Hey guys today I wanted to talk to you about something I personally struggle with. I know a lot of other people also have issues with this too. I’d like to talk with you about motivation and how you get it. We all set goals. It can be getting to work on time, not eating out this week, or folding and putting away the laundry so it stops gathering wrinkles in the basket. Regardless of what your goal is, completing the goal is where the real struggle lies. I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying “getting started is the hardest part”. Believe it or not, there’s actually some science behind this. Setting the goal is just a part of the process.
Motivation is required to accomplish your goal.
You can set goals and make plans all you want, trust me, I’m the queen of planning. But if you lack motivation, it is extremely hard to meet those goals. This begs the question, “If motivation is the key to success, how do you actually get more motivation?”
Here is where I’m going to get all sciencey on you.
According to a study, it was found that motivation is regulated by the Nucleus Accumbens in the brain. This is a small region in your brain that influences your actions, such as getting up and going to the gym or eating a healthy breakfast instead of grabbing a donut and coffee. The neurotransmitters that filter through this region in your brain strongly influence your decisions. One of the key neurotransmitters for motivation is dopamine. When dopamine is released within the Nucleus Accumbens, it creates what we know as motivation. Science has determined we need dopamine to take action. It tells our brain to take whatever action is necessary to achieve an objective.
Dopamine Spike
When dopamine is released into the nucleus accumbens, it helps influence our actions by creating motivation. This is summed up into two simple words, a dopamine spike.
Whenever something goes better than expected or you receive an unexpected reward you have a dopamine spike. Your brain says, “Hey, I need to figure out how to get more of this feeling.” By understanding and utilizing your main implicit motive, you will be able to trick your brain into enjoying the things that you need to do. This means that you’re more likely to meet your goals and stay the course. Each time you do things that you know will bring you closer to your goal, your body releases more dopamine, thus creating more motivation. Understanding your main implicit motive can help you be more successful in reaching your goals.
Multiple studies have shown that you’re more likely to achieve your goal if you have “Clear Implicit Motives.”
What are Implicit Motives
Implicit motives are unconscious needs representing preferences in learning and experiences. These motives energize you when you engage in a course of action. Basically, your implicit motives help drive you towards your goal. Even when you’re not motivated to do what you need to do. The three most common implicit motives are power, affiliation, and achievement. Science and psychology shows everyone is driven by a combination of these motives. However, individuals typically tend to be more driven by one of the three.
Power – You typically would find gratification from being in leadership positions
Affiliation – May be your main implicit motive if you’re happiest when you are with friends and family.
Achievement – Would potentially be your main implicit motive if you enjoy competing and overcoming challenges.
Understanding your main implicit motive can really help you in reaching your goals, this is backed by research. Use your implicit motive and you’ll be more likely to succeed and obtain your goal faster than those who do not understand or utilize it. Think about it like this. If you’re someone that is driven by achievement, you will welcome the chance to earn a new garment badge or complete a virtual race. But if you’re more driven by affiliation, you’re going to be more likely to complete a race that is ran in person with a group of friends rather than by yourself at home.
Implicit motives are all about understanding how to motivate yourself. Let’s talk about how to identify your main implicit motive. You may be thinking “I know exactly what my implicit motive is”, but just give these exercises a try, because it’s not always what you initially think.
How do I Know What My Main Implicit Motive Is?
I’m going to walk you through a few visualization exercises.
The first one is to think about a situation where you were the main focus. You were the center of attention. This could be giving a speech, presenting a work assignment, or your birthday. Take a second and find a situation where you were the center of attention.
Now, I want you to think about the details.
- What were you wearing?
- How did the room look?
- Was it hot or cold in the room?
- Did the room have lots of windows or was it lite up with florescent lights?
- How many people were there with you?
Note these details and place yourself back in that situation.
Now, how did you feel in that situation? how do you feel right now just placing yourself back into that situation? Did you get nervous or anxious? Were you happy and energized? Did you feel confident or excited?
If you feel proud, happy, energized, confident, or excited. This is a sign that you’re driven by power and your main implicit motive is probably power. If you felt neutral, nothing, anxious, nervous, or upset, you’re probably not driven by power.
For the second visualization…
I want you to picture yourself taking a very challenging exercise class. Maybe it is that spin class that you’ve always wanted to try, but never thought you could do it. Or maybe it’s a CrossFit class because you love lifting. If you can’t think of an exercise class, you can use an extremely hard deadline you had to meet at work. Pick a situation and focus on the details.
- Think about what kind of clothes you wore?
- What color was the room?
- Did the room have windows?
- Was the room hot or cold?
- Were there other people with you?
Now, how did you feel? Were you nervous, energized, anxious, or happy?
If you felt energized, happy, or confident, you’re probably driven by achievement. If you did not feel any of these things or felt nothing, you may be driven by affiliation.
For the third visualization…
I want you to think about one time where you were going to meet new people. It could be a networking event for work or a party where you knew there was going to be new people there that you may not see again.
Once more, go over the details:
- Did you dress up or did you wear something comfy?
- Where did this take place?
- Was it someone’s home, was at an office, or perhaps a restaurant?
- Was it summer, fall, spring, or winter? Did they have the heat or A/C on?
- How many people showed up that you had never met?
How does this make you feel? Did you feel excited, energized, or nervous? Or does it not affect you at all?
If meeting new people at an event makes you excited, you are probably driven by affiliation.
Try These on Your Own
Try these exercises to narrow down which of the three implicit motive’s you lean towards. Doing so may help increase dopamine spikes, thus turning out more motivation. You may not need to leave the laundry for a week anymore. Goodbye wrinkles!
We’re going to go into some more detail on Thursday at 1:00 PM and talk about a method that you can use to help stay accountable.
If you’re like me and you’re working on losing weight, we have a great program that we put together. If you would like to download our free eBook check it out here.
Until next time, stay healthy, Power Your Life and keep moving forward.
