At the start of the new year, I thought it would be useful to dedicate this episode to motivation. What are the factors that energize and direct human behavior? Not just motivation, but also emotion.
Interesting: both words, motivation and emotion – are derived from the Latin “movere, meaning “to move”.
This is why it’s so important to take action toward your goals and the fulfillment of your current roles. This is why I’ve included action planners at the end of each chapter in my books, so you aren’t just thinking about the concepts I’ve presented, but you are taking action on those concepts – in this way you can create a powerful shift in your life and, based on these definitions, create the emotional state of being to keep you motivated.
Energy creates more energy, which is why I believe in the power of taking consistent action. When you are feeling good about yourself, it’s easier to repeat the actions you’ve already taken – those that created a positive result – until those behaviors become habits.
What is motivation? Quoting the text: “Motivation refers to factors that ACTIVATE, DIRECT, and SUSTAIN goal-directed behavior.”
Motives are your “whys” behind your behaviors – the needs or wants driving your behavior. In my work as a professional coach, I’m frequently assisting people in the understanding that they can get their needs met through healthy and cooperative behaviors, instead of unhealthy, competitive methods wrapped in miscommunication and confusion.
Focusing on YOU – think about your “instinctive behaviors”: these are your fixed, inborn patterns of response specific to human beings. For example, birds don’t need to attend nest building seminars to get trained on how to build nests. It’s instinctive, and if it’s not – that bird probably dies.
I’m a nester too, and I haven’t been able to clearly understand how much of that is nature and how much is nurture, because my parents were so driven by creating a nice home filled with items representing their and our shared live experiences.
These questions interest me because I think it’s useful for each of us to understand what actions we are taking almost unconsciously, and which actions require focus and dedication because they might not come naturally.
William James lived between 1890 and 1970. He is known as the father of American psychology. He compiled a list of 37 instincts he believed could explain much of human behavior. For example, there are physical instincts like sucking for food and breathing, and mental instincts such as curiosity, jealousy, and cleanliness.
But then other psychologists kept adding to the list until, according to this text book, it grew to include more than ten thousand instincts, so the theory went out of favor because a list that large isn’t as easily useful and a rather simple list of 37 that we can attempt to apply to most behaviors.
So, instinct theory was out and DRIVE theory was in during the 1950s. Psychologist Clark Hull helped people distinguish between needs and drive. Needs are the basics of food, water, sleep, and shelter. A DRIVE is a state of bodily tension, such as hunger, thirst, or other physical states that drive us to meet the need.
The concept here is that your body naturally wants to maintain a steady internal state. The term used here is “homeostasis”. Picture all the homeostatic mechanisms in your body monitoring your temperature, oxygen, and blood pressure, to name a few factors.
According to drive theory, if your homeostatic state flashes “Tilt” in its pinball world, you are driven to take action: turn up the heat or turn on a fan, move to a location where it’s easier to breath, or eat something because you feel hungry.
To break this down further, you can categorize your drives as biological or psychological. How do you think relationships might change if people talked specifically and honestly about their drives early in the dating process?
Many funny versions of this dialogue comes to mind for me, most of which is inappropriate for this podcast, but fun to think about none the less. Let’s just say your PRIMARY drives include hunger, thirst, and sexual desire. These aspects are inborn and survival depends on them.
Your SECONDARY drives result from life experiences. The example in the text is monetary wealth because the drive for money isn’t something we are born with. This drive is acquired when we learn that money can be used to satisfy many primary and other secondary drives.
Now then, let’s apply this to attitude habits. What do you think happens to a person’s attitude if he/she decides that money is important and they want it, but they aren’t driven enough to take the necessary actions to gain monetary reserves?
Okay, so we’re living our lives, we have the means and desire to keep our homeostatic state steady (we’re fairly healthy, we have enough food to eat and we are getting enough sleep), and yet many of us aren’t happy just sitting around. For example, isn’t it fun to watch babies? If you put toys and other objects in front of them, they like to explore and figure things out.
Shake that rattle, turn that knob, go ahead – put it in your mouth, throw it, figure it out, see what happens – and you’ll notice you don’t have to say, “Turn that page and I’ll give you a treat!” They just do it because, some would say, we have the NEED for exploration and activity.
Stimulus motives increase our state of arousal. What am I going to explore, discover, and learn today or from this experience?
Drive motives seek to reduce arousal. Remember, you’re thirsty so you drink something. Arousal reduced.
How can you use this information to stay motivated and establish positive attitude habits? You can identify the optimum state of arousal for YOU.
Picture this: two people go on vacation together. One of them is primarily driven to relax in the effort to reduce stress. This person wants to spend the first three days in the hotel room, ordering room service, and watching TV.
The other person is tired of the same ol’ same ol’ at home and can’t wait to escape and go on some big adventure.
Is it possible for these two to plan an optimum state of arousal that will meet both their drives and needs?
Back to motivation: there’s another theory in this chapter. It’s incentive theory. Incentives are rewards or other stimiuli that motivate us to act. In order to be effective, the incentive must have perceived value such that gaining it will be worth the effort or discomfort of the action required.
Does the incentive meet a need?
Is the incentive so desirable, it’s worth the effort just to gain the incentive?
If so, most people will be motivated to take action.
Are you a sensation seeker or a stability creator? You can go to my website, Relatable Leader, and email me a request for the Sensation Seeker rating sheet. There are 11 points on the rating sheet you can use to rate yourself or rate both people in your couple to source discussion.
Does this apply to the workplace? Yes. Some people prefer roles in which there is a constant state of arousal through learning and creativity, and others prefer roles that don’t change very much every day so they have the security of knowing what is expected and the certainty to know they are doing a good job.
Watch yourself at work over the next few weeks.
Are your actions mostly based on instinct, need, or drive – or some undefined healthy balance of all three?
When you are working in your highest potential, what state of arousal is in place and how can you create that state more often?
What types of incentives are most powerful for you?
And finally, when it comes to staying motivated, are you primarily extrinsically or intrinsically motivated? Extrinsic people look for external rewards and recognition. Intrinsic people are primarily motivated by internal gratification through achieving goals or high levels of excellence in their tasks.
As a trainer, I promote focusing on intrinsic motivation because your organization may not offer rewards other than you get to keep your job, and your supervisor or manager may not have the skills or desire to praise you for good work.
Internal motivation factors are within your control.
External motivation factors are not within your control.
By reading my book, “LIVE IT! Mastering Positive Attitude Habits – 15 Practical Tips for Managing Your Mindset,” and following through will all of the action assignments, I’m hoping to support the fulfillment of your individual potential.
This fulfillment is a process.
The process requires motivation.
Motivation requires awareness of your instincts, drives, and needs.
The content in this episode is based on and adapted from Chapter 8 in the textbook:
Essential of Psychology, Concepts and Applications
Jeffrey S. Nevid, Second Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston/New York, 2009
