Why to get motivated?
Why get motivated should be clear before you go about how to get motivated.
There’s an obvious reason to motivate yourself, to keep you climbing the stairway to success. It’s not just the calories that keep us going, I mean they are, but they just provide you with the energy to do what you’ve decided to do.
The prerequisite that supplies the energy to have a strong determination is your motivational level.
And you have negative motivators to look after too. So that they don’t hold you back from a task.
Moreover, it also has a role to play in being a determinant of your personality. Hence in order to have high aspirations or turn your dreams and wishes into reality, you need to know how to get motivated. Let psychology help you out with this.
So today, we’re going to talk about just that, keep reading.
Theories of Motivation:
Let’s begin with the theories which help in understanding the motivation itself. Let me present you with two key theories which will help you understand how people get motivated.
Need achievement theory (McClelland, 1961; Atkinson, 1974)
Did you ever wonder why some are more motivated to achieve than others? Now we all analyze the chances of achievement and success before we decide to take a task.
Some personality traits are bold and they take high risks because often you have higher rewards with tasks of higher risks. On the other hand, you have people who are more inclined to avoid the risk factor and embrace a task only if the chances of failure are very feeble.
So your motive is to achieve success and avoid failure, hence if your motivation to get involved is more than your fear for failure, you go for it, and otherwise, you don’t.
Another important factor is the ‘probability of success and the ‘incentive for success. What are the chances of success and how much success could a particular task earn you?
The theory explains why high achievers choose difficult tasks and the low achievers prefer the ones which are easier and pose lesser risks.
2. Weiner’s attribution theory (Weiner, 1985)
This theory puts light on how people relate certain attributes to the outcome of a task. For the intelligent beings we are, we tend to rationalize a situation we come across, we seek reasons and these attributes are the reasons. This theory categorizes these attributes in two ways based on:
- Whether they are stable or unstable.
- Whether they are internal or external.
Stable are the ones that are permanent and unstable which are prone to variations hence temporary. And the internal factor is the one that is within our control and the external one is beyond our control.
Now, these attributions affect our self-confidence, our expectations of success and failure, and hence our motivational level.
These are the four attributes that get you motivated according to the theory:
| Internal | External | |
| Stable | Ability | Task difficulty |
| Unstable | Effort | Luck |
Now that you have a gross idea as to what motivation is, theoretically; let me tell you that it’s the fuel to success. And you don’t want yourself to get short of this. Let’s find some tips on how to get motivated.
Here are the 7 best tips on how to get motivated.
1. Be greedy of success:
Have you heard that nothing but soil can fill a man’s belly? Sounds convincing, isn’t it? Man when gets one valley of gold desires for another. You can apply this very greed of yours, pardon me, for your desire for success. For the desire to achieve more, to go further, and reach higher. You’ll only get this if you get to taste some success, it’s like the want more factor.
2. Upgrade your knowledge level to motivate yourself:
The more you know, the better you understand things. And this too in a sense makes you strive for more and boosts your self-confidence which will keep you motivated.
3. Reward yourself to get motivated
Michael LeBoeuf says in his book, The Greatest Management Principle in the World, “What gets rewarded gets done.”
One of the common ways how to get motivated is by rewards. Now reward, isn’t the same for everyone, find what pleases you and give yourself only if it won’t harm you in some other way.
Be very much aware of the situation that if you promise yourself leisure then you have to see to it that it does not lead to procrastination. Don’t punish yourself in the disguise of reward. For instance, taking long sabbaticals might weaken your spark and zeal to finish the task, and hence you may lose motivation.
4. Have the vision to get you motivated
You need to know what you want to achieve and it’s only then that you can plan a road map to reach there. As far as you know that you’re on the right track and you are making progress you’ll be motivated.
5. Tasks and goals
Break down your goals into smaller tasks achievable in relatively smaller durations than the final goal.
This keeps providing the opportunities for the celebration of success and you see the progress literally. You can also keep assessing your progress and hence this also helps you focus in case of any possible deviations or distractions.
6. Let the sequence be variable
We get bored very easily, we sure are good at following routines but motivation is not a routine. You need to keep introducing variations, embracing changes, and modifying old things. Try to have a fresh approach as far as it’s productive.
A change shouldn’t be for the sake of a change for it would be obsolete if it is.
A fresh approach towards a situation promotes innovation and is a good way how to get motivated.
Keep motivating others to stay motivated yourself
It’s not possible not to have what you circulate. When you’re the motivator, the person you motivate the most is yourself.
Motivation isn’t about words, it’s about the energy that you spread around.
Hope this helped you, be motivated, here are some more tips on how to be motivated:
- Have a positive thought
- See the positive side and be optimistic
- Never self-pity
- Share your goals
- Have a good supporting company
- Go out and communicate, also work on your communication skills.
There also is another aspect to look for, what’s your motivation type? Don’t forget to read about the towards and away from motivation types, which is your type, and which one is better?
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