Self-Motivation

See also: Setting Personal Goals

Self-motivation is, in its simplest form, the force

that drives you to do things. 

Self-motivation is far from being a simple topic;

there are many books, web-pages and articles that
attempt to explain self-motivation and some top
academics have dedicated their life’s work to
trying to understand, model and develop
motivation theory.

Self-motivation is a key life skill and something that everybody

interested in personal development should think carefully about. It
is also a key part of emotional intelligence, one of the three areas
of personal skills that are integral to the concept.

What is Motivation?
Motivation is what pushes us to achieve our goals,
feel more fulfilled and improve overall quality of
life.

Daniel Goleman, the author of several seminal books on Emotional

Intelligence, identified four elements that make up motivation:

 Personal drive to achieve, the desire to improve or to meet certain

standards;
 Commitment to personal or organisational goals;
 Initiative, which he defined as ‘readiness to act on opportunities’; and
 Optimism, the ability to keep going and pursue goals in the face of
setbacks.
There are many advantages to self-motivation. People who are self-motivated,
for example, tend to be more organised, have good time management
skills and more self-esteem and confidence.
Understanding and developing your self-motivation can help you to
take control of many other aspects of your life.

What is Your Motive?

Fundamental to self-motivation is understanding what motivates you to do
things.

This may sound straightforward but sometimes your motivation is hidden from your
consciousness – your own personal hidden agenda.  Your motivation may well change from
hour-to-hour, day-to-day and through life.  As this happens your needs, wants and goals
change and evolve.

There are two main types of motivation: ‘intrinsic’ and

‘extrinsic’ motivation.

In their simplest form you can think about these two types of
motivation as:

 Intrinsic = love, because we want to.

 Extrinsic = money, because we have to.

A more detailed definition is:

 Intrinsic: To perform an action or task based on the expected or

perceived satisfaction of performing the action or task.  Intrinsic
motivators include having fun, being interested and personal
challenge.
 Extrinsic: To perform an action or task in order to attain some
sort of reward, including money, power and good marks or
grades.
Different people are motivated by different things and at different
times in their lives.  The same task may have more intrinsic motivators
at certain times and more extrinsic motivators at others, most tasks
have a combination of the two types of motivation.

Example:
John works because he has to pay his mortgage and feed himself and his
family. He gets no satisfaction from his job and there is no chance of
promotion. John’s motivators are purely extrinsic.

Sally works because she loves what she does, she gets enormous
satisfaction and self-fulfilment from her work.  Sally has enough money
put away that she does not need to work, she owns her house outright and
can afford to buy what she wants when she wants it.  Sally’s motivators are
purely intrinsic.
Clearly Sally and John are at different ends of the spectrum when it comes to self-
motivation. Most people, however, fall somewhere in the middle.

Most people do have to work in order to earn money, but at the same time they also find
their day-to-day work life rewarding or satisfying in other intrinsic ways - job satisfaction and
the chance to socialise with colleagues, for example.

See our page: Work-Life Balance for more on this.

We all have a tendency to work better when we love what

we are doing.

It’s easier to get out of bed in the morning, we are happier in our work, and
happier in general.

Research shows that this is particularly important when we’re under stress. It’s much easier
to cope with stress and long hours if we generally enjoy the work.

When thinking about what motivates you to perform a certain task, think about both
intrinsic and extrinsic motivators – if you have trouble getting motivated to perform specific
tasks it may be useful to write them down and list the motivators for each.

The Importance of Obligation

 What about if a task has neither intrinsic nor extrinsic motivators?

The obvious conclusion is that we are unlikely to do it, because it will be pointless.

We all know it doesn’t always work like that. There is a further issue: feelings of obligation.

Obligation motivators are not necessarily strictly intrinsic or extrinsic but can still be very
powerful. Obligation comes from our personal ethics and sense of duty, what is right and
what is wrong.

You may feel obliged to go to a party because you were invited by somebody you know –
there will be no obvious extrinsic or intrinsic benefit to you attending but you may worry if
you don’t go.  You are more likely to enjoy the party you feel obliged to attend if you go with
a positive and open attitude – this way you have also added an intrinsic motivator, fun and
enjoyment.

