In the theater of life a leading actor is Motivation.! Every day we feel like doing or not doing things, driven by our motivations. In the end we are our actions.
I will break down what motivation really is,which is a very tough definition to make, how motivation works, theories developed about motivation, misconceptions about it and some tips. Tips about temporary motivation (by motivational speeches, music, videos, quotes) and a “technique” introduced by Amy Cuddy, a Harvard researcher who studies body language (a totally groundbreaking research).
Let’s move to what motivation is.
What is motivation. Definition of motivation !
The definition of motivation is a tough one because there are too many aspects to consider. However if I were to define it in one sentence it will be : “The Force we feel within towards an action or behavior.! “
Scientists define motivation as the reason or reasons behind an action or a behavior.
Sometimes it is easier to change than to remain the same, it is easier to stand up from the couch and do what you have to do, it’s easier to find courage than excuses. That’s a part of motivation’s definition : it’s getting more uncomfortable to not do something than to actually do it.
I would hope my whole life was filled with motivation about things that I want to accomplish. Although this seems impossible, we can make steps to get close to this state by understanding how motivation works and how to get motivated.
How motivation works.
Motivation is the trigger we pull so the runners start the race!!
Human, being an animal specie, has in his DNA genes about things that motivate him no matter what. Imagine it like a pyramid of motivators. What would motivate us more?
While Reading bellow, keep in mind that we get motivated when we lack something, not when we already have it.
First of all is psychological needs and whatever it includes. Its easy to understand them,just imagine being in the jungle having nothing. What would you do first: Eat (food water), sexual reproduction (keep the specie alive!).
Then follows the safety needs. That includes shelter, protection from threat,deprivation and danger.
Third category is socials needs. It consists of the desire for acceptance, affiliation, love and friendship! This category is a tricky one because from now on socializing etc. comes in game!
Last but not least category is egoistic needs, that includes two types. The first type refers to self-esteem along with self-confidence, independence, achievement, competence, and knowledge. The second type refers with reputation, status, recognition, and respect from colleagues. Egoistic need are difficult to fulfill.
Satisfying those needs is how motivations works.
Scientists suggests the above in a pyramid, but it varies! So I will let you make your own!
What is your pyramid considering these?
Misconceptions about Motivation.
Some of them are obvious others may not. I will analyze 4 of them that i believe are the most important… And the play of guilt on all of them and on motivation.
1.Waiting for the feeling.
Well we all know that. Waiting for a feeling we actually don’t know to do an action we never done? It’s like waiting for Santa Claus to actually come (oops).! The cure is to simple take action. I will analyze that later on this blog post.
2.Money!
Money! Most of people out there believe that money can buy anything. I won’t go further in this belief and I will get straight to the point, money can’t buy motivation. If we go to work just for the money we will have to change it! Great researches have been done. I will leave the link here of a video and the stage is yours….
3.Deadlines/ Setting Goals
Setting goals and deadlines is a good thing to do overall. Although a very difficult task or an impossible deadline will discourage you or make you feel overwhelmed instead of motivate you.
In the other hand we can use them in our favor. Create a “to do” list with simple achievable goals every day. The deadline for easy and difficult tasks, giving difficult tasks more time or using the chunk it up technique!(break difficult tasks to smaller easier ones ). For greater goals we better use a reasonable yet challenging deadline. As a result you will be motivated and not discouraged or overwhelmed.
4.Each one has different motivators.
We ask others what motivated them to achieve a goal. That’s a good thing to do as an inspiration, but keep in mind that we, human beings, don’t share the same motivators. That means whatever motivates one could or could not motivate the other. Each one of us has it’s own motivators.
Misconceptions that create Guilt!
The above misconceptions create a feeling of guilt.
Waiting for the feeling to come ,before we act. creates a feeling of guilt and an endless loop. We wait for the feeling to come, it doesn’t appear and then we get disappointed and feel guilty we didn’t start something. As a result we never start something and in addition we have the feeling of guilt too.
The same feeling of guilt and disappointment we feel about money, setting deadlines/goals and when we confuse our motivations with others’.
Thus we feel guilt, a guilt that we did not push ourselves as much as we could or should to change our action and behaviors. Thus I believe guilt is the opposite of motivation.!
Temporary motivation.
Do Not stop when you are tired,
Stop when You are DONE!
If you search the web with just the word “motivation”, you will find many videos, speeches, quotes (phrases) , music and for sure articles and blogs about it. Although many of them are informative about motivation. There are Motivational speech, motivational quote, motivational music and motivational video. I will refer to them as “Temporary Motivators”.
