Different Types Of Motivation
There are many different types of motivation, and different types of motivation will drive different people. One type of motivation will drive a person, while it will not drive another person. Similarly, another type of motivation will drive the second person and not the first person.
Let’s learn about the different types of motivation that can drive us to do great things and achieve our goals.
There are two main types of motivation: Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation is internal, coming from within oneself, and it is often invisible to other people. Extrinsic motivation is external, coming from outside oneself, so it can often be seen by other people. Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation can come from a variety of sources, and those sources can be positive or negative.
For instance, one source of motivation is an incentive or reward for something that we do well. For example, if we do our jobs well, we may get a monetary bonus to increase our paycheck.
This is an example of positive extrinsic motivation- people can see we are working hard to do our jobs well so that we get rewarded for it. Similarly, we are also attempting to do our jobs well so we are not fired and replaced by someone with a better skill set or better ability to perform those skills. The extrinsic motivation here is fear, the fear of losing our jobs. Again, people can see that this is the reason we are really striving to do well in our jobs.
Some examples of intrinsic motivation include achievement. We are looking to satisfy our internal desire to achieve our goals and take on more challenges.
This is positive intrinsic motivation; this is a type of motivation that other people really can’t see- it is a desire within ourselves to accomplish the tasks we set out to do and take on more challenges.
Another example of intrinsic motivation is growth. Our need to improve ourselves and our skills is an internal one that other people really can’t see. We often want to grow to be able to influence our environment and our world more easily and make a difference.
One type of motivation that can be positive or negative is the desire and need for power. A positive need for power is one where we want to control our own lives and be able to influence others in a positive way. However, a negative need for power is where we have the overriding need to dominate others and control every aspect of their lives. This can lead to some people wanting to commit illegal, immoral, and/or harmful behavior toward others in an effort to
satisfy this overriding need.
Another powerful form of motivation is social. We often feel a need to belong to a larger group, to be accepted by them and be affiliated with them. We often look to either be accepted into a group that shares our views and values or we modify our views and values to be more closely aligned with the group.
All of these forms of motivation can be positive or negative; it really depends on how the person is motivated by these forms determines whether the motivation is one that drives them to do positive actions or negative actions. As said before, different people will be motivated by different factors; one factor can motivate one person and not another.
You’ve learned different types of motivation that drive people to reach for and attain their goals. Now let’s learn to set goals that interest you so you can have a greater chance of achieving them.
Set Goals That Interest You
In the last chapter, you’ve learned of different types of motivation that can drive people to reach for and attain their goals. In order to help you attain the goals you wish to attain, you should set goals that interest you.
People need to learn what makes them “tick” when it comes to what interests them. As mentioned in the last chapter, not every form of motivation will inspire people to raise their performance and their efforts to achieve their goals. Some people will be motivated by achievement and/or growth, some will be motivated by incentive and/or fear, and others will be motivated by power and/or social factors.
You need to learn what makes you “tick”- what inspires you to really raise your game and increase your performance, focus, and effort to attain your goals?
Really evaluate yourself and see what inspires and motivates you to push yourself harder and reach your goals. Which of the forms of motivation drives you to succeed?
Once you can answer what form(s) of motivation inspire(s) you to reach farther and work harder, you will have an easier time knowing what goals will interest you and inspire you to work harder and do more. For instance, if you are motivated by achievement and/or growth, you may want to attain a highly-valued degree and attain a high-level position that can make an impact on our world. If
you succeed, you can not only improve your skills (i.e. growth) but you’ll also accomplish great things in your high-level position (i.e. achievement). You may or may not also be motivated by other factors such as incentive, fear, power, and social as well.
Perhaps you are more concerned about your family and ensuring that they have a bright future. Therefore, you may want to attain a high-level position that pays well and is less likely to be laid off or replaced. As a result, your motivating factors could be incentive and fear. The incentive is performing well at your position so you can be paid large amounts of money and receive other perks (i.e. vacations, etc.), while you will also work hard out of fear of losing your position.
Essentially, you need to determine what really motivates you to work harder and strive more for your goals. Only you can answer that, and there is no right or wrong answer. As mentioned before, different motivating factors influence different people; not every factor will motivate every person. Therefore, you need to take the time to really evaluate what drives you- this will help you to
choose goals that interest and motivate you.
Choosing goals that don’t interest and motivate you will cause you to put less effort into achieving them, as you really won’t care whether you reach them or not. All you’ll be doing is wasting the time that you could be putting toward achieving the real goals you want to achieve.
Find Inspiration In You Surroundings
We all will experience periods of lower motivation, especially if we are experiencing less success than we anticipated or moving more slowly toward our goals than we anticipated, etc. The key is to
keep the motivation high, as it’s really our “fuel” to attain the goals we want to achieve. One good way to keep our motivation high is to find inspiration in the environment that surrounds us.
