How to Motivate Yourself - Essay Example

How To Motivate Yourself There are a lot of theories that provide us with more or less effective schemes that are supposed to help us in our self-motivation. Of course, they are to be chosen and estimated from the individual point of view, as each personality possesses an individual set of values and beliefs that can make a person interested in the results of person's activity. The first theory to be observed in this paper includes three necessary elements of self-motivation. These elements are as follows: achievement drive, commitment and initiative and optimism. (Self Motivation) The first one means intention to improve the existing situation or act according to the standards of quality. The second element comprises the mission that is to be fulfilled and the personal purposes. Abilities that are included into the third element are necessary to make the person use the opportunities to achieve the purpose and delete the obstacle that may prevent successful achieving the personal goals. (Self Motivation) The other point included into the theory touches upon the regulations that are to be taken into consideration by the person that wants to regulate his self-motivation. The person should recognize that self-motivation cannot be moderated or influenced by the environment, it fully and completely depends upon the person, his desire to achieve his goals, his self-assurance and optimism. It is also stated that the motivations of positive nature are stronger and more helpful than those that are negative or are based on some ground that can be hurtful to other people. Before forging out individual set of motivations the person needs to consider desirable results carefully and visualize them, as if these purposes have been already reached. It is important to foresee the sense of satisfaction and pleasure that the person would feel after he got the desired result. It is also necessary to list all the steps of the way that would lead the person to success and feel all these emotions that will accompany each step that would be successfully completed. It is also important to perceive the goal as the most important in order not to be detracted by insignificant problems that appear every now and then in our everyday life.( Self Motivation) When the scheme, described above, is done fully and completely, it is the time to implement personal schemes of self-motivation. At first, the person needs to set the goal for each day of the work that would be done to achieve the desired result. This successful result should be recognized by the person and the person needs to keep in mind the image of his future success and perceive it as it has been already reached. It is also necessary to mark each stage of the process and point out the skills that the person possesses and that can appear helpful in achieving the purpose. The last thing that is also important is to mark each successfully completed stage of the process until the purpose is successfully achieved. (Self Motivation) Another remarkable theory by Dave Ellis may be implementing to reach desired goals in education, professional sphere and in life in general. He also provides the readers with some issues that should be taken into consideration by the person who wants to reach success and is ready to do his best to receive an outcome. At first, he advices to think over and define the desired result of the action. It is necessary to point out all desirable profits and possible negative effects to clear one's personal need in this or that result of the action. Understanding one's goals will also help the person find out the most successful strategies that will lead him to desired result better. One may also divide the major purpose into several small goals to find out motivation for each goal separately. The author of the theory states that if the person realizes that he works for future success, he finds the abilities to fulfil the task that might seem to be impossible to complete. (Nulph) It is important to get rid of fear that the purpose is unachievable. This fear would prevent the person from completing the task successfully, or, at least, may slow down the process itself. In order to get rid of fear the person needs to think over the sources of this feeling and recognize them. Usually, reasonable thinking may help in deleting person's fear. (Nulph) Sometimes environment greatly influences the person's desire to complete this or that task. One may try to avoid definite activity because of the circumstances for the conditions of the environment. Sometimes it will be helpful to change the surroundings for better or to engage another person into your activity. Completing the task together positively influences the personal motivation. If you ask someone's help as the help of more educated and experienced professional, rather than just invite the person join you, it is supposed to provide for more productive activity. (Nulph) It is necessary to be careful with the factors that add the elements of pressure into person's activity. Such factors as the deadline for the task to be completed may be either helpful or disturbing in successful activity. If the pressure is too powerful it may cause a stress to the person and this will prevent this person from productive fulfilling the task. If there is a pressing factor that causes the stress to the person, it is better to reduce the factor or remove it completely. When the person has a deadline date settled and it worries the person, this date should be moved. One may also try to divide the process into small steps and thus reduce the volume of the work in one's consciousness. Having some rest may also appear to be useful. Detracting from the activity helps person to consider the results of the process and estimate his efforts. (Nulph) If the sphere of activity allows it, one should seek for the samples of successful achieving the same purpose. It is always helpful to observe the experience of other persons that were involved into similar activity, to think over their fails and successes, examine their attitudes and the schemes they applied to achieve desired goals. If the person defines an example for him, he may use successful strategies that would make the process of completing the task easier. The negative experience is also worth consideration, in order to avoid similar situations and mistakes. Both positive and negative examples provide the person with the samples of the experience he would receive in future, but positive samples deserve more careful consideration. It is also helpful to list all relatives and friends of the person and to point out their positive features that may appear to be helpful in present activity. The person should not imitate their behavioural models, but just try to implement positive features of character they possess. (Nulph) The person should find someone to serve as the coach for providing personal motivation. This should be someone who is sure that the person possesses necessary skills to fulfil the task and obtain positive