Skills Involved in Self-Motivation

There are a number of skills involved in self-motivation.

These include:

 Setting high but realistic goals.

For more about this, see our page on  Setting Personal Goals.

 Taking the right level of risk.

See our page on  Risk Management  for more about this.

 Seeking constant feedback to work out how to improve.

For more, see our pages on  Giving and Receiving Feedback  and  Dealing with Criticism.

 Being committed to personal or organisational goals and going the ‘extra mile’
to achieve them.

See our pages on  Setting Personal Goals  and  Effective Team-Working  for more.

 Actively seeking out opportunities and seizing them when they occur.

You may be interested in reading our pages on  Courage  and also on  Personal Empowerment.

 Being able to deal with setbacks and continue to pursue goals despite
obstacles.

See our page on  Resilience  for more.

Those who are motivated also find it much easier to motivate others. This
can be particularly important in leadership roles.

See our page on Motivation Skills for more.

Keep Motivated
Finally, it is important to keep track of what you want to achieve and stay
motivated to do so.  To keep your motivation levels up try to:

Learn and Acquire Knowledge

Read, study and talk to people – knowledge and information are key for feeding your mind
and keeping you curious and motivated. See our pages What is Learning?, Lifelong
Learning and our section: Study Skills for some tips on how to make your learning more
effective.

Keep the Company of Enthusiastic People

Try to avoid negative people and seek out positive, well-motivated people. It is a lot easier to
be motivated if the people around you are.

Keep Positive
Keep a positive attitude, see problems and set-backs as learning opportunities. For more
about this, see our pages on Mindsets and Positive Thinking.

Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Work on ironing out your weaknesses and building on your strengths.

Do It
Try not to procrastinate, assess the risks but keep working towards your goals. See our
pages Time Management and Minimising Distractions for more.

Get Help and Help Others

Don’t be afraid to ask other for help and don’t hold back if you can help them. Seeing other
people succeed will help to motivate you to do the same.
Further Reading from Skills You Need

The Skills You Need Guide to Personal Development

Learn how to set yourself effective personal goals and find the motivation you
need to achieve them. This is the essence of personal development, a set of
skills designed to help you reach your full potential, at work, in study and in your
personal life.

Our eBook is ideal for anyone who wants to improve their skills and learning
potential, and it is full of easy-to-follow, practical information.

Continue to:
Setting Personal Goals
Motivation Skills - How to Motivate Others
Creating a Motivational Environment

See also:
Motivation Skills for Teachers
Organising Skills | Reflective Practice
How to Write a To-Do List
Setting Personal Goals
See also: Self Motivation

There is a strong correlation between self-motivation,

personal goals and achievement. 

In order to get properly motivated, and indeed to achieve, it

helps to spend some time thinking about your personal
goals and what you want to achieve in your life.

We all have an inbuilt desire to achieve.

What we want to achieve, however, is personal to us and may change

through life. At school, for example, you may want to achieve good grades,
then later you may want to pass your driving test or get a job.

It is important to set yourself clear goals if you wish to achieve your

ambitions.

The Relationship between Motivation, Goals and

Achievement
People want to know that they have achieved, or have the ability to
achieve, something of value, meaning or importance.

Generally, the more people achieve, the more self-confident they

become. As self-confidence rises so does the ability to achieve more.

Conversely, when people fail to achieve and meet their goals, self-
esteem and confidence can suffer, affecting their motivation to achieve
more.

Understanding the relationship between self-motivation, personal goal setting and

achievement will help you set realistic personal goals, which in turn will allow you to achieve
more in the longer term.
 Personal goals can provide long-term direction and short-term motivation.

Goals help us to focus on what we want to be or where we want to go with our lives.  They
can be a way of utilising knowledge, and managing time and resources, so that you can
focus on making the most of your life potential.

By setting clearly defined personal goals, you can measure your achievements and keep
sight of your progress; if you fail to achieve at one step you can reassess your situation and
try new approaches. Keeping your life goals clearly defined and updated as your
circumstances change and evolve is one of the most powerful ways to keep yourself
motivated throughout life.

