Inner drive and motivation aren’t easy to harness. Often, we fall short of our potential and beat ourselves for it. So, here are 6 inspiring ways to build intrinsic motivation and drive. Dive in.
Motivation, inspiration, dedication all sound the same when we are at our best. We dream of climbing mountains, tackling the hurdles, and rising beyond everyone to prove ourselves until we wake up to face the harsh reality.
Most people out there (including me) are optimistic about our future. It’s discouraging as we wish for things to get better, but don’t know how to make that wish come true. It’s hard to deal with real-life situations.
In other words, there is a desire, there is a fire inside us. However, we are too busy dealing with our matters that it is difficult to get ourselves going. We all experience the loss of motivation and drive now and then.
There are multiple reasons behind it and some are too vital to be neglected. These reasons are enough to make anyone feel restless and disappointed. To avoid it, most people engage in menial tasks that do not interest them.
Motivation, for the most part, is extrinsic in our lives. We focus on our self-image and esteem, and try to prove ourselves with the prizes and rewards. We are so lost and out of touch with our inner drive that it becomes difficult to seek inspiration from within.
So, “What should we do to be in touch with ourselves?”
“How can we build intrinsic motivation to achieve our goals?”
Well, this is where we discuss the 6 inspiring ways to build intrinsic motivation and drive. Let’s discuss it in the next section.
Why is intrinsic motivation vital to us?
Exactly, we have many different ways to motivate ourselves, right. Then, what do we need intrinsic motivation for? Why should we care about it? These are some of the questions we shall discuss.
First of all, intrinsic motivation comes from within. It is fueled by the desire to work with inner conviction. The person doesn’t engage or depend on external sources of inspiration to get things done.
Intrinsic motivation is the implementation of inner convictions for a specific goal. It might sound cool to have an inner conviction. However, it is also extremely difficult to harness due to the amount of will power and determination it requires.
So, here are 3 reasons why intrinsic motivation is vital for us.
1. Intrinsic motivation is the key to self-supervision:
Let’s just say that intrinsic motivation is a way to monitor ourselves and our progress. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that most entrepreneurs, businessmen, and athletes are very strict concerning their work ethics.
For instance, an athlete or good pacer has a very strong ethic of working a certain period and employing consistency in his routine. Over time, he gains complete control of himself and his skills. Intrinsic motivation helps us to achieve that.
Self-supervision isn’t easy to harness and requires a lot of hard work and dedication. But with intrinsic motivation self-supervision isn’t tough.
2. Intrinsic motivation helps us look beyond the monotony:
Monotony and routine work can suck the energy out of our system. Working long hours in the same place, at the same timings and doing this thing every day makes us feel exhausted. Besides, the mental and physical stress is no less than a bane.
Intrinsic motivation helps us to deal with monotony and regular stress with ease. Even when things get out of hand, our inner drive makes us work on our imperfections to get everything under control. Routines turn out to be very easy to handle.
Boring and menial tasks can make our life look like a black and white picture. But when we have our motivated self as an ally, nothing goes wrong in the business.
3. Intrinsic motivation is the key to fiery passion:
Motivation is nothing if it cannot trigger the flames of passion in our hearts. If anything, passion is a significant aspect of the motivational self. However, extrinsic motivation gets a little disappointing as it is short-lived and the person doesn’t dedicate himself to his goals.
Fiery passion is the result of pure and unwavering intrinsic motivation. The result of its raw power is the drive to accomplish great feats in life. Almost every successful personality stresses the relevance of fiery passion or insatiable hunger.
Turns out, the thing we need the most is the passion or fiery drive that makes us truly motivated to do things beyond ourselves.
So, here are 3 reasons why intrinsic motivation is vital for us.
Now, as we know the reasons, we shall discuss the 6 inspiring ways to build intrinsic motivation and drive in the next section.
Also Read: Why Is Passion A Counterintuitive Approach To Hard work?
What are the ways to build intrinsic motivation and drive?
It’s not easy to motivate ourselves when we are having a bad day or going through tough times. Sometimes, a task as small as moving a table seems exhausting. All this happens because our cerebrum (the seat of willpower) doesn’t cooperate with our physical self.
