29/12/2017
This is one of those articles that really place things in perspective...
How would your life change if you knew that motivation is a skill you can learn?
Would you put in any effort to learn how to motivate yourself?
If you experience motivation as an elusive state that comes and goes I have good news for you.
You can change that!
What is motivation anyway?
Here’s a good definition of motivation: “The ability to do what needs to be done, without influence or coercion from other people or situations”. People with self- motivation can find a reason and the willpower to complete a task, even when challenging, without giving up or needing another to encourage them.
Can you see why the ability to motivate yourself is such a highly prized skill, for the possessor of it and for the organization that hires you to exercise it for their benefit?
Where does motivation come from?
Many of my clients, when they first start coaching, expect that motivation should come from outside of themselves. They are waiting for someone to motivate them, their coach, a boss, a partner or some other person in their life. They are delighted when they learn how easy it is to motivate themselves and get control of that important aspect of their lives. The truth is that someone else cannot motivate you because they don’t have access to your inner state which is where motivation takes place.
If you want to be able to motivate yourself consistently to do what you need to do, a good place to start will be to learn as much as possible about managing your mind and your emotions. When you take responsibility for motivating yourself you work from your own power and drive your own destiny.
Know where you are going:
Before we look at three ways in which you can motivate yourself let’s look at an important underlying requirement for self-motivation. It is necessary that you have a basic vision for your life. Know the direction that you want your life to go. Without this your brain has no direction and it becomes difficult to make appropriate decisions about your life, let alone get you moving. Your vision is not carved in a marble tablet and you can change it if things change in your life. But at any time you need to give your brain a general direction in which to move.
One of the ways to do this is to look at the main areas of your life and for each area decide what you want. Areas to consider would include: career, finances, relationships, health, family, personal growth. You don’t have to come up with a detailed goal for each area, just a general direction will do. This will benefit you in many ways, especially with decision-making about your future.
Here are three ways you can improve your motivation.
1. Language and inner dialogue
Of all the skills to improve your motivation this is the most important. One of the greatest influences on your internal state is how you talk to yourself. Not only the words you use but also the tone and volume of your inner voice. Much of this takes place on an unconscious level and may be difficult to become aware of. This will require some patience on your side
Spend some time observing yourself and see if you can catch your language when you make a mistake. Now try and catch your inner dialogue. That voice inside your head that normally has a lot to say about your actions.
What language are you using? Are you cursing yourself when you do something wrong? Are you calling yourself names? Stupid? Idiot? What effect does this have on your inner state? Is it putting you down?
When you do something right do you give yourself some praise or do you brush it aside and focus on what is next or something else that needs to be done? Or do you pat yourself on the back and stop for a moment to celebrate your achievement?
If you want to see how humans learn naturally, then watch a small child when they are learning to walk. They fall down often and get up and try again, over and over. This is the natural way for human beings to learn. By trial and error and by focusing on what they do right.
You will feel much more motivated if you used encouraging, loving language with yourself. Focus on what you did right and resolve to do better on the other things next time. Treat yourself as a loving parent would treat their child and you will be amazed at how you will improve your motivation.
2. Brain training -
If you don’t know it yet it is now widely accepted by scientists that you influence the flow of brain chemicals in your body with your thoughts. There are some complicated chemicals and pathways in your brain that cause different feelings in your body. You don’t need to understand all of them. One chemical that you need to get on speaking terms with is dopamine. This is because this is the chemical that is responsible for much of your good feelings especially the feeling of reward that we humans so crave.
Try this: remind yourself of a time when you were motivated or achieved something and how good that felt. Remember what you saw, what you heard and how it felt. Your body will remember the good feeling if you call up those experiences - that’s what dopamine feels like.
Doesn’t it make sense to learn how to get your brain to give you more of the good stuff?
Another way to ensure a regular dopamine hit is to break a project, or any task for that matter, into bite size goals. Have a mini outcome for each of the smaller tasks with a reward for completion. When you reach these mini-goals your brain will reward you with some dopamine to motivate yourself.
3. Frequent feedback on progress
The third way in which you can improve your motivation is to break your project or task into bite size pieces as described above. When you stop to enjoy your reward make a conscious effort to think about how far you’ve progressed with the task as a whole and how far off completion you are. This gives your brain a feeling of certainty which it craves and will improve your motivation to complete the task.
So there you have it. Give your brain some direction and follow the three easy strategies to significantly increase your motivation for any task. Good luck!!
Actions you can take to make this learning real:
1. Watch your language and inner dialogue. Talk to yourself as a loving parent would talk to a beloved child.
2. Acknowledge what you do right and give yourself credit for it. Enjoy a dopamine hit in response to a little self- praise and train your brain to motivate yourself.
3. Break projects and tasks into bite size pieces and give yourself frequent feedback and rewards. This will ensure a steady stream of dopamine to keep you motivated.
