What is motivation?
For almost my whole life, motivation appeared to be the positive consequence of procrastination. I felt motivated when the deadline to work was tight. I found that push and desire to finish my homework as time began to run out. However, I realized that it wasn’t motivation that resulted from procrastination. Rather, it was the fear of repercussions that became stronger than my willingness to avoid work. When we are left without a choice but to work, motivation is not the factor.
In other aspects, I thought of motivation as a random feeling or a supernatural blessing, where I wait to be suddenly given the strength I needed to work and be driven to do so. I used to strive for this type of motivation because I thought that once I got that spark or feeling to do something, I can solve all the problems within my life. I now realize that these epiphanies happen less often than we need to be effective in our day-to-day world.
So why do many people crave and seek for the hope of getting motivation from themselves, or try to get their friends to help motivate them? Friends will not always be there, nor will the sudden feelings of wanting to be productive. The reason is that we have the wrong definition of motivation.
Motivation defined
Motivation is not acquired out of thin air, rather it is a by-product of our actions where we become driven to work. On our most productive days, we don’t work because we feel motivated. Instead, it is because our willingness to do work is high. The question now becomes: How do we increase our willingness to work? One way is to focus our efforts on starting.
There are two key steps that have helped me start:
- Clarify what exactly is the intended outcome.
- Decide what the next physical step is.
By clarifying the intended outcome, we write down what we envision the completed task will look like. In this process, we start to see parts of what we need to do and begin planning how to get there. Now, it becomes easier to identify our next course of action. By deciding what the next physical step is, we understand what exactly needs to be done and how it will be accomplished.
Example: A 5-page research paper
- A completed essay would include a thesis, supporting data, analysis and conclusion.
- Go on the web and research a topic of interest, find supporting articles or papers, etc.
It’s not important how small the next action is because a step is still a step into the right direction. Instead of focusing our efforts into seeking how to be motivated, we need to clarify the next task. I like to imagine motivation as a snowball, and that snowball is our willingness to work.
When we plan to make a big snowball, we know that it will take more than one roll on the snow. However, once we start, we're one step closer than when we haven't. Within every push, the snowball gets bigger. Eventually, the ball becomes a decent size and it takes much less effort to collect all the snow as it expands at a rapidly pace.
Like the effort in creating a snowball, the initial stages of being productive is hard. There is less willingness to work when we haven't started. However, when we put the work in by taking our first step and our snowball starts expanding, it’s a lot easier to keep going. The willingness to work starts to become stronger once we make the first push and taking that first step is key to motivation.
