What is the Meaning of Motivation?
The drive you have to work toward your goals, to put effort into self-development, and to achieve personal fulfillment is what we call Motivation.
It is important to note that self-motivation is generally driven by intrinsic motivation, a kind of motivation that comes from sincerely wanting to achieve and desiring the inherent rewards associated with it.
Self-motivation can also be driven by extrinsic motivation, the drive to achieve that comes from wanting the external rewards (like money, power, status, or recognition), although it’s clear that intrinsic motivation is usually a more effective and fulfilling drive.
“Self-motivation . . . requires personal standards against which to evaluate ongoing performance. By making self-satisfaction conditional on a certain level of performance, individuals create self-inducements to persist in their efforts until their performances match internal standards. Both the anticipated satisfactions for matching attainments and the dissatisfactions with insufficient ones provide incentives for self-directed actions” (Bandura & Schunk, 1981).
Here is an example of Self-Motivation
A man who goes to work every only as a means to pay the bills, keep his family off his back, and please his boss is not self-motivated, but a man who needs no external forces to make the trek into work every day and finds fulfillment in what he does is self-motivated.
Self-motivation is all about where your drive comes from; if your motivation comes from within and pushes you to achieve for your own personal reasons, it can be considered self-motivation.
If you are only motivated to achieve standards set by someone else and not for your own internal satisfaction, you are probably not self-motivated.
It’s possible to be self-motivated in some areas and not in others. For example, if the man from the first example is not internally motivated to go to work but is sure to make time for his marathon training, he is not self-motivated when it comes to work but might be self-motivated to run.
The Importance of Self-Motivation
As you have likely guessed, self-motivation is an important concept. While pleasing others and meeting external standards can certainly motivate us to get things done, such efforts aren’t exactly labors of love.
In other words, doing things because we feel we have to do them or to gain some external reward is enough in many cases, but it doesn’t invoke the passion needed to drive innovation and excellence.
It’s fine to use external sources to motivate you in some areas, but external motivation is less likely to leave you feeling personally fulfilled and finding deeper meaning in your life.
Not only do we generally do better work when we are self-motivated, but we are also better able to cope with stress and are simply happier when we are doing what we want to be doing.
Given the benefits of being self-motivation, your next question might be, Can I become more self-motivated?
The answer is a definite “yes.”
Self-motivation is driven by a set of skills that are within your control. Read on to learn how to use this to your advantage.
11 Tips to Staying Motivate
- Set high but realistic goals.
- Take the right level of risk.
- Constantly seek feedback to figure out how to improve.
- Be committed to personal and/or organizational goals and go the extra mile to achieve them.
- Actively seek out opportunities and seize them when they occur.
- Be able to deal with setbacks and continue to pursue your goals despite obstacles (i.e. resilience).
- Continue learning and acquiring knowledge (i.e., develop a love of learning).
- Spend time with motivated, enthusiastic, and supportive people.
- Cultivate a positive mindset and build your optimism and resilience.
- Identify your strengths and weaknesses, and work on them.
- Avoid procrastination and work on your time management skills.
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