Intrinsic Motivation is one of the most essential natural qualities that one can possess. Having motivation that comes from within without the need of persistent external forces can give you new found self confidence along with self love. You might be wondering how you can achieve this, and we have the answer to your question-
1. Find your passion.
It is extremely important to give yourself a chance to explore a broad range of fields to explore in order to find your preferred one. For example, a lot of my friends said they, “tried multiple things and liked them all”, and that they, “want to give multiple things a chance”. This is not wrong! In fact, this is a helpful way for you to settle on that one thing that really captures your full interest, body and soul. After trying out a lot of things they love, whether in school or college, a lot of my friends realised what they truly wanted to pursue- what their passion is. For some of them it was film direction, for some it was Biology, and for some it was English Literature. How will you know what you love and what you’re good at, without giving yourself the opportunity to explore between different fields? This is why, starting today, you should try different things and find out what suits you best. Once you find what your passion is, your direction in life will become clearer, and this will make it easier for you to achieve your goals and your dreams. Finding your passion won’t only make it easier for you to find motivation that comes from within, but it will make it easier for you to act on that motivation, and actually accomplish things you always wanted to.
2. Set goals that inspire you.
If you love writing, like I do, what would you like to do with that talent? If it’s your passion, how would you like to go forward with it? I set multiple goals for myself based on what I want to achieve in the long term. For example, I want to get into a good university with a good English department, and that’s why I aim to achieve good grades in my language based subjects and try doing different activities with English as the main theme. This inspires me to keep on working on something new, in order for me to achieve those goals. If you love computer engineering, set goals (short-term or long-term) in order for you to keep doing different things in that specific field. This will keep you motivated and keep you inspired to work towards your success.
3. Find a role model.
A lot of the times, we look at successful people and think, “I want to be that person”. That want will drive your desire to actually become something like that person. If you want to be an actor, you may look at Leonardo DiCaprio and dream about reaching that level of success. He also works as an advocate of serious environmental issues, all the more reason for him to be a role model. If you’re an artist, you may look at Vincent Van Gogh or Leonardo DaVinci and place them on a pedestal. You may try to pain like them or copy their style of painting just so you can produce identical art to what those iconic artists made. This means they’re your role models. You want to become as brilliant as they are in their respective fields. Not only does this induce intrinsic motivation, but it also gives you a sense of direction. It shows you what you must do in order to reach to that level, or get close to it. This is an effective method to reaching intrinsic motivation, so search for people who, in the field you’re interested in, are successful or just people who’s career history is similar to what you wish to have.
4. Create a positive support network.
Having people in your life who support your dreams, no matter how “realistic” they are, is one of the most important things to achieve your goals. For example, having people constantly doubting you, making you doubt yourself, insulting you for what you like, or making you feel smaller for having career goals that don’t traditionally offer big incomes. This can seriously affect your mental health and create conflicts between you and your own self. Not only are friends responsible for such situations, but a lot of family members, especially in India, are to blame for pressurising their children into choosing a field that they think is the most financially rewarding and not letting them choose what they truly love. In 3 Idiots, the movie, we see this example as R. Madhavan’s parents force him to study engineering and not let him choose his passion, photography, before he was able to make them understand how happy photography makes him.
5. Stay focused on your goals.
Not being able to stay focused on your goals is a huge factor that can make it impossible for you to be successful in your dream career. Staying focused on your goals will make it easier for you to achieve them as you will have the ability to choose the right choices and stick to the right path. Another benefit is that it will make the process of achieving your dreams quicker, because getting distracted can slow down the process or even put a halt on the process of pursuing your passions. This builds intrinsic motivation and maintains it as you get the chance to dive deeper into keeping up with your goals.
6. Celebrate your successes.
As important it is to reflect on and acknowledge your failures, it is just as important to celebrate your successes. Be proud of the work you do and take credit for it, because it’s not going to be easy to achieve success without hard work! This helps build intrinsic motivation as you recognise how proud you are of your own self and how being able to achieve success of some kind again in the future will elevate your feelings about the work you do!
7. Keep learning and growing.
There is always space for knowledge, even if you believe you’ve consumed all the knowledge for your specific field of interest there is, you should always be open to different perspectives, ideas, thoughts, and imaginations. This enables you to grow as an individual and as a professional which only builds more goals and motivation to achieve those goals! So keep listening, reading, and observing as much as you can!
A short story:
Sherry was a stay-at-home mom who decided she wanted to go back to school to become a teacher. She had been out of school for many years and was unsure if she could handle the workload or the challenge of learning new material. However, she was very interested in the subject matter and felt that it was her calling to teach. She set a goal to complete her degree within two years and began taking classes online.
Sherry was very motivated to complete her degree and did not allow anything to stand in her way. She was diligent in her studies and set aside time each day to work on her coursework. She was also very active in the online community for her program, which helped her stay connected with other students and get support when needed. Within two years, she had completed her degree and achieved her goal of becoming a teacher.
In this story, you need to learn about intrinsic motivation in order to achieve a goal. This person was very motivated to complete their degree and did not let anything get in their way. They set a goal and achieve it within the time frame they set for themselves.