Motivation is what drives us to do things. It is the force that pushes us to take action. When we are motivated, we feel energized and enthusiastic about doing things. Motivation can come from the outside or it can be self-generated. The most powerful form of motivation is intrinsic motivation which comes from within oneself. We’ll further explore on self-motivation techniques that will be helpful.
Intrinsic Motivation
This type of motivation comes from within oneself, like the desire to complete an assignment because one likes it or wants to do well, or because one enjoys working on that particular project.
Extrinsic Motivation
This type of motivation is external, coming from other people and events in one’s life like parents motivating a child with rewards for good grades or parental encouragement for sports achievements
When we aligned both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, it creates a powerful drive for us to achieve your goals.
Self-Motivation Techniques
Here are some self-motivation techniques to help you.
1. Choose the right company
It can be hard to choose who you are going to spend your time with. It’s important to remember that the people you surround yourself with, you are also choosing how they will influence your life. It’s great to have people in your life who inspire and challenge you – but it’s not always easy.
2. Dream
Why do we need to keep dreaming and what is the point?
There is a famous quote:
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt
I also believe that we should work towards our dreams and not give up. If we want to be successful, we need to work hard and smart. We can’t just wake up one day and be successful. Successful people have dreams, they believed in themselves and they never gave up on those dreams.
3. Reflection
Some people work well with self-reflection, while others may need more guidance or structure. There are various ways of reflecting on your life, depending on the type of person you are – for example, there are guided meditations or journaling exercises that might work better for some than others. Reflection may seem like just reflecting on your experiences but you can also reflect on others and what you can learn from their actions. Reflecting on experiences is a great way to grow personally and professionally. Regardless of what method suits you best, it is important to find a way that works for you – even if it means taking baby steps at first.
4. Look on the Bright Side
It’s possible that looking at the bright side of life is something not innate in us. It is something that we have to work on, because at times, it’s not our natural state. When we forgot to click ‘save’ on a proposal we were working on, when our kids spilled the milk all over the sofa or when the weather caused us to get held up in the mall. One of our first reaction would be frustration, anger or even blame. Although some things are out of our control, our outlook is something that we control.
5. Look After Yourself
In today’s world, we may be pushing our body to the limit, whether it’s working late night or eating fast food because, well, it’s faster. As much as the tips presented in this post may help you, your health should be priority number 1. You are in the position to achieve your goal better when your health is in tip top condition. Take care of your health.
6. Fill Your Mind With Positivity
One of the things that a mentor of mine shared was to have a mobile university. A university is often seen as a place of knowledge and mobile university is bringing that place of knowledge with you. Most of us would have a phone or smartphone that can store audios and videos. Store educational and motivational items. Listen to them. Watch them.
7. Learn from Role Models
It is important to find role models you can learn from. These people are those who have gone through what you are going and who inspires you to be better. One of my friends look at his role models as mentors. Although he may not have physically worked with them but he learned about them so much so that they were like mentors by his side, inspiring him.
8. Get Enough Rest
In one of our previous post, we shared about the importance of sleep. Never underestimate what a good rest can do for you. You can be energized by it.
9. Coach Others
When you coach others, you share what you know and this helps, not just the people you coach but also yourself. You retain the information, reinforce your knowledge base, and develop communication skills.
10. Enjoy the Process
As much as we want to arrive at our destination, sometimes we forget about the process or journey to get there. Ralph Waldo Emerson says,
Life is a journey, not a destination.
Zig Ziglar and Arthur Ashe puts it as,
Success is a journey, not a destination.
It is the lessons learned, the partnerships built and the lives we touched. Take time to step back and enjoy the process.
The motivation in life are not always easy to find. We often find ourselves looking for motivation in the strangest ways. Sometimes we need help to look at the bigger picture and get out of our own head. Life can be hard but it can also be beautiful, and you should make sure you take time to reflect on both these aspects.