We feel lost and restless without this willpower and end up performing duties under an auto-pilot mode. The drive that pushes us to get things done doesn’t influence us anymore. In this way, we lose many things such as hope, belief, determination, willpower, etc.
As discussed in the first section, we try to utilize the external modes of motivation to temporarily gratify ourselves. Finally, we get bored of these modes too and suffer from depression and anxiety.
No matter how hard we try, we can never utilize our passion without organized efforts. With inner motivation and drive, we get more systematic with our approach. The efforts help us conserve and wisely utilize our resourceful energy.
Now, here are 6 inspiring ways to build intrinsic motivation and drive.
1. Make a list of activities you like to do on a daily basis:
Motivation doesn’t come without planning or strategizing. Without a plan, there is nothing we can do accurately or efficiently. We don’t want to wake up in the morning with zeal, only to realize that we have no aim throughout the day.
This is where we have to be more focused and start making a list of activities that we do or like to do. At least, for the time being, it has to be the things we like. Over time, we can get better and start doing other things of less priority too.
But this isn’t going to happen without a good mindset and willpower. Starting from what we love is better and provides us with good spurts of charisma and energy.
2. Try to increase your self-esteem and confidence:
Self-esteem and confidence go hand in hand with many activities. Motivation is also one of them. We cannot be motivated enough if we lack confidence and self-esteem. Without motivation, we are going to burn ourselves out pretty quickly.
Therefore, it is important to read self-help books and practice self-efficacy as much as possible. The former helps us to put ourselves out there and face the world, while the latter helps us to build self-esteem in our activities.
With self-efficacy, we are more inclined to believe “we can do this”, than saying, “it’s not my cup of tea”. This is one of the vital steps to build intrinsic motivation and drive.
Also read: 6 Successful Hacks To Regain Confidence and Self-Esteem
3. Align yourself and your activities to a purpose:
We all have a purpose. It can be anything ranging from existential to intrapersonal purpose. But in this case, the purpose has to be a good and compelling one that forces us to bring the best out of ourselves.
Besides, that purpose should also be the reason behind our motivations and actions. It must be the rationale towards achieving our daily life goals. The purpose can be a short-range or a long-range goal, but it must drive us to work hard every single day.
Stop listening to those who say we have no purpose and emphasize how to create one to get your things done on time.
4. Do things to feel good and stop looking for rewards:
Rewards, prizes, and other alluring parts of motivation don’t help us lookout for passion or drive. When we are too focused on doing things to show or to prove ourselves to others, we lose out on the important parts of life.
Willingly do things for the sake of your happiness. Volunteer in activities that help you become the best version of yourself. Be it teaching or opening a business or running your academy, everything counts in the end.
Stop looking for material things that have little to no relevance in our lives. Engage in stuff for your own goals and stick to them no matter what.
5. Fight laziness and procrastination by taking a step ahead:
Laziness and procrastination kill many dreams every day. Every person who wants to be intrinsically motivated comes across these two hurdles in life. Getting up daily to pursue our goals isn’t easy and we easily fall prey to our laziness.
The best way to deal with laziness and procrastination is by taking one step at a time. In other words, even if we don’t feel like doing anything, we must take a step. A step towards our goal, force ourselves to get out there and do things we want to do. Have a mindset of “just one day more” and we can easily fight against our lax and easy-going attitude.
Taking a step ahead is vital for our self-development. Also, one step at a time is the best way to utilize our potential.
6. Lastly, do it for the ones you value and love:
Rewards and prizes are temporary, but love and support are there with us even in our worst times. We all need someone to trust us and believe in us, so we can be motivated enough to reach our goals.
Be it friends, siblings, or significant ones, everyone has a role to play in our journey to intrinsic motivation. They help us to get better with things we lack perfection in. Besides, their devotion itself turns out to be a strong motivating factor in our lives.
Even if we lose all forms of motivation given above, the amount of trust and value our loved ones place on us is more than enough to get us going.
Final Words:
To sum up, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation both are relevant to our goals. Material rewards are as important as non-material ones. However, intrinsic motivation has the additional benefit of ethical self-development that lacks with the extrinsic one.
Nevertheless, the above discussed 6 inspiring ways to build intrinsic motivation and drive offer great insights into inspiration and self-help.