It’s important to think periodically about why is motivation needed for achieving our goals and dreams. Psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar has explained that motivation can be both an internal and external driving force that keeps us striving toward improvement and success.
For many, this journey involves commitment, building positive habits, and staying focused on what we want to accomplish. We often face different challenges that require us to study, change, and adapt, even during bad times. Understanding our desires and the reasons behind our actions is linked to happiness and helps us focus on what’s important.
Studying with the end in mind, for example, can make passing a hard exam feel like a great victory. Seeking praise and self-love acts as an ally when times get tough, driving us to reach higher in our hierarchy of needs. This eternal push to achieve can feel challenging, but it’s what leads to lasting fulfillment.
So, keep striving, spending time on your passions, and remember that each step brings you closer to the happiness you seek.
What is Motivation?
Motivation is the drive that pushes us to achieve our goals and meet our needs in life. It can be influenced by many factors, like personal values, desires, and even expectations. Sometimes, it’s easy to gain motivation, while at other times, we might lose it, especially when facing challenging situations. To understand what motivation truly means, we must look at how it affects our actions and decision-making.
For example, when we set goals, our reasons to act or behave in a particular way come from our drives and the role they play in our daily lives. Research, including findings from Psychology Today, shows that motivation is a key predictor of success. This is why finding ways to stay motivated, even when things change, is essential to complete tasks and continue growing.
The Feeling of Motivation
The feeling of motivation often falls and rises as we go through different kinds of experiences in life. It’s normal to think that staying constantly motivated should be easy, but in reality, we can sometimes fall into the trap of self-doubt or beating ourselves up. There are two types: internal and external motivation. From my own experience, I’ve learned that taking some time to understand what drives us can make it easier to get back on track when our motivation dips.
Types of Motivation
There are two main types of motivation: extrinsic and intrinsic. Some experts even mention a third type, where people are driven by family, work, or the need for support.
Understanding these different motivations helps you assess your own life and make positive changes.
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation is about doing an activity because it brings inherent satisfaction rather than any external rewards. Intrinsic motivation comes from within an individual, like the satisfaction you get when you finish a challenging puzzle or solve a problem. Think of how young infants naturally grasp, throw, or even bite objects they come across.
They aren’t driven by any external products or pressures; it’s just fun for them. This kind of motivation continues as we grow older. For example, adults often read novels, watch movies, or do gardening not for a reward, but simply because these activities are intrinsically motivating. We act on things that bring joy or challenge, which helps us see a clearer picture of why some activities feel right.
In contrast to extrinsic motivation, where actions are tied to a separable consequence, intrinsic motivation drives us because the process itself is satisfying.
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation refers to doing activities as a means to an end, not because they are enjoyable. Extrinsic motivation comes from external factors like money, social recognition, or praise—essentially, any outside rewards. When we are extrinsically driven, our goal is to attain a reward or avoid a negative consequence.
For example, think of a girl cleaning her room to avoid losing her car for the weekend; she’s not cleaning because she enjoys it, but because she wants to prevent an undesirable outcome. This kind of motivation is valuable as it can push individuals to perform tasks they might not otherwise do. It acts as a motivator, helping us stay engaged in certain actions until the reward is obtained, even if the activity itself isn’t naturally appealing.
Why Is Motivation Needed for Success in Life
Motivation is crucial for achieving success because it helps us visualize our path and push ourselves to work harder. When we feel motivated, our thinking becomes clearer, and we are more driven to reach our goals, even during times of stress or adversity. It’s a well-established part of human behavior that those who stay focused and incentivized often experience positive results.
This not only makes us feel happier and more energized but also improves our ability to be more productive and adaptable in life. With motivation, people become more engaged in their personal growth, showing higher levels of competence, creativity, and talent, which can boost their chances of being successful and happy.
Key to a Healthier Life
Motivation is the key to driving healthier habits, like regular exercise and a healthy diet, which are essential for improving overall health. Changing an old habit can feel challenging or even impossible, but with the right motivation, it’s easier to make a positive shift. By staying motivated, you can significantly lower health issues such as high blood pressure, weak muscles, or low endurance.
