Almost all aspects of human behaviour depend on motivation. Your motivational condition undoubtedly affects your decision-making process.

Your passion for studying, for example, chemistry, will undoubtedly impact how you learn it. Despite its apparent significance, empirical research on motivation has long been divided into distinct fields, making it challenging to develop an integrative perspective on motivation.  

According to the research on accomplishment goals, for instance, people study primarily to attain two different purposes: to master subjects and advance their competence, which are referred to as mastery goals, and to perform well in contrast to others, which are referred to as performance goals. 

Although mastery goals and performance goals both contribute to motivation, they are qualitatively different sorts of motivation. 

So, how to get it done? How to have the motivation and what steps do you have to take in order to obtain that state of mind? Let's find out!  

Choose your goal 

We have to choose them wisely. Some goals put our lives at risk, and these goals are set without regard to our circumstances and abilities.  

Goals are very powerful tools – they should be handled with much care. Set your goals after attentively considering if they are suitable for us. 

Powerful goals can, and sometimes will, pull us towards our greatest desires, literally energizing us to put in the work we need to do to get there. 

Do you remember the quote from Alice's Adventure in Wonderland when Alice asked: „Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? “The Cheshire Cat replied, „That depends a good deal on where you want to get to. “  

So, to repeat carefully choose your goal based on your wishes and desires, not because someone else wants you to or anything else – do it for your heart! 

Here are some of the questions to help you figure this out:  

1. Have you set your goals and are these the right goals for you? Do your goals fit the person you are and are they the best for the person you hope to become? 

2. How do you define your goals for yourself? Can you make them feel more excited by focusing on what you're trying to achieve rather than on the means you take to get there? 

3. Are your goals optimally abstract so that you don't lose sight of where you're going as well as exactly how you will get there? 

4. Can you define your goals in terms of approaching a state of physical and mental comfort instead of avoiding an undesirable state of discomfort?  

You will likely be more motivated with an approach goal, though you might feel it's more urgent to avoid an anti-goal. 

Keep pulling! 

No matter how you evaluate progress and success, maintaining motivation is simpler in the beginning and again at the end of your journey 

You have to know how to avoid becoming stranded in the middle of the road or deal with these „middle difficulties “. 

Also, we depend on input from successful and unsuccessful activities to keep moving forward. We need to remember the past, but also draw lessons from it. Additionally, humans often struggle to learn from their errors, which is a concern. Positive feedback gets more attention than negative feedback, which we suppress and disregard.  

Progress increases motivation and commitment. What if you'd achieved no progress whatsoever while pursuing your goal, not even illusory progress? Here are some examples.

You may have taken a wrong turn at the beginning of a drive, and by the time you realized your mistake, you were no closer to your destination than when you left.

Maybe you ordered a new sweater, but it got lost in the mail, so the seller cancelled the order and asked if you wanted a replacement.  

We tend to keep working on something just because we have already invested in it. If you have paid upfront for an online drawing course, you want to keep taking classes even if you have learned that you hate drawing. 

I also have questions for this!  

1. Look back at what you have accomplished. Does the mental exercise help you regain your goal commitment? Does it remind you why you have chosen to pursue your goal in the first place? 

2. Look ahead at what you still need to do to accomplish your goals. Does that mental exercise make you eager to start moving? Looking forward is a reminder to stay on track and monitor the pace of progress to meet your goal. 

3. Tune in to your emotions. How do you feel about your goals? If you feel good about holding your plan but not as good about your progress, your feelings will guide your actions and help you sustain your motivation. 

I hope you liked this text! Using the questions here starts some active reading and thinking in you! Feel free to tell us your answers if you feel like it and to ask any additional questions if you have them.  

Motivation is hard to work on, so work on it as soon as possible and help others when you think you have gained enough knowledge.  

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#Move on! 

*An article was prepared and written by Balša Kićović, Textual Content Creator.