Inspiration is defined by Dictionary.com as “a thing or person that inspires.” This means that a person or thing can lead us to increase our efforts and motivate us to strive more for our goals.
For instance, if we are really motivated to improve our education and our skills, but are dismayed by the difficulty of a course we have to take to get our degree, we may find inspiration in an older person obtaining his/her college degree in the same field. We can be inspired by the fact that the older person likely had more challenges in getting his/her degree, such as not having been in class for several decades and perhaps not being as mentally sharp as he/she was when he/she was younger. This can inspire us to raise our effort and focus to overcome the difficulties we are having in class and obtain our degree.
Similarly, if we want to preserve the environment, but are dismayed by our lack of progress in helping it because of other people’s actions, we may be inspired by a child having a bake sale to raise money to help the environment. We can be inspired by the fact that the child has fewer means to help the environment because he/she doesn’t hold a job and can’t transport himself/herself to various
destinations, yet was able to do his/her part to help the environment. This can inspire us to raise our effort and focus to do more to help the environment.
Essentially, we need to look around at our environment and see who or what can inspire us to keep our motivation and enthusiasm up to attain our goals. Maybe it’s a co-worker who is dealing with a disability or has lost a loved one recently, yet he/she continues to come to work, remains focused and productive in his/her occupation, and does it all with a smile and without complaining. Such an example can lead us to raise our effort since we aren’t dealing with the same challenges he/she is facing; we can think, “If he/she can do this, why can’t I?”
Therefore, we need to look at things and people in our environment to help us overcome those periods when our motivation and enthusiasm are down to complete the tasks we need to complete to achieve our goals. There are often many examples that can help us improve our performance. If by chance, there isn’t, or if these examples aren’t helping enough, that may indicate you need to
change your environment (i.e. change your job, move to a new location, etc.). However, in most cases, we are already in an environment that can inspire us to work harder, focus more, and achieve more of our goals; we just have to look for those examples and be inspired by them.
Establish A Successful Mindset
In the last chapter, you learned how to find inspiration in the environment that surrounds you. This can include people, objects, or a combination to help you overcome those periods where your motivation is lower due to unexpected challenges that arise while you attempt to achieve your goals or because of slower progress in reaching those goals. In this chapter, you will learn how to establish a successful mindset so that you can remain motivated and achieve
those goals.
It’s virtually impossible for anyone to do their best work and achieve the goals they want when they have a negative outlook. If they are always down on themselves and their ability to perform the tasks they need to complete in order to reach their goals, chances are high that they will be less successful in achieving their goals than someone who has a positive outlook and is confident in their ability to perform the tasks they need to complete in order to achieve their goals. Therefore, it is vital you have a positive, successful mindset in order to give you the best chance to achieve the goals you wish to accomplish.
There are several ways to establish a positive, successful mindset to help you to achieve your goals. Look back upon your life and think about your recent successes. Have you been recently promoted or has your business reached a new height and level of success? Have you helped someone else reach a new level of success in his/her life? Have you helped someone who was in trouble, rescued an animal, or adopted a pet? Have you launched a successful product recently? Have you put a smile on someone’s face who has been dealing with adversity, depression, or the recent loss of a loved one?
All of these successes can help to inspire you and give you a positive,
successful mindset. They can show you that you have what it takes to reach and achieve your goals. You are smart enough, determined enough, and skilled enough to achieve the goals you want to achieve, despite the challenges or roadblocks that stand in your way.
If you can’t inspire yourself enough to attain a positive, successful mindset, talk to family and/or friends to help gain encouragement about your abilities and having what it takes to succeed and reach your goals. If you need more inspiration, consider talking to a psychologist about any doubts or inhibitions you may have when it comes to your ability to complete tasks, get things done, and do tasks at a high level. You can also read and/or listen to inspirational
CDs, DVDs, and/or music to help put you in a better frame of mind about your own abilities and your overall ability to reach your goals.
Additionally, it helps you to unwind and relax after strenuous days at work or in your business. If you’ve had a particularly challenging day where things didn’t go as planned, take some time off, listen to some relaxing and/or inspirational music, and/or do a favorite activity you enjoy. Take some time away from work, let your mind clear, and come back refreshed and ready to take on the challenges that stand between you and your goals.
A successful mindset is the key to helping you attain your goals. Those who have a positive, successful mindset will be more inspired and motivated to strive for and reach their goals than those who have a negative, disdainful mindset. Recall your past successes and know
that you have the ability to succeed and achieve your goals. Talk to family, friends, and/or a psychologist if you need additional motivation in your ability to achieve your goals.
Also, listen to inspirational music and/or CDs/DVDs, especially if you’ve had a challenging day at work or in your business to help
you unwind, relax, and be refreshed to come back and take on the challenges that stand between you and your goals.
Align Your Values With Your Work
In the last chapter, you learned the importance of developing a positive, successful mindset in order to achieve your goals. In this chapter, you will learn how and why aligning your values with your work will help you to stay motivated and achieve more of your goals.
