Unlocking Your Motivational Power

When you’re actively engaged in personal development, and striving to be the best version of yourself that you can be, developing an understanding that motivation is something that’s unique to each individual, and what that means for you, can be transformative.

Motivation is the driving force, the energy that propels you towards personal and professional fulfillment. It’s your inner power, unique as your own signature, determining what you do and how effectively you do it.

The Nature of Motivation

Motivation is the underlying energy that influences all our actions. It can range from intrinsic motivators, which are fueled by personal satisfaction and joy, to extrinsic motivators, which are driven by external rewards, such as money or recognition.

Personalizing Your Motivation

Each person’s motivation can be complex - shaped by individual experiences, values, and goals, which makes it uniquely personal, and that’s the real power of motivation. To truly leverage this power, it’s helpful to understand and align with what uniquely drives you, rather than adopting motivational strategies that work for others but don’t work for you.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

• Intrinsic Motivation: This comes from an internal desire to perform activities for their own sake. For instance, someone might engage in sports because they genuinely relish the challenge and the physical activity, not for any external reward. This is why I love to play tennis as often as I can.
• Extrinsic Motivation: This type of motivation is driven by external factors. A classic example is working overtime not because of the joy the work brings, but for the tangible reward of a raise, a possible promotion or bonus.

Strategies for Discovering and Enhancing Your Motivation

1. Reflect on Past Successes: Analyze moments when you felt highly motivated and successful. Understanding these will provide clues to what fuels your drive.
2. Align Goals with Values: Knowing your core values helps you to set goals and intentions that resonate deeply with you, making it easier to stay motivated.
3. Experiment with New Activities: Exploration can often uncover new passions and motivations, which enrich your personal and professional life.
4. Set Clear, Achievable Goals: Clearly defined goals and intentions provide a roadmap and make the journey towards them more engaging.
5. Build a Supportive Network: Surround yourself with people who inspire and encourage your growth. Recognize this may or may not include family members.
6. Maintain a Motivation Journal: Documenting your motivational journey can help sustain you, especially during difficult times, allowing you to revisit and reassess what works best for you.
7. Celebrate Small Wins: Recognizing and celebrating progress keeps the motivational fires burning. Never underestimate the power of celebration.

The Emotional Connection

Connecting emotionally with your goals will dramatically enhance your motivation. When your aspirations resonate with you emotionally, they magnetically pull you towards them, reducing the effort needed to achieve them. It’s vital that these motivations are truly yours (not someone else’s), reflecting personal desires rather than external expectations.

Conclusion

Embracing your unique motivational drivers leads to more effective goal achievement and ultimately to a more satisfying and fulfilling life. By understanding what genuinely motivates you, you harness your innate power to shape your destiny in alignment with your deepest desires and aspirations.

If you’re not totally clear on your top values, here’s a list you can refer to that will help you. Make a note of all that resonate, and then see if you can narrow them down to identify your top 5 values – the ones that are most important to you.

Even if you have done this exercise before, it is helpful to revisit it from time to time as your values (what’s most important to you at this particular time) can change.