Motivation is a valuable and important component to success. Without it goals can never be accomplished. We need highly charged and emotional motivation to surmount obstacles and difficulties that will most assuredly cross our path in pursuit of a worthwhile objective. The main questions then are, what is motivation and how can motivation be developed? Fortunately, both questions have simple, but profoundly important answers. We'll look at each one separately. What is motivation? The definition for motivation is pretty straight forward. Motivation is the desire to do something based on an individuals needs or wants When a person has a need or want, they will motivate themselves to perform certain functions or actions to satisfy that need or want. Needs and wants will differ from person to person, depending on individual interests, tastes and desires. There are three categories of needs: basic, security and ego driven. Ego or self-interest needs are really not needs at all, but wants. We think we need them, but actually we don't as far as survival goes, hence the term wants. Basic needs are just that, basic, such as food, water, shelter, clothing and air. We need these for survival. Security needs are based on safety, job security, financial stability and so on. Ego-driven wants come from the need to be loved, to find creative expression, a sense of importance and identity, and to be accepted by others. Each individual is driven differently by the three categories of needs. My son Alex and his friend Aaron have a rock band called Recycled America. Obviously, they're motivated by the need to express themselves creatively, but every category feeds off one another. Recycled America are using the creative force of music to be accepted by others and through the music, achieve security and a sense of well being. All are working together, but the dominant need is creative expression. Others will be driven by a different needs depending on focus, goals and psychological make-up. That in a nutshell is the characteristics of motivation. How can motivation be developed? Motivation can be developed by deciding on a goal or outcome you want to achieve and focusing on that desired outcome until it moves you to take action for its attainment. If the goal is strong enough the motivation will come naturally. If you can't get up and perform the actions needed to accomplish the goal, then you don't really want it. Simple as that and no amount of visualization or self-talk will help you. Life is based on action. Movement creates a result. Like we were taught in high school physics: every action has an equal or opposite reaction. Life is movement. The greatest idea in the world is nothing until you take action on it. Then and only then, does it become reality. Pick a goal that inspires and lights a fire in your soul, focus on its attainment without distractions, smash obstacles that stand in the way, and take action to make your vision a reality. Follow those simple steps and motivation will be as natural to you as breathing. That is the dynamics of motivation. |
