicity gives our hearts and minds room to grow through challenges and to foster creativity.

Instead of trying to accomplish multiple things at once, pick one to concentrate on. Your life will become simpler as a result, and you’ll be able to focus all of your skills on achieving your most important goal. Instead of working haphazardly in several areas at once, strive to excel in one.

2. Break down large goals into small steps

Examine the bigger goals and think about the small steps you can take to achieve them. To be able to appreciate successes, break everything down into manageable pieces. As you celebrate, you’ll trigger dopamine release in your brains, an important chemical to maintain motivation.

Gamifying the process can assist in breaking down a challenging goal into manageable steps so you can celebrate the small victories as you achieve them. It helps make lofty ambitions more manageable and is a common practise of successful people.

3. Keep your expectations in check.

Frustration is the first step towards giving up when you don’t see results as quickly as you’d like or encounter a roadblock in your plans. As the challenges mount, dissatisfaction turns to hopelessness, and you can think to yourself, “This goal is not attainable.”

Your mind is always calculating whether continuing would be worthwhile. In the book Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, authors Emily Nagoski, Ph.D., and Amelia Nagoski, DMA, call this concept “The Monitor.” It’s the process in your brain that keeps a running progress of the effort-to-progress ratio in any undertaking.

“The Monitor” tends to have completely unrealistic expectations.

There will always be a dark night of the soul, which could make you nervous. Expect a dip where momentum slows down or the trajectory appears uncertain.

Your task in maintaining motivation is to keep going despite the pressure and mental upheaval caused by the inevitable low points. You must have faith in your abilities and in yourself.

4. Surround yourself with supportive people

People that support us in staying focused on our intended results must be in our immediate vicinity. People who have a strong support network, or even just one encouraging person, on their side perform better than those who go it alone.

The company you keep becomes crucial at this point. To maintain our optimism, we need people who can understand us, see us, and support us.

Judith E. Glazer describes how encouraging people might intervene to lead and inspire us like a coach during a football game in her best-selling book Conversational Intelligence. Positive people may assist you when times are rough in the game of life, in which we seek our goals. They can help you Reframe, Redirect, and Refocus.

5. Ask for help and give it.

The correct assistance can mean the difference between success and failure in your attempt to stay motivated. Professor Richard Boyatzis, who has spent decades researching motivation, believes that we can all benefit from improving our abilities to provide and receive effective coaching.

My coaching approach focuses more on caring than it does on assisting. Great coaches help you connect your goals to your values and aspirations through conversation. They increase self-motivation and openness to new ideas by providing context.

Do you have any kind, intelligent friends that can help you get through this trying time? Maybe you know someone who has achieved the goals you set for yourself. If not, you can obtain help by hiring a coach, joining a mastermind group, or signing up for a support group for others going through a comparable situation. Small business coaches are devoted experts who focus on assisting CEOs and business owners in more effectively achieving their goals.

6. Practice gratitude

When working towards a significant goal, it is easy to become more aware of your flaws and fail to acknowledge your successes along the road. SELF…MOTIVATION can be killed by this negativity. So keep in mind to appreciate your blessings and your accomplishments so far.

To cultivate thankfulness, reflect on what has gone well and pay attention to any and all constructive developments.

By practicing gratitude it can teach you the greatest strategies to move forward as well as make you feel proud of how far you’ve come. Additionally, there are benefits to cultivating a “attitude of gratitude.” These include inspiring SELF…MOTIVATION, improving physical health (which you’ll need to keep moving forward) and the creation of new opportunities.

Which leads me to my next point.

7. Get enough rest

I cannot emphasise this enough: REST! We must give ourselves space to rest and reset, especially during stressful moments, if we want to maintain strong motivation.

When I started my first business, I discovered the importance of taking time out during the day, maybe go out for a short walk or just sit in the staff room and close the door. Maintaining your motivation will be easier if you take care of yourself by taking breaks for rest and relaxation. Rest makes you more resilient when you do have a dip.

8. Celebrate achievements

Look back and use the perspective of miles completed as a means to give jet fuel into the tank for future moves. When hard work pays off, you absolutely deserve to celebrate and give yourself some credit.

Do whatever makes you feel like a rock star whenever you achieve a goal or experience a modest victory. That can entail scheduling some alone time to go for a walk on the beach, celebrate with friends and family, or treat yourself a spa day.

You should treat yourself since it takes a lot of effort to have the motivation to create goals and work towards them.

Change doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s worth it!

Remember that changing your life for the better doesn’t happen overnight. When you set out to achieve a big goal, expect to progress in small steps.

When you feel a dip in SELF…MOTIVATION, remember all the concrete actions you can take to avoid crashing and giving up too soon. Turn to your friends, get guidance from wise people in your circle, practice self-care, and stay positive.

Celebrate your successes every step of the way because pursuing a big dream isn’t easy, but you are worth it.

Although change takes time, it is worthwhile!

Keep in mind that making positive changes to your life take time. Expect to make slow, incremental progress when attempting to accomplish a major goal.

Keep in mind all the specific steps you may take to prevent collapsing and giving up too quickly if you experience a dip in SELF…MOTIVATION. Turn to your friends, seek advice from knowledgeable individuals in your circle, take care of yourself, and stay positive.

Because pursuing a big dream isn’t easy, you should always celebrate your accomplishments because you deserve to.