How motivation helps to achieve goals?

We can often attribute the fact that someone is successful to the reason that he or she is very motivated. When you really want to achieve something or reach a certain goal, you more often then not will actually get there or pretty close. In some cases this is also called ‘being driven’.

In business wanting to achieve something is more of a career goal while to corporate goals are often a matter of the strategy and vision or the company. In some cases those visions and strategies might be what you are looking for as well, but many times they are rather abstract and not written for personal consumption.

That makes it necessary to find motivation to achieve goals and levels and parts of the overall vision. People who are easily motivated enjoy taking charge and making decisions. They take risks and have an optimistic and self-assured manner of living life.

In case you don’t have the motivation you feel you need, the question becomes: What can I do about it? Hopefully the reason is not just boredom, but something in your way. You can refer back to the roadblock to success we discussed on this blog a while ago. It may also be a mindset that you need to change.

In 2006 the move “The Secret” gained much popularity. I liked it a lot for its message and ability to explain some concepts in an easy to understand way. Still there was a semi-scientific touch called “The law of attraction” that had some scientists worried that something unproven is portrait as a scientific fact.

Many people who accept the Law of Attraction as a guide for right living do so on the basis of their faith in the Universe and The Universe’s ‘Laws’; thus, to them, the nature of the ‘Law’ is not one to be settled scientifically, and the word ‘Law’ carries the same belief-based weight as non-scientific ‘Laws’ from other religions, such as the ‘Law of Karma’ and the Ten Commandments.

One way that is proposed in the movie and the associated book is also practices in the coaching we offer at AMC LLC. This is the practice of positive affirmations. Our clients are always encouraged to read and tell themselves their positive affirmations 3-5 times per day. It’s important to realize that these positive affirmations are developed in the coaching process and not a cookie-cutter template a person gets presented. Because of the customized nature they are much more powerful and have very quick and deep impact.

Some proponents of a more modern version of the Law of Attraction claim that it has roots in Quantum Physics. According to these proponents, thoughts have an energy that attracts similarly charged energy. In order to control this energy, proponents state that people must practice four things:

1. Know what you desires and ask the universe for it. (The “universe” is mentioned broadly, stating that it can be anything the individual envisions it to be, from God to an unknown source of energy.)
2. Focus your thoughts upon the thing desired with great feeling such as enthusiasm or gratitude.
3. Feel and behave as if the object of your desire is already acquired/present.
4. Be open to receiving it.

On the other hand, assuming this process really works as advertised, anytime you are thinking or asking for something you don’t really want to happen, would equally be delivered to you. The explanation is that the universe has everything you could ever imagine in ample supply. You just ask for it. That goes for positive as much as negative stuff.

With this in mind, assuming it is actually true, you would easily find a parking spot in a busy neighborhood if you keep telling and thinking to yourself: “I hope for a great parking spot right in front of my destination”. By the law of attraction and the positive energy you emanate, it will materialize right in front of your eyes. On the other hand, if you are more pessimistic on nature and word say: “I hope it’s not too crowded again so that all the parking spots are full” – the universe again would deliver, in the way of a full, crowded space with no parking.

I am sure the law of attraction cannot be taken this literally. On the other hand, I am an optimist and positive energy, optimism and confidence seem to play a role in what happens to us. To a large extent it is probably the fact that somebody who is optimistic, motivated and confident isn’t easily annoyed, or really cares that much if the parking spot or any other desire for that matter, is immediately available.

This brings us back to motivation and the question how motivation can help us become successful. Well, the word itself comes from the Latin word: motus , which stands for movement. Social sciences have further defined it as movement in the direction of your goals. This is not just physical movement, it actually is almost always psychological/mind movement. If you move your thoughts and desires in the direction of your goals, you are motivated. That often leads to success.

Here is a little more detail I found in reference books and online: (shown in italic)

Reward and reinforcement

A reward, tangible or intangible, is presented after the occurrence of an action (i.e. behavior) with the intent to cause the behavior to occur again. This is done by associating positive meaning to the behavior. Studies show that if the person receives the reward immediately, the effect would be greater, and decreases as duration lengthens. Repetitive action-reward combination can cause the action to become habit.