results. The person should list the goals and results he wants to achieve and get his coach to learn about them. It would be useful if the person share his intentions, possible behavioural strategies and expectations with his coach. In case something would disturb successful achieving the task or if the person is disappointed with the process, the coach is to remind him about future success and assure person that the success is easily reached. If this is the friend of the person who was chosen as the coach, this would be useful for friendly relations that people share and add much confidence to each other. (Nulph) One more important issue that the theory suggests is that the person should recognise that it was his decision to choose this or that kind of activity and he is able to change his attitude to the circumstances of the process. When the person realizes that he rules the situation, this would help him arrive at successful result. McShane and Von Glinow in their book Organizational Behavior observe one of the elements that are necessary to provide for the set of motivations for the individual. This necessary element is the satisfaction that the person obtains in the professional sphere. The specialists that examine organizational behaviour speak about significance of satisfaction level among the employers. "Employees with higher levels of job satisfaction, particularly satisfaction with the work itself, are less likely to quit their jobs, be absent from work, and experience mental or physical health problems. Joining a labour union and going on strike often result from dissatisfaction with pay or working conditions. Dissatisfied employees are also more likely to steal, deliberately sabotage company products, and engage in acts of violence against their supervisor or co-workers." (McShane, p.206) It is stated that the workers that are satisfied with their job, work more productively. But the authors of the book insist that the job performance and level of satisfaction are not so closely connected as it is believed. The main reason for this to happen is that the attitudes in general do not foresee individual behavioural strategies. Each person possesses his individual set of emotions, attitudes, values and experiences, so the reaction expressed towards definite circumstances would also be individual. If we take a case when the person desires to change the work as the example, we will assume that one person will make the same efforts to do his job, and the other will add fewer efforts, considering this job to be no so important for him since he is going to leave it. Besides, performance also depends upon individual capabilities and resources, but not the attitudes to the job and efforts. The factor of job satisfaction is also of less importance when it is related to the automated jobs. (McShane) The authors state that job performance more often promotes job satisfaction, when it is connected to rewarding. In case if productiveness provides the person with the rewards that this person appreciates, his productiveness increases. Unfortunately, this circumstance is missed by the majority of the companies, as they do not reward their employers for productive job. (McShane) The authors of the book also speak about the influence of individual values in organizational behaviour, thus affecting self-motivating. These are the values that shape personal attitudes and behavioural strategies. Values also provide us with the grounds for our actions and shape our motivations. The authors of the book point out to the values that are common for all cultures and have special importance for the employers. These values moderate behavioural schemes that also include motivation. There are five major kinds of values that these authors discuss: individualism-collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, achievement-nurturing orientation, and long- and short-term orientation. (McShane) The first one is individualism versus collectivism. This value is related to personal estimation of the importance of individual and collective purposes. Those who perceive collective objective as more important than individual goals, think of themselves as of the member of the community. Those who find their individual purposes as predominant, value their individual autonomy. (McShane) The second, power distance, describes the people's attitude to the division of power in the society. Those who possess more power are satisfied with the status quo, while those who have less power and thus fewer opportunities, expect more power. The cultures with long distances of power comprise the schemes of resolving problems with the help of directive regulations given from the chiefs to the employers and the cultures with short power distances comprise the schemes with collective collaboration. (McShane) "Avoidance is the degree to which people tolerate ambiguity (low uncertainty avoidance) or feel threatened by ambiguity and uncertainty (high uncertainty avoidance)." (McShane, p. 216 ) Those people who have high avoidance appreciate strict structures and set models of behaviour. Such models presuppose regulated models of communication and interrelations within the society. The fourth is achievement versus nurturing orientation. The cultures that appreciate achievement are likely to engage competitiveness, self-assurance and zeal. The people that need achievement appreciate responsibility and difficulties to overcome. People that got used to the nurture orientation focus on interrelation with the people around and on their prosperity. They do not pay so much attention to their personal success in career. (McShane) Long- versus short-term orientation. People that belong to the culture with long-term orientation build up their plans and strategies due to their plans for remote future. They appreciate reliability and stability. Those who are involved into the culture with short-term orientation, pay more attention to the customs, traditions and social duties. (McShane) Emotional intelligence is also paid much attention in the work of the writers that examine successful self-motivation: "Emotional Intelligence" refers to your capacity to recognize your own feelings and those of others, for motivating yourself, and for managing emotions well in yourself and in your relationships. "It describes abilities distinct from, but complementary to, academic intelligence, the purely cognitive capabilities measured by IQ. Many people who are book smart lack emotional intelligence but lack emotional intelligence end up working for people who have lower IQs than they but who excel in emotional intelligence skills."(Self Motivation) Works Cited 1. McShane, Steven, Von Glinow, Mary Ann. Organizational Behavior. McGraw-Hill/Irwin; 3 edition (March 10, 2004) 2. Nulph, Sally. How To Motivate Yourself. Lifestyles:Self-Help. Essortment. Available at http://msms.essortment.com/motivateyoursel_reen.htm 3. Self Motivation. Business e-Coach. Available at http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/motivating_yourself.html Read More