Motivation
From HowTo.Lifehack
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[edit] What is Motivation?
Motivation has two components. The most obvious is the emotional feeling people describe as, “feeling motivated.” This is the mood people are in when they say, “I felt motivated to help out,” and the emotion people lack if they say, “I just didn’t feel like doing it.” Although the emotion is a crucial part of motivation it isn’t the whole story.
The second component of motivation comes from the root word of motivation, motive. Your motive is the object or action that is creating the emotional state. As a human organism, your body will try to conserve frivolous wastes of energy. Therefore, in order to do something that requires any effort, you require a guiding reason.
[edit] Failures to Motivate
A failure to motivate causes a number of problems. In the short-term it is usually called procrastination or a lack of “willpower.” Over the long-term a failure to motivate is usually described as laziness or lacking ambition. There are a number of reasons that motivation can fail.
Lack of Energy - You can’t drive a car without fuel. You can’t be driven without energy. If you are sick, it is difficult to do the things you want to do. Similarly, it can be difficult to work if you are drained or stressed. Low Confidence - You might really desire something but be resigned to believe it is impossible or outside your grasp. A lack of confidence can make it difficult to motivate yourself. Vague Desires - Your motives may not be clear enough. If you don’t have a clear reason for performing a task, your body will try to stop you wasting energy on it. Short-Term Pain - Even if your goal is clear, you have confidence and energy, if the upcoming task will be particularly unpleasant, your body may decide it isn’t worth the risk. Mind numbing tasks, getting up in front of an audience or asking someone on a date all represent some risk of pain. Fear can stop motivation. Internal Conflict - Two opposing motives cancel each other out. It is difficult to force yourself do anything that part of your body resists. If you have ethical qualms about a certain action, you might resist implementing it. You may resist working towards a promotion if you really want to run your own business.
[edit] Theories of Motivation
The ability to motivate yourself is crucial if you want to accomplish anything. When the initial enthusiasm wears off, it can take a bit of skill to reignite that motivation. Luckily there are many ways you can motivate yourself if you are in a slump.
In reviewing many different philosophies on motivation and my personal experience, I’ve found four underlying theories of motivation. There is often fairly heated assertions that one theory is superior to another, but generally the four theories aren’t in conflict. I’d suggest using all four theories when trying to motivate yourself and deciding which best suits your needs.
[edit] Theory One: Intrinsic Task Motivation
The first theory of motivation is intrinsic task motivation. This form of goalless motivation proposes that your motives should be directed towards the task itself and not the end result. With intrinsic task motivation, you attempt to motivate yourself by focusing on the task itself, not any result or outcome.
Intrinsic task motivation is frequently used by many creative people. With this theory of motivation you aim to adjust your tasks or your perceptions of them so that they engage and motivate you. Although this theory requires some creativity and skill, it can be a way of avoiding the pain that can be caused by self-motivation.
If you had to mop your floors, intrinsic task motivation would suggest you change your perceptions of mopping or the act itself to make it engaging. Here you wouldn’t use the goal of a mopped floor but the act of mopping to motivate you. A couple suggestions might be to focus on the flow of water over the floor or to make the mopping a game or challenge to be experienced.
[edit] Theory Two: Goal Oriented Motivation
Probably the most common theory of motivation is goal oriented motivation. This is where you use a goal or objective to encourage action. If the goal is intensely appealing, you are using it as a magnet to pull you through less appealing tasks towards it.
Goal orientation is frequently used in professional settings. Because goal orientation is both simple and consistent, it is a useful tool for motivation. The best way to use goal orientation is to make your objective both clear, realistic and desirable. Unclear goals dissipate motivation. Unrealistic goals create low-confidence. Less desirable goals lack the power to motivate.
Following our mopping example, goal oriented motivation would suggest that you can motivate by focusing on the mopped floor. Visualizing a specific picture of exactly how a mopped floor will look (clear), determining the simple steps necessary to having a mopped floor (realistic) and describing the benefits of a mopped floor (desirable) would create motivation.
[edit] Theory Three: Principle Oriented Motivation
Another form of motivation is principle oriented motivation. This is where you are motivated by personal principles of how you should act. By using your own personal standards you can create motivation simply by the desire to uphold them.
Principle oriented motivation works well when you already have strong principles you can use as motivating factors. Unlike intrinsic task or goal oriented motivation, principle oriented motivation takes time to establish as you develop personal standards that you wish to remain unbroken. These standards could be duty, service, truth, logic, love, compassion or morality.
Motivating to mop could start by focusing you on your standard of organization or cleanliness that you want to uphold.
[edit] Theory Four: Associated Motivation
A final and more recent theory of motivation is associated motivation. This theory is peculiar in that it doesn’t use a motive to create the feeling of motivation at all. Instead, you motivate yourself through matching your environment, communication and thought patterns with when you are motivated. This triggers the feelings of motivation and creates action. Tony Robbins and the developers of NLP has been a chief proponent of using associated motivation.
To motivate using associated motivation for your mopping you might listen to music, or work yourself into a peak state.