As mentioned earlier, we are all motivated by different factors; different factors will motivate different people. Some are motivated by incentive and/or fear, some by achievement and/or growth, and some by power and/or social factors. We need to know what motivates us to strive harder for our goals and achieve them. We also need to know what we truly value so that we can be driven by it.
For instance, if we care deeply about the environment, but work for a company that is interested in earning profits at the expense of the environment, our motivation to work hard and achieve promotions and incentives will be lower. The reason why is that our internal values and the motivation that drives us to work harder to achieve our goals are negatively impacted by the fact that the company’s values don’t align with ours.
As a result, our hard work leads to actions that run contrary to our own values.
Therefore, we have an innate tendency to not work as hard or not do as much for the company because of its contrarian values. To work hard for achievement, incentive, and even out of fear would cause us to not be true to ourselves, which hurts our motivation.
As a result, you need to align your values with your work, and your work with your values. If the company you work for or the business you are in runs contrary to the values you hold most dear, then your motivation will suffer, and you will not achieve as many goals as you would if you worked for a company or ran a business that appreciated the same values you do.
When you work for a company or run a business that appreciates the same values that you do, you feel more inspired and motivated to do more for that company or business, to strive more for them to succeed. This leads to you wanting to achieve more and grow more, as you are being true to yourself and advancing the causes and values you believe in. You’re also trying to impact the world in a positive way (i.e. power and social factors) by striving to do more
for the company and business because their values align with yours.
In addition, when you work for a company or run a business whose values align with yours, it’s likely you will meet people who have similar values. This can magnify your power and influence to affect your power in a way that brings your values and ideals to the world at large more easily.
Surround Yourself With Successful People
You learned that aligning your values with your work is key to remaining motivated and doing your best work for the company you work for or for the business that you run. You won’t be as eager and motivated to work for a company or a business whose values don’t align with your own. To increase your motivation and chances of reaching your goals, it also helps to surround yourself with successful people.
When we are surrounded by successful people, their positive “can-do” attitude, inspiration, and habits can rub off on us and improve our ability to perform the tasks we need to complete in order to achieve our goals. Additionally, their positive attitude will enable us to remain motivated and focused on the task at hand and complete it to the best of our ability.
When we are surrounded by negative people and people who are no more experienced than we are, it’s hard to remain motivated and positive. We start to question our own abilities and our desire to even continue working at a high level because of all of the negativity and the fact that these people are similar to us in terms of skill level, experience, etc. We may question whether this is all there is to life and if we can’t do any better.
This is why it is vital to surround yourself with successful people, whether you work for a company or run your own business. As mentioned earlier, it’s hard for us to keep our motivation level high at all times; it will wane and fall from time to time, especially when we face unexpected challenges or we don’t attain as much success as quickly as we expected. Being around positive, successful people can help us to increase our motivation and strive harder to achieve our
goals. In addition, successful people can give us advice and information to help improve our skills and our outlook, giving us a greater chance to succeed in reaching our goals.
Find A Mentor That Keeps You Motivated
In virtually any line of work, there is usually always someone who has been there and done that, knowing the pitfalls and challenges that lie ahead. Having such a person guide you can help to keep you motivated for many reasons.
First, you don’t feel like you’re alone, which is especially critical if you’re running your own business. Second, knowing potential pitfalls and challenges that lie ahead can help you to avoid them and not have to endure the hardships that a mentor has faced. Third, you can go to this person for advice, guidance, and even inspiration when you are unsure about what to do next or reassurance in the event you are hesitant to take any action because you’re afraid it will backfire and harm your business and reputation.
Therefore, it helps to have a mentor in virtually any line of work, and in most cases, there have been people who have already been where you are now. Thus, it makes sense to try to find someone who can help you. Of course, not everyone who is experienced is willing to be a mentor or is even made to be a mentor. He/She may be too involved in his/her own business to be willing to help you, and if he/she doesn’t have a positive mindset or doesn’t have encouraging insight and guidance to aid you, he/she may not serve as a good
mentor even if he/she has the knowledge to help you.
You need to find someone in your field who is willing to help you and guide you. There are people who are often willing to share their knowledge with you and “take you under your wing” to help you avoid or minimize the pitfalls and challenges they have faced. Of course, the mentor can get several things out of this arrangement with you. He/She could get money (i.e. you pay a monthly or annual fee for their continued guidance and support), a partnership with you (i.e.you give part of the profits you gain from products and/or services you create based on his/her advice), prestige, and recognition (i.e. you acknowledge him/her as your mentor and attribute your success in part to him/her), etc.
Therefore, chances are few to none will be willing to mentor you for free; you will likely have to “pay” something in order for him/her to mentor you. However, if you truly believe in this person and he/she is willing to guide you, chances are that the “payment” will be worthwhile and beneficial for you and for him/her as well.
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