What is motivation?

What does motivation mean to you? The Cambridge Dictionary defines motivation as the enthusiasm for doing something, but also the need or reasons for doing something. That makes senses, doesn’t it?

The second definition is quite useful to put things into context I think, so, for example there are things that we just need to do – because, well, it is a requirement for us to do so, perhaps as part of a contract – that, of course, in most instances we would have agreed to fulfil. Other things fall more easily into the ‘reasons why’ category – for example, I have no need to call my friend today (there is no requirement for me to do so) but I would like to because I’ve got something to tell them, i.e. I have a reason why I want to call them.

So how do motivation and enthusiasm come into the picture here? Well, I think it is true for most of us that when we are enthusiastic about the idea of doing something (whether because we need to or want to), then our motivation goes up. For example if your daughter’s birthday is coming up and you want to throw her a party, your motivation is high and therefore you get planning.

But what happens when your enthusiasm is lacking?

I can think of many instances when this might happen – but just to keep it light-hearted – think of when for example you have decided in the morning that in the evening you’ll do some exercise but then you had a long day at work and when you get to the end of the day, you have absolutely zero enthusiasm for doing any. A way to overcome this is to revisit the need or the reasons why you wanted to do that in the first instance i.e. what was your motivation?

Generally speaking, the initial motivation will still be true, it’s just temporarily hidden somewhere… I find that simply by revisiting it, some enthusiasm comes immediately back – most of the times just enough to make me spring into action.

Every time I manage to go through that initial resistance (I wrote about resistance here), I then feel so much better for it, because – well – I have managed to achieve something I needed or wanted to do. It’s often a chicken-and-egg situation really – the more you push through the resistance (by letting go of it), the more enthusiasm and motivation you will find.

Sometimes though – when the motivation is most definitely gone gone gone (to quote one of my favourite musicians) – it might be more appropriate to revisit your goals and by being honest with yourself, find new goals and a renewed enthusiasm for them.

I hope this makes some sort of sense to you, too.

Photo by Levi Guzman on Unsplash