What is Motivation — A Leader’s Guide
Motivation is a bit like the chicken and the egg conversation. Which comes first, the motivation to do something or the inspiration to be motivated in the first place?
I have said this before: leaders do not motivate people. Leaders can only provide the inspiration for personal motivation to occur. Since that may be contrary to what you have heard before, let’s break down what motivation really is.
What is motivation?
Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It is what causes you to act.
Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate behavior.
That is the more scientific explanation of motivation. There is a lot of data and research on what motivates people. Daniel Pink has an excellent TEDTalk on motivation and there are a couple of other quick videos that provide some additional information. The Science of Motivation is short and easy to understand. And this short video that is complimentary to Pink’s book Drive: the Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us is also worth the watch. I have previously written about the core components of this as well. Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose are the more deep-rooted elements that support people’s motivation.
Motivation comes from the word motive, meaning a reason for doing something. Motivation is the push that gets you going. An interesting way to look at how motivation can work comes from the book The War of Art, where the author defines it as (and I am paraphrasing here) ‘there comes the point at which not doing something is more difficult than actually doing it.’ That is a form of motivation. While it sounds horrible, it is likely a more common situation than any of us care to admit. Think of all the papers in school that were put off until the last minute. Or the presentations that are asked of you that you wait until ‘you have all the information’ or ‘I have it set up in my mind just the way I want it.’ Both are forms of procrastination and the enemy of motivation.
Check out this fun TEDTalk on procrastination.
Jump-starting your own motivation
As I noted at the top of this article, leaders cannot motivate others, they can only provide the inspiration for self-motivation. However, that does require leaders to be…you guessed it, motivated to do so.
Take a moment to think about what gets you excited to do something. When are you most fired up to get started, and you have that feeling that you can take on the world and accomplish anything?’
Understanding what motivates you can help ensure you channel that same feeling again when you need it for something thing new. In our next article, we will discuss the different motivators themselves, but for now, we’ll just look at getting started on new activities.
In some cases, I would assume you are right back to where our author friend was mentioning – more hurt from not doing than by remaining idle. So you jump in to get started.
Here’s a secret, one I have written about in the past in a slightly different light. Find something small that just gets the wheel rolling. Maybe you have something to write, like an email response to your District or Regional Manager or a business review you will present to your boss and peers. Either way, there is a little dread about getting it done. Start by saying you will work on the first sentence or work on reviewing the first page of the template. That act of getting started can help get you more interested in the project itself.
I have always found that once I get the first few words down, the next several hundred come fairly easily. It is the thinking about it, or realizing the complexity of something that prevents us from even getting started.
Build a habit
If there are recurring items that you find that require a lot of motivation to get started, build a habit around them. Exercising is always a good example. Few people roll out of bed highly motivated to jump on the treadmill, sweat out a HIIT routine, or do multiple reps of weights. But if you have a habit built around exercising at the same time each day, getting to the gym is suddenly much easier. Then draw on that thought process of how you feel when you are complete. I can state that this works extremely well for me. The initial steps come habitually. I am in my simple home gym each weekday morning by 5:45 am – out of habit. When I think I cannot do it, the routine pushes me to get started. Then I recall how much better I always feel after doing exercise. It gives me energy, clears my mind, and allows me to begin to focus on the day ahead. That becomes my ultimate motivation to get on the treadmill or the exercise bike.
The battle between procrastination and motivation can be epic at times. As a leader, though, it becomes important to recognize that your motivation for inspiration becomes the fuel for others to achieve great things. For many leaders, that is the motivation it takes to hit every day running with their team.
In the next article, we’ll look at the forms of motivation. Does it come from within, from external factors, or are there sometimes other drivers connected to the first two? From there, we’ll explore what actions a leader takes to inspire others to motivate themselves to take necessary actions for the bigger picture success. It is a blend of influence and inspiration.
How do you begin to motivate yourself to lead at a higher level?
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