Friday, May 15, 2009

The Rules of Motivation

Motivation is like fuel. It gives us clarity and focus. It prevents us from procrastination. It makes us enthusiastic about our task and keeps us from boredom.

Where does motivation comes from? Think about it. Who gives us motivation and under what condition? Why are these conditions made to be so? What is the purpose that motivation exists?

Motivation comes from a specific part of our brain. Now, as you all know, our mind is made out of consciousness and unconsciousness. Motivation goes from a part of our unconscious self. There are many ways to categorize our psychology but for the stake of simplicity, this part of the brain that release out motivation fuel shall, from this point forward, be called the Brain.

Your Brain issues motivation signals to your body in order for you to act in a way that you perceive to be “productive” to your life. However, you do not control this part of your Brain. In a matter a fact, you must follow its rules in order to attain more motivation. The rules are...

Rule #1: You receive the amount of motivation proportional to your goals and needs.

Simply, the higher your goals and needs, the more motivation you will receive. In fact, your Brain gives you just enough motivation to archives those goals and needs. No more, no less. If you want to achieve more, desire more.

Your Brain gives you just enough motivation to achieves your goals and needs

The reason why our Brain gives us just enough motivation is because it is in its interest to preserve your energy and lifespan. Your Brain does not want you to do more than necessary to fulfill your needs. Achieving your goals means living a hectic and stressful life – one that involves a lot of thinking and strategizing. According to your Brain, the less you do, the longer you will live.

Rules #2: The Brain is influenced by a lot of external factors.

You need to accept that the external factors play a huge part in motivating people. In addition, you probably have to realize most of your motivation comes from your needs (external factor) and not your goals (internal factor). Below are some examples:

Situational factors - When good things happened to you, you feel happy and more motivated. When bad things happened to you, you feel sad and less motivated.

You would also feel really motivated when you realize that you are in danger of death or deadlines. Fear is a very good motivator. Too bad these motivations will only last as long as the bad situation is present. Once the bad situation is over, your motivation level drops back to its original level.

Temporary encouragement – Actually, all encouragement only produces temporary motivation. Whether the encouragement comes from books, people, or object; whether you are motivated by positive thinking or by jealously; the source of these motivations will not last forever. One day, your Brain will get tired of the same trick.

Financial needs - Poverty or lack of money will motivate you to earn more money regardless of your emotion.

Do realize that you cannot follow the same motivation strategy as other people simply because your financial situation is not the same. The student from China can study all day long without thinking about leisure or romance simply because that student knows that he would have complete with other really desperate people back in China. Meanwhile, you are stuck in your own country with easier competition.

The problem with most people is not that they don’t have enough to survive, but the fact that they are content. Yes, you might not be 100% satisfied with your current situation, but you can still sleep at night not worrying the consequences of not achieving more. Simply, you are content and all you additional goals are just wishful thinking. That leads to the next rule.

Rules #3: The Brain does not accept wishful-thinking as goals. All goals need to have valid plans.

Just wanting is not enough. The Brain does not accept wishful-thinking goals. Goals must have valid plans. Valid plans that contains well defined objectives. Everyone desires to be rich but not everyone comes up with a valid plan.

And you can’t really fool yourself either. You can’t cheat your own Brain into believing that your wishful-thinking is valid plan. After all, your Brain is part of you. You cannot hide your own lack of confidence from your Brain.

The requirement for a valid plan is rather subjective to the person. If you are a logical person, then your Brain would require that your goals to be more detailed compared an impulsive person.

Note: However, there will be a lot of obstacles to overcome in order to attain a valid plan. That is beyond the scope of this article for now. This blog that you are currently reading would further the explanation on Art of Planning.

Rules #4: The Brain gives you slightly less than enough motivation.

Gotcha! The fact is: you will never have enough motivation to achieve 100% of your current needs and goals (even if you have a valid plan). You will eventually slow down as you reach your goals. And in the end, you won’t even make it to the finish line. Why?

Our Brain knows that we will always want more once we have achieved the original target. Human beings are greedy. Our Brain cannot let that happened because that would mean spending more energy. No matter how noble or desirable your goals are, you will never fully achieve those goals.

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Well, the above are only rules – rules without exception. If you want true motivation, stop looking for it on the outside and instead look for it deep inside yourself. We all have our most basic needs and our maybe-something-better needs. It’s time that you start addressing the later. Translate those needs into goals. Prepare a plan for those goals. And then work hard – work 16 hours a day – until the day you achieve your goals.

1 comment:

  1. Fantastic post which is reflecting me. Now I am realizing that I only have wishful-thinking goals not valid plans. Now I will try to work out more and get deep into my plans