Mental Fitness Mondays: Motivation part 1
How’s your mojo?
Today we’re looking at one of my favourite components of Mental Fitness: motivation. Motivation is a big theme in my coaching sessions. Sometimes people arrive to a session feeling de-motivated… but thankfully they usually end it feeling better.
But what is motivation? How can we get more of it, and how can we help others to feel motivated?
These are some big questions to explore and, to be honest, too much for a single blog post. So, let's start with exploring what motivation is.
I like to think that motivation is an inner feeling we experience that makes us want to take action.
Inside or outside?
But where does that drive to achieve come from? It can come from within us or from outside of us.
As an example, I'm usually relatively motivated to get my tax return done each year because I don't want to be in trouble for not doing it. So, although I don't love getting my tax return done, there is a degree of motivation there. If the government changed the rules, then I would happily never do one again. Clearly, there is not a huge internal drive in me to complete a tax return.
Let’s contrast this with something else. I absolutely love yoga. I find it enjoyable, and I feel great after it. There's something within me that drives me to practise yoga, despite no-one pushing me to do it.
What about you? What are the kinds of things that that you’re motivated to do but that you know, are coming from an outside push, an expectation? And what are the things that you feel more inwardly motivated to do?
For or against?
There’s another way to look at motivation too. In general people are motivated towards something that matters to them, and/or to get away from something that no longer appeals. As an example, you’re probably motivated to pack for a dream holiday. You might also be motivated to have a break from your job for a couple of weeks. It’s possible to be both ‘towards’ and ‘away from’ motivated at the same time.
Daniel Pink: Drive
Another take comes from author Daniel Pink. He refers to three key elements that motivate people: autonomy, mastery, and purpose.
When you have ownership of a task, are skilful, and can see the point in doing it, you’re probably motivated to do it. Think of the alternative. Imagine trying to do something you see no point in doing, you have no choice about how you do it, and you're not particularly skilled at it. I don't know about you, but I probably wouldn’t feel too motivated.
So that's a little bit about motivation, and in the future we'll cover other elements of it too.
A coaching question for you: How motivated do you feel to do the next thing after you stop reading this?
