Motivation, something necessary to achieve your goals

Motivation is something necessary and essential to be able to achieve achievements. The Royal Academy of Language defines it as: set of internal or external factors that determine the actions of a person. That is, we will act in one way or another depending on the type and amount of motivation we have. Therefore, it could be said that having a good motivation is essential in many aspects of our lives.

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

There are two main types of motivation:

Intrinsic Motivation . It refers to motivation as an end and not as a means to achieve other types of objectives. When this type of motivation occurs, the activities are carried out because of the interest aroused by the activity itself. For example, a child reads a book because reading the book interests him.

Extrinsic motivation . It refers to the motivation that is used as a means to achieve other purposes that are not related to the activity itself, such as, for example, being recognized by other people, not having a traffic fine, etc. For example, a person puts on his seat belt because he doesn't want to get a ticket.

Some authors mention that the best motivation (the most effective) is intrinsic because it is the one in which we do things for the pleasure that doing them generates. In the case of the extrinsic, when external factors are present, we will be conditioned to them.

Positive vs negative motivation

Positive motivation . In this case, people would do things because it generates positive things for them. For example, a child behaves well because he knows that if he behaves, his parents will feel better and will reward him.

Negative motivation . It is when we do things so as not to receive a punishment or something negative. Continuing with the example of extrinsic motivation, a person would put on a seat belt for not receiving a punishment (fine).

What benefits does motivation have?

Being motivated has different benefits and will depend on each person. Here we list the most common:

• Be more positive and therefore be happier
• Better health. When we are sad or we don't have the motivation to do things, we can suffer from anxiety and/or depression and this can undoubtedly have negative consequences for our health.
• More energy
• Greater adaptation to the environment
• Higher productivity
• Recognition by others
• increased creativity.

How can we encourage motivation?

There are different ways to motivate yourself:

• Make a list of things you like to do . If you know what you like to do you can use it as reinforcement. That is, imagine that you have to go to a family reunion and you don't feel like anything. Make a commitment to yourself that if you go to the family reunion later you will be able to enjoy one of the pleasurable activities on the list.
• Make a list of the benefits of being motivated . The benefits of being motivated can make you more motivated.
• Think about what good things will bring you doing a certain thing . In the previous example, in the event that we have to go to a family reunion and we don't feel like it, we would have to think about what good things going will bring us. It may simply be that we will not look bad with the family or that we will make our relatives happy.
• Recognize that you are a valid person and study your motivation history . All of us have been motivated at some time, think of those cases in which you had a great motivation to be able to replicate the conditions.
• Surround yourself with motivated people . Being surrounded by people who are highly motivated will undoubtedly be beneficial to us.
• Trust yourself . Think that you are a valid person and that you can do everything you set out to do.
• Mistakes are human . If we ever fail, we have to keep in mind that it is normal. Humans make mistakes and we should not get stuck in them. We must recover and try not to commit them the next time.

Remember that as Walt Disney said

All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them.

By this he meant that we have to be motivated to pursue our dreams if we want to achieve them. In short, motivation is essential to be able to achieve the things we want, whatever their nature.