5 ways I am motivated and productive. True ways to achieve motivation.
Achieve true motivation! Blogmas day 6!
INTRO:
When we think of Motivation we think of it as the driving force behind all of our decisions, desires and success. Well it is true, although there is way more to motivation than you think.
Motivation is important in every aspect of a human’s life and behavior. When you do anything, study, go to work or work, make decisions. Your choices are all based on your motives. If you observe, when you are motivated, life gets way simpler than you think it is and way better.
It sometimes seems like people love what they do. The most successful people had motivation to achieve their goals or dreams in life. When I say successful I don’t only mean finance, but I also mean life. They have a successful life. They are happy and satisfied and it all starts from motivation.
When I talk about motivation it really is a touchy subject because everyone has different motives. So I will be very broad about this, you can do whatever you want with my advice. Everyone has different motives, simply because everyone has different interests, dreams (goals) and environments. Motivation comes from within, it drives us to go farther than ever before.
The science behind motivation:
Motivation happens when your brain produces a spike of dopamine because your mind predicts something amazing will happen in the future. You can train your brain to feed off of bursts of dopamine sparked by rewarding experiences. You can create rewarding, satisfying environments that make you happy, so your brain can do the rest by motivating itself.
Different types of motivations:
There are 3 main types of motivation: Intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and instinct motivation and we have all three in our lives.
Intrinsic motivation:
Intrinsic motivation comes from internal factors. Most Intrinsic motivation makes you perform tasks because it simply feels rewarding to you. When a person is motivated in this manner, people usually act for fun or for a challenge because of an external factor such as pressures or rewards. There are many types of Intrinsic motivation like curiosity, fanatics and challenge (there are many more).
Examples:
- Learning new languages
- Participating in sports
- Doing your hobbies
- Learning your favorite subject
Extrinsic motivation:
Extrinsic motivation is when you are motivated to do something because you want to avoid a punishment or consequence, or just get a reward of somesort. There are 4 types of Extrinsic Motivation: external regulation (take action to satisfy an external demand or to get rewarded), introjected regulation (motivated by internal sanctions and/or pressures), identification (understanding or feeling the random need to accomplish something), and integrated regulation (most autonomous kind of Extrinsic motivation, when you are focusing on yourself and trying to do certain things for oneself).
Examples:
- Competitions so you can win (rewarding)
- Exercise more so you will look good (rewarding oneself)
- Doing homework (so your teachers or parents wont yell at you
These examples can vary from person to person because some people enjoy doing homework while others don’t. Some like competitions so it can be an Intrinsic, while others just do it for competing and for the prize so it can be Extrinsic.
Motivation Instincts:
Instinct motivation is motivation that drives us to do everything really. Instinct Motivation is exactly what you think it might be, the motive to do something out of instinct. The instinct theory predicts that motivation is based primarily on biology. Instinct is one hundred percent natural and most have a motivation for the instinct to even work. That is called Instinct Motivation.
Example:
- Social standards
- Mother and child relationship and determination
- When you are hungry you must eat or cook or find food somehow.
Now that you know how motivation really works, you can start to control yourself and train your brain to constantly be motivated to do what you need and want to do.
Quote:
“If you can dream it, you can do it”
- Walt Disney
The Formula to Motivation:
- Purpose:(optional)
- Contemplation:
- Preparation/Determination:
- Action/Willpower:
- Mastery:
- Maintenance:
Purpose:
Ask yourself, why am I doing this. Why am I supposed to do this? For instance, if you are doing your homework you may do it so you can get good grades or get more practice or just not face the consequences when you come to school the next day. If you are writing a blog, you may do it because it’s your passion, or it’s just something you can do, or because you want to be a writer. Have a purpose in life and in everything you do.
(Optional) Contemplation:
You are aware why you need to do it. You are aware of the problem or the task you must accomplish. You are aware of how to accomplish your goal and how to do the best you can. (This step is basically awareness).
Preparation/Determination:
Prepaid your environment and brain. You have to prepare in order to do something, like getting out the tools you need. Having determination is important because you have the firmness of purpose to something. You have a fixed mindset to finish a task. Like “I will finish my homework”. No matter what distraction or obstacle comes in the way you are completely focused on what you need to do (unless it’s an emergency).
Action/Willpower:
This is where you make an effort to accomplish your goal. Willpower is just like determination, it drives your action. Willpower comes from the mind then the body. Willpower and determination work together to make anything happen. It makes tasks easier to accomplish when you have willpower and action, because you eliminate obstacles that are trying to stop you and you take action.
Mastery:
When you start learning you have to start mastering it. When you first start learning something like languages or a new skill, it may be really hard and frustrating at first, but eventually you get the hang of it. The same thing happens with motivation, you have to master training your brain to get motivated, you can get motivated just by thinking of something, doing something and more.
Lastly Maintenance:
Maintaining a positive and motivated environment and mindset is kind of hard. When you master anything, it is easy to do, so you have to practice this something you mastered because you can always do better and you won’t forget it.
Quote on motivation:
“Today is your opportunity to build the tomorrow you want.”
- Ken Poirot
SO HOW DO YOU GET MOTIVATION:
Inspiration:
Inspiration is the driving force to motivation. It’s like motivation and inspiration are partners, without one there really is no other. When we are inspired by something or someone our brain immediately stimulates, so you have the same desire to achieve that certain goal. I would even say Inspiration is a type of motivation because sometimes other people motivate me to do better in life.
Love what you do:
Loving what you do. When you are choosing your career, hobbies or just what to do in everyday life. Do what you love to do and so you do your best. Most of the time we do things because others force us to. When this happens we don’t do dedicated work and eventually we don’t do well in what we do, this causes a bad workforce and this causes personal problems, finance problems and mental health issues. The best advice I can tell you is when you are choosing something like your career or hobbies, first make sure you like the job, see the experience and see if you like the way they work, second see if that life style suits you (think about how your personal life, work life and regular life gets affected). Lastly, make a specific goal you want to reach (the younger you are the better), so you can focus on that and make less mistakes you will regret later on. Loving what you do is probably the most important thing for motivation, because you wont get motivation out of something you hate or don’t like to do.
Be positive:
Being positive and happy makes you achieve your dreams and goals faster. Just think about it, if you are depressed, sad or annoyed with life, you are just going to waste your time thinking about how “horrible” your life is. If you are positive you already are satisfied and happy with your life. Which means you will just try to make your life better and you are producing dopamine every time you are happy so naturally you will be more motivated and productive. Also being positive helps you overcome obstacles in life, you won’t think of these obstacles as inferior or bad things, you instead will think about how to solve the issue at hand when you first come upon it.
Control your mind:
The Mind is our biggest obstacle. Our brain is designed to daydream, waste time and just not cooperate with us. Although our brain is also our biggest superpower and the key to motivation and production. We always get distracted by random things and we naturally are the only obstacle standing in our way. When you control your mind (so you start prioritizing and training your brain to motivate itself and naturally be productive). Once you master this you can control your brain to do anything you need and want to do.
Goals:
Goal setting is crucial. Let’s go back to when I explain Purpose (if you have not read it I really advise you do). Your goal is the main reason why you need motivation so you can achieve a certain thing. When you have a goal, you can always go back to it when you lose motivation or the ability to be productive so you can remind yourself never to give up. Your goal can also be your purpose.
Conclusions:
Without motivation, you can’t achieve anything. Motivation is natural and it’s a trait every person retains and desires. Although motivation and emotion can be interlinked they are completely separate things. Sometimes we have no motivation and sometimes it feels like 24 hours is not enough in a day to get everything done, but remember hard work rewards.
