Motivation and how to find the right one

There are 2 types of motivation. Internal and external, or as they are called more technically Intrinsic and Extrinsic

External motivation is when a person does something because they want to get or achieve something like more money, a higher position in the company, live in a bigger house, and etc. Which is totally fine. The only problem is that this motivation works for a limited time only and after that it leads to burnout. You will get used to your new achievement very fast and working extra hours to pay for it will become very painful...

That's why effect of salary increases doesn’t last long, unfortunately…

External motivation could be an excellent starting point, following which you can dig deeper by asking yourself: “Why do I want more money or a bigger house?” And dig deeper and deeper until you find your big WHY! Why is it important for you to have all this?

And by finding your big WHY you will reach your internal motivation. It is directly based on your core values. It could be freedom, joy and excitement, stability or prosperity or whatever else.

Internal motivation is a kind of fuel which will gently push you to do things. Even things that are hard to do, complicated, you have no expertise in them, or whatever other obstacles.

How to find this internal motivation?

Well, there are few steps to find it.

1. Define your core values. You can find a long list of values from the internet and eliminate everything that doesn’t work for you. Pick 3 to 5 initially.

2. Create your big wish list of things you want to have in your life, material, emotional, experiential, and then connect them to your values.

3. The next step is a bit meditative… meditate on your desires and see how they align with your values. How do they connect and integrate? Are you really happy and comfortable with what you have come up with?

For instance, one of my core values is sharing knowledge and helping others, as well as beauty and joy and excitement! And my wish is also to live in nice big house and to travel. So, I’m very motivated to create any kind of courses where I can share what I know, lend a hand to others and see the world. And I’ll be very motivated by any job that puts me on this path! It could be creating beautiful tech presentations for customers, coaching workshops, volunteer work in emerging countries…. Or anything else around these topics.

And remember It is about long term commitments to projects that make you happy.