Personal motivation or self-motivation

What is motivation?

It is common to grow up with the idea of having to be motivated to achieve what we want, to improve in life, to reach our goals... but, what is motivation?

Motivation is an internal state, a driving force, that is activated by bodily needs, environmental stimuli and/or thoughts and memories, that drive us to carry out activities and persist until we achieve that activity, goal or accomplishment.

Types of motivation

There are different types of motivation, in this post we will focus on:

• Extrinsic motivation: these are motivations external to us. Usually the most important ones are: social improvement, better relationships, financial improvements, integration into the group…

• Intrinsic motivation: these are the motivations found within us. We carry out tasks for the mere sake of personal satisfaction, to achieve self-determination. We do them out of responsibility, out of the interest in knowing, for personal growth, because they fill our time… It is the motivation that each one of us can control. It does not depend on anyone external.

Intrinsic motivation and self-motivation

Intrinsic motivation translates into motivation toward oneself. Into self-motivation. Into surpassing ourselves after getting to know and accepting ourselves.

The phases of personal motivation

Personal motivation goes through different phases. First we create or give birth to a dream. We give it shape, we set an expiration date and turn it into a goal. In this way we anticipate by thinking that we are going to feel good about what we want to achieve. Next, we activate ourselves physically and mentally to start working on that objective. We start working on it and we observe and analyze whether we are doing well and whether what we are doing satisfies us as we thought it would or not. Finally, we will analyze what we have achieved and draw our own conclusions.

In the times we have had to live through, with the reduction of leisure possibilities and a more hostile environment, it is important to stay motivated in the tasks we carry out or in the objectives we set for ourselves.

How can we stay self-motivated?

• Having clear objectives: The first and most important thing is to be clear about our objectives. To analyze what we want and, always being realistic, to know whether we can achieve it or not. A tip… if you want to prevent motivation from starting to decline as soon as you begin, it is important that the objective be preceded by an I want to and not by an I have to or I must, since in this way we turn a dream into an obligation.

• Striving to achieve that goal: Using all our energy, thoughts and resources to reach that objective.

• Not procrastinating: Our time is valuable, so we cannot waste it doing nothing or thinking about other things. "I'll do it later", that is the procrastinator's motto. We have an objective and we must act to reach it. That is why it is important for the goal to be realistic.

• People who support us: it is important to be positive and sometimes even more important to surround ourselves with a good environment, with people who understand us and support us in our objective. Our friends, families or our partners are the right people to surround ourselves with positivity and a good environment.

• Valuing what we have achieved: It does not matter whether we have reached our objective or are halfway there. We should always value what we have done or what we have achieved. Let us remember that we have made an effort and have invested time and effort to achieve our goal.

Taking care to stay motivated and excited about achieving something, from a new job to learning to dance. Constantly learning new things makes us more satisfied with ourselves and therefore happier.