A radical approach to motivation

As a concept, 'motivation' seems to serve us well. If we have a goal and we have the will, desire, and drive to get there, we are said to be?motivated. Good signs of motivation are:

• Progress & engagement
• Openness in language when quizzed about goals and progress to date
• Openness and congruence in body language
• Usually willing to tell others of our goal and plans towards achieving it
• Not 'overly' keen/acquiescing/compliant
• Reporting with pride the milestones that have been reached

If we are unmotivated to change we will mostly display the opposite characteristics.

We are more likely to be motivated when we have set a goal,?are internally rather than externally motivated, and our goals are SMART.?

Now, most change makers would no doubt agree that one of the most common facilitators or barriers regarding progress to change is motivation. It’s most likely to be one of the significant factors for us in not reaching our goals.

So let us take a look at our radical approach to motivation where change is easy and maintenance is difficult, that turns conventional ideas around change, on their head.

The common cultural discourse we hear is 'problem maintenance is easy and change is hard' e.g.,

?"I just reach for the gateaux without thinking, but I've tried everything to lose weight"?

"I get wound up so easy. I try to stop but it's impossible when he's around"?

"Smoking relaxes me. It's so hard to stop though. I've tried patches, inhalers, you name it"

The idea that continuing a problem is easy and change is hard is a cultural myth (or real only because we rehearse saying it is this way). Is it really so easy to maintain a problem? Let's take the example of someone wishing to quit smoking and claims it is easy, relaxing and just something they do without thinking. In fact, they invest in:

• Irritability when they need a cigarette
• Time wasted while smoking
• Huge efforts by the body to expel toxins and fight infection
• More illness, hospitalisation, and possibly a chronic illness such as cancer
• Special trips to the shop when they run out
• Standing in queues at the tobacco counter in shops
• Standing in the cold outside bars, restaurants, work and the home if smoking is banned
• Endless talk about giving up (in their head and with others)?

Change is presented as 'hard work', 'impossible', or 'needing a miracle cure'. This is another myth. Far from being difficult, change is easy and brings endless benefits (mostly the opposite of the list above). Many people who have stopped smoking or some other habit report suddenly deciding to quit, the time was right, and without any fuss, they changed and never looked back.??

In sum, problem maintenance is harder than frequently claimed, and change is easier.?

One reason this discourse exists is that it serves a purpose. For the individual concerned, presenting change as hard, excuses and legitimises the continuation of the problem – and many problems do bring rewards. Making out that maintenance is easy serves a similar purpose – the two processes work together as two sides of the same coin with the best option being to avoid change.?

In sum, we need to reframe change as being easy and remind ourselves how much investment has been going into problem maintenance. This gives change purpose, direction, and makes it less daunting.