It also helps you manage chronic conditions and improve your physical fitness, allowing you to live a more active life. When you stay motivated, you start building a healthier routine and eventually reap the benefits of a stronger body that can chase your dreams.
Motivation and Mental Health are Linked
Depression is a common condition, affecting over 280 million people globally, and one of its main symptoms is a lack of motivation. This impacts both the mind and body, making it hard to tackle everyday tasks or pursue personal goals. Often, negative motivators like fear and anxiety take over, adding more stress to one’s life.
Finding ways to rebuild motivation is key in dealing with these feelings. This can include intentional self-care, self-compassion, and routine-building. Along with therapy and medication, these steps help in treating the complex effects of depression and bringing some light back into daily life.
Motivation Boosts Your Energy Levels
When you are motivated, your entire body feels more pumped and filled with adrenaline to complete the goals you set. This feeling often leads to increased energy levels because you are genuinely excited about the project you’re working on. Think of how you can party and dance all night without feeling tired when you’re having fun.
In contrast, going to the gym when you dislike it can feel like a struggle every hour. But when you have autonomy over your tasks, you become more focused and passionate, which instantly gives you more energy to work and perform better.
Motivation Strengthens Your Relationships
Motivation plays a big role in people’s lives, especially when it comes to relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and romantic partners. Building strong and healthy connections requires time and energy, but without motivation, it’s easy to neglect them. A lack of motivation can lead to unaddressed problems, misunderstandings, and even conflicts.
Taking the time to show care, set boundaries, and work on improving these bonds is essential. When motivated, you are more willing to repair issues, avoid distance, and prevent things from becoming unhealthy or bad. This helps in preserving relationships that are meant to last forever.
Motivation Drives Skill Building
Motivation is the key to developing a new skill because it pushes you to work through the unfamiliar and spend time getting better. When you start something new, it’s normal to feel bad at it, but with the right reason to stay motivated, you’ll eventually see progress.
Whether it’s a hobby, a job change, or a career transition, having motivation as your backbone helps you stick with it, even when you feel frustrated or discouraged. Learning can be fun, and with a bit of trust in the process, that new skill can soon become a natural habit.
Motivation Boosts Your Commitment
When you are motivated, staying committed to a task becomes much easier. Your efforts naturally increase, and you focus on doing a good job. On the other hand, feeling demotivated can make it hard to stay on track. It’s helpful to remind yourself of the importance of your work for your overall success.
For instance, if you’re hoping for a promotion, staying motivated gives you the best chance of bagging that opportunity and advancing in your career.
Motivation Fuels Deeper Learning
Building new skills requires strong motivation because learning something new can be tough, especially if you feel completely lost at first. For example, if you choose to learn about artificial intelligence, a popular topic in recent years, you might start by reading about unfamiliar terms and concepts.
Being motivated encourages you to go beyond just surface-level information and truly dig into how it works, its benefits, and its limitations. This drive matters because it helps you stay focused and keep learning, possibly becoming an expert in the field one day.
Motivation Increases Your Productivity
Being productive requires motivation; it’s essential because, without it, you might find yourself on auto-pilot, distracted, or procrastinating. When you lack motivation, it feels like you’re floating aimlessly, unable to focus on your tasks or goals.
But with the right motivation fueling your actions, you can increase your focus and drive, which directly boosts your energy and improves your productivity. When you’re engaged, you’re more likely to complete your work efficiently, even if you have a tight deadline, like finishing everything by 6 pm for dinner.
According to research by Dr. Anders Ericsson and Jim Taylor, PhD from Psychology Today, motivation is a significant predictor of success and high performance.
A recent study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology by Cornell University researchers Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach found that an immediate bonus of interest or enjoyment can enhance the reward system and help you stay productive.
