“The cold water won’t get warmer if you jump later!”
How does motivation come about?
Motivation describes the entirety of all motives and motives that lead to a willingness to act. What motivates people can vary greatly. In most cases, a desired change in life, the emotional world, or the current state is the basis.
Motivation arises from dissatisfaction or the desire for improvement.
The word is of Latin origin and derives from the verb “movere”, which means “to move” or “to drive”.
Anyone who opens the fridge and cooks something to eat can do so for a variety of reasons. These can be, for example:
- Hunger
- boredom
- friends are expected for dinner
- Groceries are about to expire
So different motivations can lead to the same process and goal.
Biochemically, it has been found that motivation can be found when neurotransmitters are released from our bodies.
In particular, adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine, vasopressin, and arginine play a central role here.
Extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation
The sources of motivation can be intrinsic or extrinsic, i.e. they can come from outside or from within. There are five possible sources of motivation, three of which are extrinsic and two are intrinsic.
Extrinsic sources of motivation
- Instrumental motivation: Behavior is stimulated by promised rewards. Examples include an employee showing up for work for a salary, a painter working on a painting to sell, an artist hoping for applause, or a dog doing tricks for treats.
- External self-image: Here you want to meet the expectations that other people have of you. For example, managers are expected to bring a company on the road to success and we expect cleaners to keep offices clean and tidy at all times. In football, we expect the goalkeeper not to concede and the striker to score a lot.
- Internalization of goals: The goals of a group or company that you feel a part of is regularly made your own. For example, if a car manufacturer praises the fact that excellent electric motors are developed and sold, many employees take on this goal and draw motivation from it.
It is generally said that extrinsic motivators are not particularly strong and only motivate temporarily. They’re useful for finding short-term motivation but don’t expect a long-term or particularly powerful boost.
For example, if you come to work because of the salary, you can opt for a more lucrative job, find that money doesn’t make you happy, become financially independent, inherit, or win the lottery. If money was the only motivation, you will then quit the job.
Intrinsic sources of motivation
- Intrinsic Process Motivation: Here a person completes the task for their own sake. For example, the storm enjoys playing soccer and enjoys it. He would also play soccer if he wasn’t being paid a salary and spectators weren’t applauding. He follows his passion.
- Internal self-image: The person concerned has a value that is deeply rooted in them and that drives them. For example, the paramedic believes in helping those in need, the teacher wants to share his knowledge, and the researcher wants to make the world a better place.
Intrinsic motivation can be particularly strong and fulfilling. The majority of exceptional talents and top performers are intrinsically motivated. Hardly anyone who does not feel the urge to do so from within themselves is able to show up for work on time, stay longer and give everything they have, even when they are ill, depressed, or in adverse circumstances. It also has a long-term effect, because your values and visions usually do not change as quickly as external factors.
“Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of personal choice. It is not something that awaits you, but something that you create yourself.”
11 tips to find motivation
The following tips should help you to always be motivated to tackle your tasks and be successful. Most tips are long-term oriented and intrinsic in nature. However, you will also find a few tricks that can help you in the short term if you are listless.
Find a good “why”.
If you want to be permanently motivated, you have to know exactly why he or she is acting. The “why” should not only be based on external rewards. So if you only go to work for the money, you will not be able to be more motivated than your colleagues and achieve more in the long term. If you only exercise to be admired for your athletic body, this drive is not strong enough. Think about what else drives you and work out these thoughts.
Be open and honest with yourself here. If you only have extrinsic sources of motivation, then admit it to yourself!
We will talk later about what you can do in such a case.
Plan your future
A strong “why” is the design of one’s own life. We all have things that we are unhappy about and we wanted that to be changed. Take some time and think about how you want your life to be. Do you want to be debt free and financially independent? Do you dream of a house, an intact relationship, a family, and health? Excellent!
Make a plan for how you can achieve your goals and plan your future. With every sports unit and with every working day you get one step closer to your goal. This way you will be much more motivated and you will see why you are busy and why you also want to tackle unpleasant things.
Contribute to a better world
Man is a social being and we enjoy each other’s company. Social interrelations are very complex and our world only works with social interaction. We all need help occasionally and help out occasionally. Those who support other people and encourage them to experience great feelings of happiness.
If you manage to achieve your personal goals and thereby contribute to make other people’s lives better as well, you will be able to find motivation in this. For example, if you want to lose weight, you should consider how your newfound health will help you to be there and take care of your family for as long as possible.
If you dream of building a house, this is how you help your family have a roof over their heads, a new living space is created, your children can grow up better, have more peace for schoolwork, and construction companies employ employees. Maybe you can also do something to save the climate with sustainable construction.
Even if you have a very negative job, you can contribute to making the world a better place and you are more motivated. For example, if you’re working toward a promotion, you could use a portion of the associated raise to support charitable causes. As your influence in the company increases, you can also work through them to improve the company’s goals and business practices and thus make a contribution.
Learn new things regularly
“One day you’ll wake up and you won’t have time for the things you always wanted to do. Do them now!”
People want to constantly grow and improve. For this reason, you should take the time to learn new skills. They also help to find your passion and you get to know each other better.
It doesn’t matter what it is, it mostly depends on what you enjoy and enjoy doing. New sports, professional knowledge, manual skills, languages and much more are well-suited.
In this way you can bring variety into your life, train your brain, discard old habits, and open up new possibilities and perspectives.
Sleep well regularly
We need healthy sleep to be fit and motivated. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in bed. More important is how much quality, restful sleep you get.
Here’s how to get better sleep.
A healthy diet
Our body is only ready to perform if we provide it with sufficient fuel in the form of healthy nutrition. Lots of water, foods that are as natural as possible and the right level of energy deserve special mention here.
Anyone who regularly eats a lot of sugar relies on fast food and lack of vitamins, nutrients and phytochemicals will not be able to find strong motivation.
Physical fitness
A healthy body is the basis for outstanding performance and deep-rooted motivation. For this reason, you should make sure that you are doing well, that you are fit, and that you are getting enough exercise.
This does not mean that you have to become a competitive athlete. It is enough if you do about 20 minutes of sport every day and look for exercise in everyday life. If you are no longer physically fit, you will quickly become mentally sluggish and your motivation will suffer.
Even short walks, stretching exercises and taking the stairs are welcome activities for your physical health.
A book a month
In books you find the knowledge of the world. Regularly reading an interesting book stimulates your brain and makes it flexible. Compared to the television, the printed letters leave room for creativity and offer you the opportunity to imagine yourself in the described situations and to color them in.
Think your way into new worlds, deal with topics that are foreign to you, and collect new ideas that can inspire you. Here are a few suggested topics:
- Mindset
- Business
- Money
- Health
- friendships and relationships
- Technology
- medicine
- Story
Gain new impressions
Whoever is in the same company, watches the same programs, and sits in the same room hardly gets any new stimuli and gets stuck in the same patterns. To be able to break out, you have to fill up on new impressions. This can be stimulating conversations, travel, a book, a change of scenery, or exciting leisure activity.
Experiencing something new again can be very motivating and bring you to your better thoughts.
Incrementally bring about lasting change
Many people can find motivation by realizing that hard work pays off. So if you are pursuing a big goal, you should break it down into small sub-goals and achieve them step by step. You will see from the partial successes that you are getting closer to your goal every day, which is incredibly motivating.
Record your successes, for example in a success diary, and find joy in staying on the ball. If you have completed a step, you are welcome to treat yourself to a small reward. This keeps morale up and indicates that you’re on the right track.