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Finding Marbles: Motivation, what is it exactly??? (W/DespicableMe)
2 years ago · 1 · Writing A Book, +3
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In my own endeavor to understand motivation, I had initially assumed that motivation was nothing more than a "feel good" emotion. While there are aspects of motivation that certainly do fill that criteria, it doesn't define motivation as a whole.
Let's start with the most basic fundamental, a standard definition of motivation.
§Berelson and Steiner:
“A motive is an inner state that energizes, activates, or moves and directs or channels behaviour goals.”
§Lillis:
“It is the stimulation of any emotion or desire operating upon one’s will and promoting or driving it to action.”
§The Encyclopedia of Management:
“Motivation refers to degree of readiness of an organism to pursue some designated goal and implies the determination of the nature and focus of the forces, including the degree of readiness.”
Taking a step back, we see that the general notion is of energy, emotion and drive. However, this is where the misconception begins.
You see, motivation in itself is not inherently driven in one direction. Despite our tendency to belief that it is the driving force that enables us to move onward through trials, tribulations and errors. It's a much more complex emotion than that and I'll show you what I mean.
To start, at the center we have your basic idea of motivation, the desire to do and/or achieve. From here, we can categorize it into 2 subsets; selfish and selfless.
The selfish form of motivation isn't meant to be synonymous with a negative perspective. A selfish motivator would be something like the need to eat, drink, sleep or otherwise stay alive. We're touching on Maslow's hierarchy of needs in this area, using our most fundamental motivators as reference.
From a selfless perspective, you might see things like commitment, loyalty, family, volunteerism, and in some degree even martyrdom (i.e. selflessly laying down your life for your beliefs).
§"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) a prime example of selfless motivation.
However, motivation isn't all about doing good or even doing what's right. Motivation is a driving force behind many actions that are negative in nature.
Take depression for example. The motivator is inverted, causing the individual to seclude themselves out of a fear of pain, punishment, being disavowed or ostracized etc. So the motivator becomes NOT exposing yourself to circumstances that could prompt such a reaction.
Or social anxiety, the fear of missing out collides head on with the fear of rejection. The result is that the mind refuses to make that connection out of some misplaced fear. Whether it be from traumatic experiences or a general anxiety of interaction. The motivator moves toward flight and avoidance and can even cause the individual to freeze up when they directly try to go against their own instincts.
Motivation can even be found down in behaviors such as addiction and even suicide. The driving focus for an addiction is on the next fix, when's it coming, how much is left after, how long will that last? While the suicidal aspect of motivation is generally focused on ending the pain. Whether it be emotional or physical pain is regardless of the fact.
Which brings us to our next bigger tie of motivation. The difference between cognitive motivation and conscious motivation.
Cognitive motivation are the base instincts. These types of motivation are generally based on experience of reality, ranging from physical needs and desires to those darker aspects such as suicide and addiction.
The conscious form of motivation is more tied to perceptive change of personality and identity, usually reliant on the outside world for feedback. Say your spouse cheated, they may be more motivated to go out of their way to say or show that they're being faithful and loyal. (Provided there's actual desire to change). The internal motivation feeds into the external and displays improvement or desired behavior. It's far more complex than that, but you get the idea.
In essence, motivation is like an umbrella caught in the wind. If you attempt to gain control over the umbrella, it might be difficult at first but the more you keep at it, the more it will start doing what you want it to do.
However, sometimes that umbrella gets caught in hurricane force winds and sometimes it's not something you can control on your own. Sometimes you need help to ground yourself and get your life back on track.
Of all the different aspects of life that can influence our motivation to achieve or hide away in fear, it is important to remember that having some level of conscious control over your own behaviors can and will sway those maladaptive motivations in time. Some may take longer than others and that all depends on the amount of time they've lived that way and the severity of it. How cemented is the behavior? Would be the first question needing to be answered.
Yet even those who feel the most lost can find their way again. If only by that initial attempt to maintain control, repeated over and over again. It's not an easy feat to do battle in this way with your own mind, but it is possible and it becomes either a choice or an excuse. Only the individual can decide.
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Addendum: subconscious motivation is the inert desire unknown to us to causes us to project our own flaws onto others, or in a subconscious effort to be a savior of someone in distress.
§"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” - Carl Jung
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