Life Goals
It is important to remember, when thinking about what you
would like to achieve in your life, that change is inevitable.
Your circumstances and priorities will change through your life. You may realise at the age
of 40 that you are never going to be a concert pianist – as you had planned when you were
19. However, there will be other things that you can achieve instead, and you can still
continue to improve your piano-playing and get pleasure from it.

See our page on Personal Change Management for more on coping with the inevitable
changes in life.

When thinking about your lifetime goals, it is a good idea to make them challenging and
exciting. Base them on your strengths but make them relevant to you and ultimately
achievable.

It may be useful to categorise life goals:

 Academic goals – what knowledge and/or qualifications do you want to achieve?

 Career goals – where would you like your career to take you, what level do you want
to reach?
 Monetary goals – what do you aim to earn at a given point in your life?
 Ethical goals – do you want to volunteer some of your time to a good cause or get
involved in local events, politics etc.?
 Creative goals – how do you want to progress creatively or artistically?
 Domestic goals – how would you like your domestic life to be in the future?
 Physical goals – do you want to develop your skill in a certain sport or other physical
activity?
Once you have thought about your life goals, you can start to plan how best to achieve
them.  Set yourself smaller goals for the future.  In ten years I will be…  in five years I will
be… etc. 

Work out plans of action with smaller and smaller sub-goals until you can arrive at an action
plan that you can start working on now.

Worked Example: Breaking Down Goals

If one of your life goals is to write a book, your plan might be:

 5 years from now – publish my book

 4 years from now – finish the first draft of my book
 3 years from now – complete a university degree in creative
writing
 1 year from now – develop an outline for my book
 Next month – think about ideas and research potential story lines
for my book
 This week – read two books and research potential university
courses.

Although this example is a very simplistic outline of a major life goal, it

should give you an idea of how you can structure big goals and work
out the sub-goals that you need to achieve along the way.

Making Your Goals SMART:

It can be useful to make your goals and sub-goals fit the
SMART criteria.

Specific
 S  Make each goal  specific, so you know exactly what it is.
 Take some time to clearly define your goals and sub-goals, the more
detail about what your goals are and how you intend to achieve them
the better.

Measurable

 M  Make each goal  measurable  so you know how you are progressing.

You need to be able to see how you are progressing to reaching your
goals. What metrics can you use to measure your progress?

Attainable

 A 
Don’t set impossible goals, make sure each goal and sub-goal is  attainable.

The larger the goal the more impossible it may seem but if you split it
down into simple sub-goals then you will find each step is more
attainable.

Relevant

 R  Make your goals  relevant.

Ensure your sub-goals are relevant to your life goals. Try not to set goals
that don't ultimately help you to achieve your overall life goals.

Timed

 T  Set  time-limits  or deadlines for each goal and sub-goal.

If you can set and stick to realistic deadlines then you'll avoid too much
distraction or procrastination and keep yourself motivated.

Reviewing your Life Goals

As with anything in life, just setting goals is not enough.

You have to review your goals regularly, perhaps every few months, and certainly every
year, to make sure that:

 The goals are still relevant to what you want to achieve; and
 You are on track to achieve them.
If not, you need to revise them, in line with your current situation.

Your goals need to motivate you and excite you

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t had as much time as you would have liked to devote to
learning to play the piano; it does matter if you haven’t done anything towards it because
you’re really not that bothered about it.

If your goals don’t excite you, abandon them, and develop

new ones that you really want to achieve.

Further Reading from Skills You Need

The Skills You Need Guide to Personal Development

Learn how to set yourself effective personal goals and find the motivation you
need to achieve them. This is the essence of personal development, a set of
skills designed to help you reach your full potential, at work, in study and in your
personal life.

Our eBook is ideal for anyone who wants to improve their skills and learning
potential, and it is full of easy-to-follow, practical information.
 Continue to:
Self-Motivation | Action Planning
Organising Skills

See also:
Avoiding Procrastination | How to Write a To-Do List
Work-Life Balance | Developing Resilience