MOTIVATION

Now that you are clear on what your goal is, it’s really important to understand how you are motivated towards it, what will encourage you to move forward on that path, and also what may affect that motivation and obstacles that might get in the way. It will be different for all of us.

What is motivation?

Motivation plays a pivotal role in personal relationships, shaping how we think, feel, and behave toward ourselves and others. It serves as a driving force to achieve goals, improve our well-being, and grow as individuals. 

Let’s have a look at the theory of motivation and how it helps move us forward and interacts with our relationships.

Baumeister (2016) defines motivation as ‘wanting.’ ‘We want a change in behaviour, thoughts, feelings, self-concept, environment, and relationships.’

According to Reeve (2015), ‘Motivation is an internal process. Whether we define it as a drive or a need, motivation is a condition inside us that desires a change, either in the self or the environment.’ What Reeve is saying is that while external factors like environment, culture, social context, and relationships can positively or negatively influence motivation, its essence comes from within us.

But, to fully understand motivation, we need to recognise both external and internal influences.

External – External factors guide and influence our motivation, even though they do not constitute motivation itself.

Internal – Internal motives can be categorised into needs, thoughts, and feelings.

• Needs – There are different types of needs, including physiological (eating, sleeping), psychological (autonomy, mastery, belonging), emotional (to be loved). All needs are born out of either a deficiency or a need for growth.
• Thoughts – These are our mental constructs: our goals, mindset, expectations, and beliefs.
• Feelings – The way it makes us feel

Behaviour – These factors then affect the way that we behave; they motivate us to behave in a certain way.

Reaction – The way we behave then drives a reaction from the external world again, in the form of consequences, incentives, pressure, etc. This feedback loop can either reinforce or discourage future behaviour, motivating or demotivating us.

When we have alignment of all of these external and internal factors, it creates strong motivation; however, when there is misalignment, it can affect our motivation negatively and act as a demotivator.

It can be a useful exercise to look at your goal, or anything that you want to be motivated to achieve, and map out the different internal and external factors affecting your motivation towards attaining this goal or behaviour. Is there alignment, or is something negatively impacting your motivation? Use the worksheet to help you map it out.