In the last chapter, you’ve learned of different types of motivation that can drive people to reach for and attain their goals. In order to help you attain the goals you wish to attain, you should set goals that interest you.
People need to learn what makes them “tick” when it comes to what interests them. As mentioned in the last chapter, not every form of motivation will inspire people to raise their performance and their effort to achieve their goals. Some people will be motivated by achievement and/or growth, some will be motivated by incentive and/or fear, others will be motivated by power and/or social factors.
You need to learn what makes you “tick”- what inspires you to really raise your game and increase your performance, focus, and effort to attain your goals? Really evaluate yourself and see what inspires and motivates you to push yourself harder and reach for your goals. Which of the forms of motivation drives you to succeed?
Once you can answer what form(s) of motivation inspire(s) you to reach farther and work harder, you will have an easier time knowing what goals will interest you and inspire you to work harder and do more. For instance, if you are motivated by achievement and/or growth, you may want to attain a highly-valued degree and attain a high-level position that can make an impact on our world. If you succeed, you can not only improve your skills (i.e. growth), but you’ll also accomplish great things in your high-level position (i.e. achievement). You may or may not also be motivated by other factors such as incentive, fear, power, and social as well.
Perhaps you are more concerned about your family and ensuring that they have a bright future. Therefore, you may want to attain a high-level position that pays well and is less likely to be laid off or replaced. As a result, your motivating factors could be incentive and fear. The incentive is performing well at your position so you can be paid large amounts of money and receive other perks (i.e. vacations, etc.), while you will also work hard out of fear of losing your position.
Essentially, you need to determine what really motivates you to work harder and strive more for your goals. Only you can answer that, and there is no right or wrong answer. As mentioned before, different motivating factors influence different people; not every factor will motivate every person. Therefore, you need to take the time to really evaluate what drives you- this will help you to choose goals that interest and motivate you. Choosing goals that don’t interest and motivate you will cause you to put less effort into achieving them, as you really won’t care whether you reach them or not. All you’ll be doing is wasting time that you could be putting toward achieving the real goals you want to achieve.
In this chapter, you’ve learned how to set goals that interest you based upon the different factors that motivate and inspire you to do more and reach more for your goals. In the next chapter, you will learn how to find inspiration in the environment that surrounds you.