The Science behind Motivation

I am drawing from Self Determination Theory, Grit (Duckworth, 2016), Flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) in creating this handout for a scientific framework of motivation which can be used as a manual for her future and life.

Take charge of your universe

It’s hard to feel motivated when you are not in charge. Can you feel excited if someone else trekked a peak on your behalf? Of course not. Maybe you fail. Maybe it takes you longer to get there. But it will be you who took that call. You will learn from your failures better. You will learn about YOUR weaknesses, YOUR areas of improvement. So, don’t be afraid. Take charge of your life. It’s like learning to ride a bicycle. Or would you rather ride it sitting on the backseat your entire life?

Find what drives you

You want to know the secrets of the universe? Fly airplanes? Be the next Messi? Rock the stage with your dance performance? Or create the next Amazon? What really drives you? What is the one thing you can do for the rest of your life? Finding your destiny is core to living a life filled with motivation and excitement for the future. So go ahead and find what you love.

Do keep in mind, finding what you love can be difficult. Finding what you are willing to commit your life to will be even more difficult. Prepare for a period of disillusionment, confusion and frustration. But that should be alright. It’s one struggle worthy of your time.

It’s quite possible you already know what drives you. If that’s the case, you are one step ahead!

Set your goals and track your progress

Sense of progression is critical to your motivation. Without that, your motivation and along with it your chances in life stand the risk of getting derailed. So set clear goals and milestones. This will also help you plan your course and select the right options for yourself. You will have one judgement criterion to decide whether you should be doing what you are doing right now or should you be doing something else. Whatever keeps you on track becomes the right thing to do.

Are you a future soccer superstar? When do you expect to play your first league match? How much do you need to train today? How far ahead/behind are you on your training goals? Can you afford to have that soda can or junk food today?

Challenge your limits

Kaizen is a Japanese philosophy which literally translates into continuous improvement. Continuous improvement is possible only when you keep pushing your limits – keep challenging yourself to do better, much better than you did ever before. Did you burn 300 calories yesterday? Can you do 350 today? Have you exhausted the last of your physical/mental strength? Can you do some more? It’s by challenging ourselves every day that we can expect to achieve what is not imaginable today. Keep smashing your own records.

Of course, setting too difficult a challenge for yourself is as counterproductive as setting easy goals and can be equally demotivating. You may require to seek professional help/counsel in setting yourself up to the right amount of challenge.

Perseverance is the Key

Giving up is easy. But you can change that fact – with your perseverance.

It will hurt at times. Things will seem impossible. Going back to the ground, picking up that mic again, hitting the same treadmill when the pain from previous day’s workout is still hurting – can all be very daunting. The natural impulse then Is to give up, take a break, relax today. But this can be very dangerous.

You can try this to keep you on course; Every day when you are finishing your training, promise yourself something better for tomorrow and when you wake up the next day, remind yourself of that promise. Planned breaks should be okay but resist the temptation of ad-hoc breaks.

Extrinsic rewards are just distractions

External rewards – praise/money/prizes – will narrow your focus and corrupt/dilute your purpose. These rewards should be treated as the by-product of the journey you put yourself on. Do not follow them. They are nothing but distractions - of the most dangerous kind.

Stay focussed on what you set yourself to achieve. The only reward worth seeking is self-satisfaction achieved by attaining the goals you set for yourself. Are you happy with yourself? Do you feel good about how you are doing (and) what you are doing? Do you love yourself for what you are today - for what you have grown into? What’s the next milestone? What are your plans for that?

Remember, it’s the dog wagging the tail and not the other way round. By staying focussed on your core objectives, you will get all the praise and prizes eventually. But if you shift your focus to those prizes instead, you will lose focus from your core objectives and the prizes in turn. Do the wise thing!

Maintain a healthy relationship with your environment

As a human being we all have a basic need for connectedness. We draw our energy and motivation from our family, friends, teachers, community and even the place where we live, study, train or go to for fun. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that we are interwoven in our environment. And therefore it becomes really important that we maintain a very healthy relationship with our environment.

So, think hard about all your relationships. Which ones are the most important ones for you? Can you say that it’s in a healthy state right now? Make amends, if not. Engage in community service – it will help you connect with your larger community. If you do this, you won’t feel alone in your pursuit.

Seek help

An ego-centric attitude will drive you away from success. The need is to be practical. No matter what your mission is, there will always be someone who will be familiar with some part of its course. And the best strategy is to employ that familiarity/knowledge to your own benefit. Whatever helps!

Never shy away from seeking help. It won’t make you smaller. On the contrary, it can only make you bigger, stronger and better.

Rest assured, if you are doing everything mentioned above, you are on the right course. Cheers!