Just What Exactly Is Motivation?
Motivation can be described as the act or process of arousing someone's interest or desire to do something. The word "motivation" dates back to the 16th century and is derived from the Latin motus - "movement," which also gave us motivate, motion, and a couple other key words. It can be something as simple as an email reply encouraging students who've had trouble studying for an exam- but it also involves keeping up with your workout routine on days when you feel unmotivated, making time for your job when you feel like giving in, and so much more.
In order to understand what motivates our actions, we first have to understand what drives motivation. What exactly is motivation?
Components of Motivation
So, what exactly is motivation? Well, in order to answer this question we need to look at the components that make up motivation. After all, we all know that motivation isn't always a simple thing; it's not like you just snap your fingers and suddenly you're psyched! A motivational speaker will tell you that there are three main components of motivation; a desire to complete a task, an ability to complete the task, and some sort of reinforcement for completing the task. These three components are present in all motivational stages and are essential to any kind of motivation. Sure, there may be other factors such as a high-esteem, a desire to feel good about yourself, or a need to feel like you're doing something right- but these basic components still apply.
Desire to Complete Task: Almost every single person has some sort of desire in life. Obvious desires include the ones we have for food, shelter, sex, and so on. More subtle desires include a desire to feel important and to succeed in school or at work. In all cases, there is a desire or want (or both) to accomplish something. There is also a need for motivation when you don't feel like doing something that you know you should do- like exercise on the weekends or spend more time studying for that upcoming exam.
Ability: While every single person wants success and will work hard to achieve it (go ahead, admit it), not everyone has the ability to complete tasks that they find boring and uninteresting.