Rewards can also be organized as extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic rewards are external to the person; for example, praise or money. Intrinsic rewards are internal to the person; for example, satisfaction or accomplishment.

Some authors distinguish between two forms of intrinsic motivation: one based on enjoyment, the other on obligation. In this context, obligation refers to motivation based on what an individual thinks ought to be done. For instance, a feeling of responsibility for a mission may lead to helping others beyond what is easily observable, rewarded, or fun.

A reinforcer is different from reward, in that reinforcement is intended to create a measured increase in the rate of a desirable behavior following the addition of something to the environment.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Intrinsic motivation is when people engage in an activity, without obvious external incentives, such as a hobby.

Intrinsic motivation has been studied by educational psychologists since the 1970s, and numerous studies have found it to be associated with high educational achievement and enjoyment by students. There is currently no universal theory to explain the origin or elements of intrinsic motivation, and most explanations combine elements of Bernard Weiner’s attribution theory, Bandura’s work on self-efficacy and other studies relating to locus of control and goal orientation. Thus it is thought that students are more likely to be intrinsically motivated if they:

Attribute their educational results to internal factors that they can control (e.g. the amount of effort they put in),
Believe they can be effective agents in reaching desired goals (i.e. the results are not determined by dumb luck),
Are interested in mastering a topic, rather than just rote-learning to achieve good grades.
Note that the idea of reward for achievement is absent from this model of intrinsic motivation, since rewards are an extrinsic factor.

In knowledge-sharing communities and organizations, people often cite altruistic reasons for their participation, including contributing to a common good, a moral obligation to the group, mentorship or ‘giving back’. In work environments, money may provide a more powerful extrinsic factor than the intrinsic motivation provided by an enjoyable workplace.

The most obvious form of motivation is coercion, where the avoidance of pain or other negative consequences has an immediate effect. Extreme use of coercion is considered slavery. While coercion is considered morally reprehensible in many philosophies, it is widely practiced on prisoners, students in mandatory schooling, within the nuclear family unit (on children), and in the form of conscription. Critics of modern capitalism charge that without social safety networks, wage slavery is inevitable. Successful coercion sometimes can take priority over other types of motivation. Self-coercion is rarely substantially negative (typically only negative in the sense that it avoids a positive, such as forgoing an expensive dinner or a period of relaxation), however it is interesting in that it illustrates how lower levels of motivation may be sometimes tweaked to satisfy higher ones.

Self-control

The self-control of motivation is increasingly understood as a subset of emotional intelligence; a person may be highly intelligent according to a more conservative definition (as measured by many intelligence tests), yet unmotivated to dedicate this intelligence to certain tasks. Yale School of Management professor Victor Vroom’s “expectancy theory” provides an account of when people will decide whether to exert self control to pursue a particular goal.

Drives and desires can be described as a deficiency or need that activates behavior that is aimed at a goal or an incentive. These are thought to originate within the individual and may not require external stimuli to encourage the behavior. Basic drives could be sparked by deficiencies such as hunger, which motivates a person to seek food; whereas more subtle drives might be the desire for praise and approval, which motivates a person to behave in a manner pleasing to others.

By contrast, the role of extrinsic rewards and stimuli can be seen in the example of training animals by giving them treats when they perform a trick correctly. The treat motivates the animals to perform the trick consistently, even later when the treat is removed from the process.

So when you really think about it, motivation helps you to know what you really want and then go after it. As we discussed when talking about roadblocks, nothing really happens if only your thoughts are pointing in the right direction. You still need to take massive action to get to where you want to go or achieve what you desire.

On the other hand, if your thoughts are negative, you aren’t motivated, but rather bored, stressed, and depressed, it is much much harder to ever take any action in the first place. Positive affirmations, spoken out loud, combined with motivation, good energy and confidence is the best formula to achieve success. And if you still run into problems, you refer to our list of solutions to get around and over those roadblocks, whether they are in your mind, where motivation resides, or physically in your way.

Be motivated, confident, use your affirmations and pass your positive energy on to others. They appreciate it and your life will that much more joyous.

Axel Meierhoefer, President AMC LLC