by Tyler Robinson, Owner / Founder Krave Gym
We all have woke up for work ready to seize the day and ready to solve every world problem. On the flip side we have all woke up for work and hit the snooze and called in sick. The major difference between the two days is motivation.
The Tricky thing about motivation is that it is fleeting and hard to manufacture on a daily basis. This is why discipline is more important to success. Doing things when you are unmotivated JUST because you know they are things that need to be done.
But Dammit… Those days where we are motivated are so much easier. So how can we maximize those days.
There are 4 different things to think about when talking about motivation.
- Positive– knowing what the positive outcome of doing something will be so I’m motivated to get it done. Think, “if I do this I get a cookie.”
- Negative– knowing that something negative is going to happen if I don’t get this done. Think, “If I don’t go to work I’m going to get fired”
- Intrinsic– The activity that you need to do is something you want to do for your internal purposes. Think, “I want to learn Spanish so I can communicate with friends.”
- Extrinsic– The activity is something that someone else wants you to do. Think, “my mom wants me to do the dishes and I want to make her happy.”
The only combo of motivation that is consistent and will always motivate a person is Positive / Intrinsic Motivation. This is because it is easy to do something when you truly want to do it and you want to do it because you see the positive outcome of doing it.
There are several Intrinsic Motivation Factors Since everyone is different, it is natural that the factors motivating them will be different from others as well. What some people see as intrinsically motivating may actually seem to be extrinsically motivating by others.
Factors that play a vital role in intrinsic motivation include:
- Curiosity: you are exploring and learning for pleasure and enjoyment
- Challenge: working toward your goals while maintaining optimal work performance
- Control: the desire to control outcomes and making decisions that affect those outcomes
- Recognition: we all want to feel appreciated and recognized for our efforts
- Cooperation: we have a desire to belong and feel satisfied sharing goals with others
- Competition: gives us another challenge and makes doing well rank much higher in importance
- Fantasy: images are being used to stimulate our behavior
This week try to recognize what it is that motivates you and understand that things we do reflect if we are motivated or not. Also lets recognized what we need to do that we don’t have motivation to do and if we can’t manufacture some motivation use discipline to get the job done!