Understanding Motivation

“To succeed you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you” - Tony Dorsett

A motive is an impulse that causes a person to act. The more powerful your reasons or motives are to do something, the more motivation you receive to get things done!

Take a look at the following:

1. A man is asked by his boss to carry a 2 stone bag of sand across a distance of 50 meters. He is not a labour and is unhappy about being asked to do this manual task by his employer. He grumbles about it and tries to put it off. He sees no reason why he should have to do this heavy, unrewarding job. He does it, half-heartedly dragging his feet.
2. That same man is walking past an accident scene, where a small child, also weighing 2 stone, needs to be carried 50 meters so she can get urgent medical help. He does it immediately and runs all the way!

In the first scenario, the person had no motivation to get the job done. He put it off until the last minute and then when he finally did it, he made sure EVERYONE knew about it. He had no reason to do this boring task, other than trying to keep his boss happy.

However, in the second scenario he was fully motivated - there was a big reason to do the task. He acted immediately and did so with massive amounts of energy. The reason (or motive) is what fired his motivation and gave him the vigour, strength and drive needed in order to successfully get the task completed.

“Walking your talk is a great way to motivate yourself. No one likes to live a lie. Be honest with yourself, and you will find the motivation to do what you advise others to do.” - Vince Poscente

“You can motivate by fear. And you can motivate by reward. But both of these methods are only temporary. The only lasting thing is self-motivation.” - Homer Rice

“Motivation is like food for the brain. You cannot get enough in one sitting. It needs continual and regular top ups.” - Peter Davies

A burning desire is the greatest of all motivators. Motivation is inside you, you just need to find it, harness it and use it.

Remember to keep yourself motivated at all times!

Photo 1 by photoplasia taken from this source
Photo 2 by Brett L. taken from this source

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