What is Motivation?
If you want anything in life, you have to take action.
Motivation is the driving force behind any action. It is your level of desire to complete the task in question.
So, understanding how to increase your motivation is a life skill if you want to achieve your goals.
2 Types of Motivation
There are 2 types of motivation:
Extrinsic motivation is the desire to take action to either
· avoid some kind of pain or threat or
· to gain some kind of pleasure
when the source of that pain or pleasure is external.
For examples, when an employer threatens you with termination unless you take some work-related training, you will likely take the training to keep your job.
Likewise, if your employer promises you a raise or a promotion if you take some work-related training, you will likely take the training.
However, even if you take the training, you have no control over what the employer does. You may keep your job, or not. You may get that promotion, or not. You may get that raise, or not.
Intrinsic motivation is the desire to take action because it makes you feel good. The source of the pleasure is within you.
For example, random acts of kindness have no strings attached – you simply do them because you want to and because they make you feel good.
No one can take away that “feel good” experience.
How a Clear Life Purpose Can Increase Motivation
One of the strongest motivations to act is honoring your life purpose.
Each one of us has a unique set of gifts and talents. Your life purpose is to share those gifts and talents in a way that make the world a better place.
Any action that is in service of your purpose honors who you are at your core, and the result is that you feel good about yourself. No one can take that away from you.
Most of us don’t know our life purpose
The challenge is that most of us don’t know what our life purpose is.
The consequences of living without purpose are significant. The most common ones among the women I work with are:
boredom
living life on a hamster wheel - running fast,
working hard, and getting nowhere
going through the motions of life without any feeling of joy, fulfillment or meaning
When you don’t know your purpose it is hard to have a deep emotional connection to why you are doing what you are doing - it is hard to find meaning in your actions.
When there is no meaning, there is little motivation.
A Clear Life Purpose Leads to a Desire to Take Action
When you know your purpose, when you have a deep emotional connection to a cause that is greater than you, you show up differently in life.
With purpose, you naturally want to take action in service of that purpose.
Furthermore, when things get rough, as they inevitably do, you are motivated to keep going, knowing that you are working in service of a cause that is greater than you.
When you have a WHY, you have motivation.
As one of my clients recently said
“Knowing my life purpose opened my eyes to using my talents in a new way. Knowing how to align my current life with my purpose without having to make huge, scary, or drastic changes has brightened my outlook, and nothing had to change!”.
By honoring her life purpose in the life she currently has, her life has become easier and more interesting even though her external circumstances have not changed.
In the same circumstances, she is showing up with a different perspective on life and she has found a way to contribute something of value in her day to day life.
Her feeling of “stuckness” has been transformed into feeling that her work and her life has meaning. And THAT is how life is meant to be.
We All Have a Purpose – Do You Know Yours?
If you struggle with clarifying your purpose, let's chat. I offer 15 minute complimentary consultations. At the end of our time together you will know if what I offer will be helpful to you and if we are a match.
Book your complimentary call HERE.