These rewards can be big or small, like treating yourself to a cup of coffee from Starbucks or a piece of your favorite chocolate. Understanding this can make you a more naturally productive worker, helping you climb the career ladder faster while also achieving personal goals.
Motivation Helps You Use Time Better
Motivation is important for managing the challenges of life more efficiently. When you are highly motivated, you become more organized and can allocate your time wisely, setting specific times for different tasks and sticking to schedules.
For example, if you love your work, you’ll find it easier to wake up on time and get out of bed rather than hitting the snooze button and wasting time. By sticking to a plan, you avoid procrastinating and finish things before the deadline, cutting out unnecessary delays in the process.
Motivation Can Boost Your Career
Having big career goals, like 5-year or 10-year plans, requires strong motivation. Whether you hope to achieve promotions or consider moving to a different field, being motivated is important to keep you involved and driven. If your work is aligned with your passions, it becomes easier to handle the added responsibilities and aim for increased flexibility in your job.
Sometimes, staying motivated helps you realize if your current field is the right fit or if you need to transition to pursue your true passion. No matter the path, motivation is vital to help you stay focused and reach your career dreams.
Motivation Helps You Become a Better Person
Motivation enhances self-development by inspiring you to push beyond your limits and achieve your personal goals. When you feel inspired, it becomes easier to aim for something greater in life. Take Junaid Jamshed as an example; he started singing at a young age and, by 17, had already made her mark in music.
Later, Not stopping there, he launched his own perfume brand and dress company with the name of (J.), targeting new levels of success. His journey shows how motivation can help one grow from an entertainer to an established entrepreneur.
Motivation can Help with Creative Goals
Motivation is key to creativity, which can often feel elusive, like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. While some people have a natural inclination towards creativity, it still requires effort to develop through practice and experience. The right environment also matters, as it encourages openness to new experiences and a willingness to take risks.
A creative person thrives on motivation, especially when it comes from enjoyment, interest, and the satisfaction of embracing challenges without the fear of failure. Being aware of what works best helps you stay creative and not let external pressures squash your ideas.
Motivation Spreads Positivity to Inspire Others
Motivation is like happiness; it’s contagious. When you spend time around motivated people, you are more likely to feel inspired to achieve your own goals. This kick of energy can help lift you out of an unmotivated state and change how you see life. Motivated individuals don’t just focus on themselves; they care about inspiring others to be productive, creative, and responsible.
When you are committed to forming healthy habits, that positivity can rub off on your team members, colleagues, or even employees, encouraging them to stay driven.
As a result, the positive energy you spend in your personal life creates an influence that changes the lives of those around you for the better.
Motivation Boosts Self-Confidence
Many people lack confidence because they are scared to step out of their comfort zone and take risks. This can limit their chance of success, keeping them stuck in a routine. When you are motivated, you become more willing to juggle different tasks and try new things.
For example, if you are setting up a business while still employed, being motivated gives you the push to progress. You might feel more enjoyment in your work and see indications that you can leave your day job to focus solely on your new venture. Knowing you have a planned safety net to fall back on can help build your confidence to take that step forward.
Motivation Helps You Stay Strong During Hard Times
When things are going well in life, it feels easier to stay motivated in both your career and personal pursuits. However, during harder times, it’s easy to lose sight of the finish line and feel overwhelmed by stress and failing. In these moments, focusing on your goals and intentionally thinking about what motivates you can be a great way to stay afloat.
By acknowledging and leaning on your motivations, you remind yourself of the reasons for pushing through, helping you navigate tough situations. This habit makes getting through hard times a bit easier and keeps you on track.
Motivation is Essential for Good Leadership
Being a leader, whether a manager of a company or the head of a team, requires strong motivation. It is a critical attribute for exceptional and effective leadership because it helps you navigate your team members through turbulent waters.
When a leader stays motivated, this energy gets transferred to others, encouraging them to keep their morale high. This nudge is important, especially when colleagues feel disappointment, doubt, or fear. By offering strategies and support, a motivated leader can guide their team towards victory, even during tough times.
