In life we need energy to live, to exist
and to do things with our life and with others. Yet sometimes we can
miss life through talking ourselves out of it. Just like this:
• I just can't be bothered
• It's just too much effort, I'm tired
• It's not worth it, who cares
• Sure, one of these days...
• Yes, I know that I should, but...
• It's just too much effort, I'm tired
• It's not worth it, who cares
• Sure, one of these days...
• Yes, I know that I should, but...
Sound familiar? If this is
you, and you are saying this to yourself and or to others, you are
lacking one of the key ingredients in the recipe of life, MOTIVATION:
MOTIVATION; the psychological feature that arouses an individual to action toward a wanted goal; the reason for the action
So,
we can define motivation but does that help? Usually not enough! What
is this thing called 'motivation'? Where do you find it? How can we get
motivated?
The first secret to share here is Secret No.1
'motivation is not a thing' it is not a noun. You will never trip over
motivation that someone has left in the bathroom, nor will you find a
chunk of it in the fridge! Has anyone ever bought a kilo of motivation
from the shop? I think not!
If that is the case, then what is
motivation, how can we be motivated and more importantly how can we
motivate ourselves? Would you like unlimited motivation, does this
interest you? If so, read on because that is the design of this article.
Motivation
is a set of thinking strategies or processes that we run for
ourselves... Did you notice what you just read? '...That we run
ourselves! What does this mean? It means that we are responsible for how
motivated or not we are! It means there is no point looking to another
to provide motivation for us; in fact it is impossible for another
person to motivate us, only we can decide what is or is not motivational
to us. So Secret No.2 to motivation is 'we are responsible for the
amount of motivation we have'. Can you start to sense the power you have
over yourself when you take responsibility for you?
What is it
that drives us to feel motivated? What drives motivation? Further, how
does motivation drive us toward what we want, need or believe? What is
this fuel? The answer brings us to secret No. 3, 'emotions are the fuel
of motivation' and ultimately are what drive us! Let us take a look at
how emotions 'drive or move us to action, the best place to start may be
with the word 'emotion'.
E-motion, as we look more closely at this word we can see its structure.
'E-nergy in motion';(e motion). Our emotions are our energy. Typically we can put emotions' into three distinctive categories:
• Positive
• Neutral
• Negative
As we can define our emotions into these three
simple types, then what does that also say about our energy? Well, we
can make the same distinctions for our types of energy; positive,
neutral and negative energy. This leads us to Secret No.4 'People are
motivated and can motivate themselves using these 3 different types of
energy' so can you!
The affect of positive emotion often gives us
the energy to move toward what we want or need, we somehow feel pulled
or drawn (motivated). As we experience neutral emotions we can 'take it
or leave it' and with negative emotions we experience discomfort, a form
of pain and we (are motivated) try to get or move away from the cause
of such. We can represent this with a diagram:
The Axis of Motivation
Whether
we move away from the pain and consequences or toward the good feelings
or outcomes in our life, both create energy that we put into motion to
do something. This is motivation. Now what this gives us is a strategy
for developing unlimited motivation for anything we want to do or have
in life.
Typically, human beings have a preference to which end of
the motivational axis they motivate or get motivated by. We can ask
ourselves some questions to identify our own preference for getting
motivated. Ask yourself the following questions and notice if you are
motivated toward what you want or away from what you don't want:
I get out of bed in the morning;
1. Because I have to (away from)
2. Because I want to start the day (toward)
I take my medicine regularly;
1. Because I want to be well and live life as fully as I can (toward)
2. Because if I don't I will become ill or possibly die (away from)
When asked I will go out and socialise with others;
1. Because I like to meet and be with other people (toward)
2. Because it is rude not too and I don't want to upset anyone (away from)
I keep my home tidy;
1. Because I like it like that (toward)
2. Because I get moaned at if I don't, or someone unexpected may come round (away from)
I understand that regular exercise is healthy for you;
1. And I exercise because I want to get the health benefits from it (toward)
2. And I exercise because if I don't my health may get worse (away from)
I do things;
1. Because I can
2. Because I have to
How many 'towards' or 'away from' did you
identify with? Most people will find themselves using motivation at
just one end of the axis, either mainly toward or mainly away from.
Now that you have this understanding on how YOU are typically motivated, we can move to Secret No.5.
This
secret is the one that brings all the other secrets together and will
show you how to get unlimited amounts of motivation for the rest of your
life! Secret No.5 says 'Combine both away from and toward energies at
the same time and you will create a personal motivation that propels you
into action'! By becoming aware of the other energy available to you,
at the other end of the motivation axis you can ramp up the emotional
motivation to get you to take action, to feel motivated and finally in
control of you!
Either now or later, take 5 minutes to take
yourself through the unlimited motivation pattern below. These x simple
questions can be applied to anything that you need more motivation for,
any time, anywhere. After you have used this pattern a couple of times
you will be motivating yourself and possibly other like an expert!
The Unlimited Amounts of Motivation Pattern
1.
Identify something in your life you want to have or be more motivated
about (This can be anything, getting out more, going to the gym, or
doing the housework, anything...)
2. Once you have identified something, write it down so you don't forget what you are working on
3. Notice your current motivation style associated with this activity, are you motivated away from or toward?
2. Once you have identified something, write it down so you don't forget what you are working on
3. Notice your current motivation style associated with this activity, are you motivated away from or toward?
If you are away from
read and ask yourself part A, if you are toward, read and ask yourself
part B
Part A, You are moving away from the pain or consequences,
but you can put up with it for awhile. First notice how real the
discomfort is, what else could be a problem or even more painful if you
don't take action on this.
To add even more energy to your
motivation notice what you will get that is good or pleasurable once you
have taken the action or started the activity. Notice how good it feels
and how good it will feel when you have completed this activity... So
as you experience all of this about that activity, notice just how much
energy you have for taking the step to be doing it... Go do it then!
Part
B, You are moving toward the activity, but it doesn't pull on you
enough to take any action. First notice just what attracts or pulls you
toward it in the first place, that's right, now as you think about that,
ask yourself, what is important to me about this...
What does the
importance of this mean to you, how do you feel about it now, knowing
this? Just imagine what it would mean if you never did this, you would
never realise this meaning and its importance. It could be the start of
procrastinating on other important and meaningful things in life, you
wouldn't want that to be true would you? Be with this awareness, notice
the heightened pleasure and possible pain if you don't act on this as
soon as you can... Just now, notice HOW much energy and motivation you
know have for this... Get on with it then!
Congratulate yourself
on doing or starting the activity, notice how well you can motivate you
to take the actions that are important to you. Notice the sense of
independence and pride you have for yourself as you read this and start
to take the first steps to becoming expert at developing your own
motivation, imagine the possibilities you now have for your life...now.
Article Source:
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