How Does Motivation Play a Role in Your Success?

Motivation viewed by John-Kelly Burrus, a 17 year old athlete, from New Hampton School and in Geneva, Switzerland

Motivation and passion go hand in hand, without both it is hard to stay focused and achieve your goals. Motivation is the mixture of desires, values, and beliefs that drive you to take action.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

There are two types of motivation that play a role in your decision-making and the road to success, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic means external: All the factors that come from outside the body such as money, reward, fame, and a competitive environment. It is basically what encourages the performer to win and compete with others and receive a form of recognition. Intrinsic motivation comes from within: Motivation is determined by an interest or an enjoyment in the activity itself. It exists within the individual rather than relying on external factors. In some ways, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is similar in that it relates to the person. For example, the pleasure of doing an activity relates to the intrinsic pleasure of the person and receiving more money for work well done also relates to the individual.

My Goal

Personally, my goal is to become a professional soccer player and be able to follow an education in an Ivy League school. My extrinsic objectives are to become wealthy and successful. Receiving financial reward motivates me to be the best I can be both academically and athletically and that I am recognized for those achievements financially. My intrinsic motivation is the pleasure of winning and striving to become better every day both academically and athletically. In my case, competing and having the possibility to win is highly motivating. If competition did not exist, I would not be as motivated in the actions I do.

What can we do to stay motivated no matter what?

To stay motivated throughout your journey you need to go deep down in your heart and ask yourself what do you really like, what are you doing and what do you want to achieve. Choose realistic goals, it will help to give a purpose to the actions you are undertaking. Keep engraving your objectives into your mind, write them down somewhere visible to remind you that your hard work and dedication are going to be rewarded no matter what. Don’t focus on what others are doing; they may not play a role in your success.

“To achieve what others won’t, you have to do what others don’t” Lazar Angelov

Write down your objectives

If you are unclear of what you want to achieve, take some time to write down your objectives and the approach you will take in order to reach them. Once you have clearly written everything down, find time in your schedule to work hard and achieve your objectives.

Reschedule

If you have to reschedule spending time doing activities you enjoy, like watching your favorite TV show or playing video games ect.. that to date are part of your daily routine, change your schedule.  Why? You will have to be willing to do whatever it takes to reach the finish line. Whatever you want to achieve will not fall from the sky, you have to work hard and stay dedicated and create good habits throughout the process.

Set high standards

Keep on setting high standards and new goals to keep on growing. When you know you can achieve it, then there’s nothing that can stop you from doing it.

Recognize your strengths

Recognize your strengths and use them to your advantage. Whatever your goals whether in business, athletics or other … take the time to reflect on what you did well and what you had trouble doing.

Write down the next steps

Have a notebook where you can write your goals that you will be reading every day and write down the steps you will take to achieve them.

“I know where I’m going and I know the truth, and I don’t have to be what you want me to be. I’m free to be what I want”.  Muhammad Ali

Important tip

Follow these simple, clear rules and you will maximize your chances of success:

#1. Set clear and realistic goals

#2. Try to be the best version of yourself at all times, make friends and not enemies, the nicer you are, the more followers you will have

#3. Dress like a winner, engrave the image of success in your mind

#4. Drink some coffee, as stupid as it may sound, it will help you stay focused and energized throughout your day

#5. Have a rich mindset

#6. Aspire for higher goals, but still stay as realistic as possible, trust me you will not be the President tomorrow (maybe one day who knows?)

#7. “Don’t be afraid to fail”  Arnold Schwarzenegger

#8. Watch the Arnold Schwarzenegger 6 rules of success on youtube

I hope you will stay motivated and wishing you the best. For coaching sessions on this subject feel free to write any comments or suggestions below or send ab e-mail to info@mkbconseil.ch. Or call me!

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