How to get motivated
We’ve all had the experience of waiting for motivation to strike before we embark on a project, goal, or plan.
But the reality is, motivation is not something that just falls upon us or just happens by magic.
Firstly, we need to figure out WHAT motivates us - and how we uniquely get a boost of adrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine - so we feel good about taking action.
And then?
We design that motivation into our life.
I truly believe that motivation is something that we can strategically include in our daily life, so that we can push ourselves to attain our goals, succeed, and achieve our dreams.
I’ve designed a framework that I use in all my Personal Mastery workshops when we cover topics around motivation, goal setting, and taking action in our lives.
In this framework, there are 6 factors that we need to consider and assess in terms of creating a schedule in our day that enhances our motivation and desire to take action.
I hope this framework can help you understand yourself better, and better evaluate what truly motivates you (and also what keeps you blocked or unmotivated) so that you can live the live of your dreams.
Each of the 6 categories of motivation in this framework will help you understand what drives you.
Remember that your motivation patterns are unique to you, AND additionally unique to the task / goal you have in mind.
For each category, we need to ask ourselves:
How do I react and respond to this kind of motivation?
Does this actually do the opposite - ie, does this de-motivate me?
When have I felt this motivator and how has it impacted my ability to perform?
And then when we have the answers to these, then we can design this framework to include more or less of each of these categories of motivation into our daily lives.
1. Pressure
The first category of motivation is pressure.
I think a lot of us can relate to this.
We don’t take action on something, but when we have pressure put on us, we suddenly are able to get stuff done in half the time it should have taken us.
Pressure can take on many different forms:
Time pressure
Results pressure
Peer or social pressure
Professional pressure
Pressure from leadership
Pressure from the responsibility you hold
Etc
These are all very important factors to kickstart motivation.
If you’re a person who responds to pressure and you need to have the feeling of being squeezed before you can get something done, then you clearly have a relationship with pressure where it makes you have the adrenaline and dopamine surge to take action and achieve your goals.
2. Self Worth
The second motivator is what I call a private acknowledgement of our self worth.
Some people want to get stuff done because they themselves need to know that they did something good and achieved something.
Some people need to know they’ve done the job, and even if they aren’t personally motivated by the result, they need to feel a sense of worth from completing it.
If you are motivated by an internal sense of self worth, you may have found yourself saying statements like this:
“I don’t need external motivation.”
“I don’t need anyone patting me on my back.”
“I don’t need time pressure. I can get stuff done. Slow and steady wins the race.”
The thing that motivates you is the way you feel about yourself, and what failing to get the job done will do to your sense of self definition.
If you’re this kind of person, then you clearly need to link the goals you have to how they define you as a person, because then you’ll be more likely to take action on them.
3. External Acknowledgement
The third kind of motivator is external acknowledgement.
You do something because you know you’re going to have an award, trophy or reward.
You may be motivated by accolade, acknowledgement or a pat on the back. This is probably 70% of people, so don’t feel like it’s weird or icky!
The reality is that we are all in some way driven by what we want our community or peers to think of us. The human condition is one that craves acceptance and connection, so it’s only natural to enjoy the rewards of acknowledgement when we’ve done something great!
I’m not saying we do things ONLY because we want some kind of recognition or reward but when we DO get the recognition and reward, it is very, very important for us because it spurs us into further action. It helps us be more excellent.
For me, acknowledgement does drive me. I don’t do things FOR acknowledgement, but WHEN acknowledgement comes, it really spurs me to try and get better. It spurs me to further excellence. It’s really nice to get a pat on the back! It’s really nice to get acknowledged for the work that you’ve done. It is really nice to feel like you’ve contributed in some way to making someone’s life easier, I believe this is a universally loved feeling.
So to deny that we are motivated by acknowledgement is a very silly thing to do. Even if you think it’s ego-based, we all need some kind of acknowledgement. Don’t feel back about that. In the end, EVERYBODY wants acknowledgement. It is certainly not unhealthy to do so.
4. Contribution
The fourth way to get motivated is contribution.
Some people say to me, “I cannot get motivated to do anything for myself but give me a job for someone else where I’m helping or assisting someone else, then BOOM! I am on that and I can help out with that. I will be so productive and I leave no energy for myself. “
Is there anyone here who resonates with that?
You know, I am very similar.
I get stuff done for people all the time.
People ask me for help and I happily assist them but when it comes to holding myself accountable for the things that I just need to do for me, I find it very, very difficult to take action.
I think it’s interesting because if we are so driven by contribution, it can sometimes feel like we MUST keep contributing, so we sometimes don’t have enough energy left to do things for ourselves.
BUT.
If you are motivated by contribution, there ARE things that you can do to make yourself feel more motivated to do stuff for yourself.
You may find communities where shared goals is what drives the connection. For example, if you want to read more books, you may join a book club - so that your sense of contribution is fulfilled by attending and being social, but your goal is also achieved.
5. Reward
So many of us feel motivated when the thought of a great big reward at the end of a journey or achievement is there. For example, we may feel excited about winning a competition, or getting a bonus for completing a project well.
Reward is the most common motivator there is - but we must also decide what kind of reward works in truly motivating us.
Ask yourself, am I motivated by:
Physical reward
Monetary reward
Gifts
Titles
Promotion
Status
When we figure out what kind of reward truly drives us, we can get even deeper into an understanding of how to motivate ourselves.
Don’t forget that a reward does not have to be presented by someone else - we can absolutely reward ourselves and place ourselves in a position to feel rewarded as part of our motivation strategy!
If you resonate with this, then it may be worthwhile to consider putting rewards in place for yourself at milestones or stages of your goals or journey, in order to continuously reward yourself.
6. Community
The last motivator is community.
Some people are very motivated by doing things with other people.
For example, I have a little A-team.
They are a few friends who work for ourselves and we work together sometimes on certain projects but more usually, we work alone.
Lately, we’ve been meeting each other and doing some work at the same place, like a little co-working community we’ve created for ourselves.
Sometimes we hire a co-working space, sometimes, we meet at my house.
It’s been really nice, sitting with a group of people who are working separately but around each other, because the feeling of community and camaraderie is unbeatable from a motivation perspective.
When you feel like you’re creating community, what happens is that we feel very good about ourselves. Feeling good about ourselves is one of the surest ways to make motivation happen.
And when people care about us, like when usually happens in a community situation, then we tend to feel more motivated because we feel good.
Plus, emotions can be quite contagious at times - so when you’re in a community of people working steadily towards their goals, it’s difficult to avoid getting caught up in the action taking nature of the environment.
This framework above is one that I’ve been using for over 10 years in my coaching practice!
Helping people understand their motivators has been one of my most valuable coaching tools in personal mastery, productivity, leadership, and achieving success at work and in life.
I hope that this framework helps you, and if you have used it to help yourself get motivated, do let me know!
About the author
Sharon Pakir is a badass leadership coach and speaker on a mission to help as many people as possible feel inspired, confident and fulfilled by the work that they do. Her courses, podcast, speaking and coaching are all about helping you [live your whole damn life.] Download your free personal mastery blueprint to get started on your transformation.