Motivation also inspires productivity and keeps co-workers moving forward. Leaders who genuinely care for their team members and remain trustworthy and compassionate are more likely to inspire others.
Instead of using negative motivators like punishment or fear of failure, they use positive encouragement to keep everyone focused. When the team knows their leader is motivated and willing to shoulder their responsibilities, they are more likely to stay committed and give their best effort.
Motivation Drives Social Changes and Justice
The problems in the world, like poverty and inequality, can feel overwhelming, but motivation is what keeps activists going. For centuries, their efforts have pushed humanity toward justice, even when faced with strong opposition. These individuals are motivated by their dreams of a better future, believing that real change is possible.
This motivation lights a fire inside them, making them refuse to give up. It has fueled huge wins in the past and keeps them moving forward, even when they feel discouraged. Every victory and achievement reminds them that progress, though slow, can become a reality.
Motivation Leads to Happiness
Motivation builds the determination to achieve your goals, whether it’s losing weight or securing a new job. When you succeed, you feel happy with the results, which in turn continues to motivate you to set more goals. This creates a cycle where you are generally happier than before. The root of this happiness is the underlying desire to improve, which ensures that you keep pushing forward.
As your motivational levels grow, even taking on small challenges becomes satisfying. You learn to be more satisfied with every step, enjoying the gradual improvement along the way.
How to Increase Motivation to Achieve Success (TIPS)
Motivation is important for both personal and professional growth, but sometimes it can be hard to keep it high. To increase your own motivation, here are five tips that can help you overcome obstacles and stay focused. Keep reminding yourself of the reasons behind your goal setting; it keeps you on track to be successful.
Set Realistic Goals: Make sure your goals are realistic and clearly defined. Write down the objectives you are working towards and create a plan that outlines exactly what steps you need to take.
Keep a Positive Mindset: A positive mindset is key to increasing your motivation. Think positively, as this will enable you to stay focused and overcome any feelings of being unmotivated while you work towards achieving success.
Evolve and Grow: To evolve, you need to review and improve your goals regularly. Keep track of your progress to build your self-esteem and stay motivated. Set high standards but keep your expectations realistic, so you are always moving forward.
Accept Failure: Accept that failure is part of the process and is sometimes inevitable. Don’t let the fear of it hinder your progress. Focus on the bigger picture and remember that it takes about three months to make a habit feel automatic and natural, so stay tough.
Seek Support: Surround yourself with positive and productive people who support your goals. These are the individuals who will inspire you to strive for improvement every single day.
How to Regain Motivation When It’s Lost
Setbacks are normal and happen to everyone. The key is to build resilience so you can carry on and continue from where you left off. Here are some tips to help you find motivation again. First, review your goals and see if they are still realistic with the timeframe you have set. Break them into smaller, more achievable steps.
Remember why you wanted to reach that goal in the first place. Sometimes, getting inspired by others can help; try reading a book, talking to a mentor, or leaning on friends and family who have gone through similar situations. A fresh perspective can make a big difference.
How Can I Stay Motivated?
Here are few effective tips, that can help to stay motivated. Please read carefully and implement in your life.
- To stay motivated, start by reviewing your goals and tracking your progress. This is a great motivator and boosts your self-esteem.
- Set new small goals for next week, next month, or even next year. Tackle them one at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed and build momentum.
- Creating a habit through automatic routines can also help.
- Surround yourself with positive people, like friends and family, or join social support groups to gain strength.
- Mentors who are experienced in making changes can offer valuable advice.
- Additionally, practice positive self-talk to manage symptoms of depression and anxiety.
- Don’t forget to exercise daily; it can greatly improve your mental health and keep your energy high.
Final Thoughts
While motivation matters, it is just one part of becoming happy and successful. Building good habits and a solid routine is equally important. It’s possible to feel tired, bored, or distracted some days, making it hard to achieve anything. This is where consistency comes in.
By setting small, achievable goals and working on them every single day, you build a routine that you can stick to. A consistent habit means you can keep going no matter how you feel, helping you stay on track.
