Developing Intrinsic Motivation
Motivation is something many of us seek to improve. In order to experience success in our day to day lives, we must be motivated and driven towards our goals. If you don’t have a passion or a drive toward the things you wish to achieve in life, its unlikely you will get to where you desire to be. The key in finding motivation is locating it from a solid source. We have to first identify our “why” for the goal we want to achieve in order to start the process of enhancing our motivation to achieve it. Our “why” explains the reasoning and purpose for gaining the achievement in the first place. Maybe our goal is to obtain greater self image, more specifically, greater body image. This is a fantastic goal to have as it will likely lead us to higher levels of confidence and self fulfillment. However, how many times have you said you wanted to have better body image, but never get motivated to do anything about it? Probably more often than not! This is due to a lack of motivation and specific sets of small goals created to progress us to the larger goal.
So how do you get motivated then? Well, thats a great question, and the answer truly lies within yourself. In order to obtain lasting motivation, we have to locate it internally. This is known as “intrinsic motivation.” In day to day life we have both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. However, many people get stuck focusing on extrinsic motivations (these are motivators that come from outside yourself) such as compliments from your friends, people noticing your appearance changes, and other outside gratifications. Although these things make us feel good, they are short lasting and inconsistent. However, when we focus on internal or intrinsic motivations such as feeling more confident looking in the mirror, noticing that our clothes feel looser, or finding that you feel more confident to go to the beach, we can depend on these motivations to stick around and continue to validate us.
It can be a challenge to switch our mindsets from focus on external validations and rewards, however, there are many tools we can incorporate intentionally to our lives to see a change in what motivates us. One exercise you can try today that I can guarantee will uplift your spirits and enhance your motivation and self confidence is to try the sticky note challenge!
Sticky Note Challenge:
Locate a stack of sticky notes in your office
Head to your bathroom mirror
While looking in the mirror, challenge yourself to notice only positive things
When negative thoughts arise, remind yourself that this is a self love experience
Write down 15 different compliments to yourself on 15 separate sticky notes (this may seem like a lot, but thats the challenge!)
These could include comments such as “I have beautiful thick hair,” or “my smile makes people happy.” Think of things relative to you
Stick the notes to your mirror in a square shape around your face and leave these there! This will serve as a constant reminder of the beautiful qualities you possess each time you look in that oh so critical mirror!
Try out this exercise and let me know your thoughts! Please do not hesitate to reach out for help and guidance in enhancing your own motivational journey!
Lauren Wilson, Thrive Through Life