Part I
Understanding the Basics of Motivation
In this part. . .
Here you set off on your motivation journey. You begin to understand what motivation is all about, look at the principles of motivation, and find out how motivation fits into your life. You also explore the psychology behind motivation. So, don’t hold back a minute longer, get moving!
Chapter 1
Introducing Motivation
In This Chapter
Deciding how motivation can help you Getting your brain and body working for you Getting yourself motivated to achieve a desired goal lies at the heart of your success. In this chapter, you discover what being motivated means, how motivation can help you, and the way your brain and body interact to keep you fully motivated.
Figuring Out What Motivation Is
Motivation is a feeling, an emotional force, stimulating and encouraging you to do something. You feel motivated by factors or stimuli – internal or external – rousing you into action and fulfilling a need:
Internal: Feeling hungry motivates you to eat – an intrinsic need coming from inside yourself. External: Showing poor sales results motivates you to attract more clients to increase business – an extrinsic need coming from outside yourself. Think of a time when you felt highly motivated in your job. You enjoyed going to work and having a sense of achievement at seeing your projects come to fruition. Your efforts were rewarded with a good salary; you had support from your manager, and the authority to make your own decisions. You got along well with your colleagues and delighted in the office camaraderie. You felt valued and that you contributed to the success of the business.
The key motivators at work in this instance are: achieving success, financial reward, camaraderie, and feeling valued.
Here are three real-life examples of internal and external stimuli: Daniel runs a small hotel business, which has been in his family for three generations. It’s hard work, involves long hours, and isn’t hugely financially rewarding. The stimuli that help Daniel maintain his motivation to keep the business going are both intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsically he feels it’s important to uphold the family tradition as hoteliers. It satisfies his sense of continuity and staying faithful to his roots. The extrinsic stimulus comes from his staff. Daniel feels responsible for his staff and their livelihoods, particularly as several of them have been with his business for many years. A teacher friend of mine tutors children to help them improve their reading skills. She told me how positive and motivated she felt when, just after one session, the other teachers commented on how they’d noticed an improvement in the children’s reading ability. My friend travels a long way to the school for the sessions, but feels it is worth all the effort to see the improvement in the children’s reading skills and hear the positive comments from the teachers. Her initial success stimulated her motivation to keep up the good work as well as giving her the feeling that she’s really making a difference. I have been a member of a rowing club on the Thames for several years. Soon after joining the club I took part in a competition called a scratch regatta. On the day of the regatta the names of each crew were picked out of a hat, mixing together novice and experienced rowers. I rowed with three other people of varying abilities. On winning the first race we felt great. Then we went on to win the second and third rounds and make it into the final. When we went over the finishing line first I was elated. I can still remember how excited I felt receiving the trophy, and how motivated I felt to keep up my rowing. What motivated me was a combination of three factors: enjoying the team work, winning the competition, and receiving the trophy. That motivation has stayed with me ever since! You can also be motivated because of the consequences of not doing something. For example, the fear of a financial penalty through missing the deadline for your tax return motivates...
