Learning how to stay motivated and start any project is typically the biggest challenge for a lot of people. We will talk about staying motivated or increasing motivation in future blogs, but starting is always hard. Starting may be hard because we of an inherent fear when it comes to starting something new or hard. You could be scared of failure. We must address why we may not be motivated, to address how to get motivated to start anything.
Check out the video for Dan’s tips on staying motivated!
How To Get Motivated: External Vs. Internal Motivation
The preface to how to get motivated, is why is there a lack of motivation in school, at work, or every day. We want to understand the difference between external and internal motivation. Our external motivation is doing something for a reward or to avoid punishment. Staying motivated in this way is very short lived. Having motivation in school can’t just be because you want to go to six flags with your friends, there has to be more to it than that. This is where understanding internal motivation comes in. In short, internal motivation means you are doing it because you want to do it. Motivation in school that comes purely from your own desire to succeed for yourself is stronger and more sustainable. When we have too much external motivation and not enough internal motivation, our desire to continue doing whatever it is we are doing diminishes over time. The first step in how to get motivated to “blank” is finding your internal motivation.
Get Motivated: Why Internal Motivation Can Be So Hard
How to get motivated to study requires more internal motivation sometimes. Every external motivation has an expiration date, but internal motivations tend to stay with us for a little bit longer. Learning is always fun because we are all curious creatures, but being told what to learn, when to learn, and how to learn can feel a little restricting. Staying motivated so that you can stay on top of your studies and not fall behind is difficult at times. This is especially the case when you have a busy schedule and time is an issue. Time management can help, but even that still requires some internal motivation. Let’s talk about how to get motivated to study by finding your internal motivation next.
Finding Internal Motivation
To know how to get motivated to “blank” connect what you don’t like to what you like. Finding similarities between something as dreadful as physics and photography can be as easy as being curious about lenses and how they work. Creating internal motivation is as simple as telling yourself to be more curious. When our curiosity is sparked, staying motivated to explore, practice, and get better at something becomes second nature. Having a coach to help you visualize concepts and approaches can prove to increase motivation. Coaches also keep you accountable. It will change from you needing to make your coach proud to you wanting to make yourself proud. Remember that motivation for school and all other things take time. Knowing how to get motivated to “blank” is the first step to success. We will talk about ways to stay motivated and productive in other blogs.