Temporary Motivators can be used to motivate you the given moment because they contain words and phrases delivered in an extremely powerful way.
We understand life from different points of view. So do we, with motivation. Different video or speech will motivate different people. Find what suits you and keep it!
I remember that I took my motivational phrases and quotes from motivational videos.
I like to read mine every once in a while so I have a motivational note on the desktop of my PC. You can do the same or use a motivational poster on your room.
As a result Temporary Motivators may become our “push”, when in need.
How to get motivated.
Create ritual that triggers action.
That’s an extremely powerful one, and I may make a difference post on.
As simple as it gets it means : connect a small piece of action before your main activity you want to get motivated, and focus on doing it every time. Literally it can be anything. Although it’s up to you, i will give you some examples.
Let’s say i want to get motivated to go to the gym everyday at early morning. I have to find a habit that it is extremely easy to do that i can’t skip easily or make excuses. I could for example sleep with my gym clothes and have my shoes near bed. Or when i wake up the first thing is to pit my gym t-shirt on. It can be anything like calling a taxi to be there in 10 to take you to the gym. You get the idea. Although the habit should be something that get you closer to your goal and not something irrelevant.
Thus we create a habit of motivation. There are three simple rules in this habit:
- Make it as easy as it gets.
- It should get moving towards the goal.
- Follow the same pattern every single time!
The flow theory.
This theory is simple. When we do something new or a step further from where we are now it must be challenging!
Not too easy because we will feel unmotivated to keep going. It’s like playing tennis with your little brother that merely hits the ball. And not too hard because we will feel overwhelmed and that we don’t stand a chance. It’s like playing tennis with Roger Federer!
The key point here is to play tennis with someone equal or a bit better. This would be challenging and motivate us to keep going, giving our best self.
Thus, to better get motivated the task or goal has to be challenging!!
The “do something principle”.
When you feel like there is no chance of you getting on your feet, you feel unmotivated the key is to take action.
It doesn’t matter how slowly you go as long as you Do Not stop!
Confucius.
So far inspiration goes first followed by motivation that triggers action. Mark manson (in his great book “the subtle art of not giving a f*ck” ) purposes the idea of the” do something principle ” That’s because when we at last take action, inspiration – motivation – action, we realize that it creates an endless loop.
Inspiration – motivation – action – inspiration – motivation – action-…
Taking advantage of this knowledge we can create the chain ourselves starting from the end, action.
As a result we no longer have to wait or anticipate an inspiration (most of the times, emotional inspiration), but we take action on what we wanted the inspiration to come.
Thus we now the only thing we have to do is to choose our goal and just take action.
The opposite of boredom is excitement.
Action – inspiration – motivation
One of the keys to getting motivated is to make it easy to start and easy at start.
Close your eyes and imagine for a moment your future self. What your future self would thing if you take or do not take action?
Fake it until you make it. Or Better : Fake it until you become it.
In her revolutionary research Amy Cuddy discovered that we are able to alter our “mood”, our confidence with our body language(watch the video here) . Just before an interview or a college presentation sit or stand with open body language (sit with arms open and legs on the desk, or stand in superman stance). As a result our brain becomes positive, we feel that we got it and we are more confident. Thus we have the motivators we need.
An open body language is generally a good habit to develop and especially what we need a motivator to keep moving.
As i mentioned above, action brings motivation. So when we feel confident about taking action then we get motivated. Think it like a domino. We trigger one thing and, Slowly everything collapse!
Procrastination
Have you ever felt like a couch muffin wanted to do absolutely nothing, despite the fact that you have work to do ?
Yea me too! It’s called procrastination. It’s the act to voluntarily delay or postpone something, that we said we will do, despite anticipating that we will be worse off because of that delay.
Use procrastination in your favor. Think that if you enjoy now, delaying an activity, you will “suffer” later, the “suffer” could be anything.
The point is that after the job is done you will enjoy far more than on procrastinating.! Mentally and physically!
Your mind is only a suggestion engine.
Conclusion
The opposite of happiness isn’t sadness – it’s boredom.!
Tim Ferris
The better we understand ourselves the more motivated we will be. I use many of the above techniques, theories and understandings of motivation. And they work.
The flow theory, they do something principle and the motivation habit are great ways to get motivated. They can be used all together and separately. I suggest to try all and see what fits you making the necessary adjustments. I recommend to use them all along.
About me.
If I want to get motivated i use a kind of visualization! I close my eyes,take 3 deep breaths, settle to normal breathing and then concentrate on my goal. I then ask myself if I skip now, will I be closer to that goal??! How i feel about it? That triggers my motivation!