Intrinsic motivation

Billions of trees have died to produce numerous books on motivation...there are hundreds of them and cover a range of approaches and theories.

The next few posts will be about various theories that might be helpful and of use.
As with anything to do with coaching there isn't a 'one size' fits all approach... pick the parts that work for you.

So where to start?

Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation comes from within.
Have you ever played a game all night long even though you knew you had to be in school/work the next day? Or have you just been itching to get home to see if that must have gadget or game has arrived from amazon?

When we enjoy something the task itself becomes it's own reward.

Think of the things you love – perhaps computer games, playing an instrument, cooking, art…
I bet you never willingly put these things off - in fact I bet you make excuses to do these rather than other less enjoyable things?
You never procrastinate over doing things you enjoy.

So the trick to getting things done can be filling your to-do list with as many tasks on it as possible which are things you love. They might be hard, or you might feel a little resistance to getting started – but once you’re doing them, you find them fun.

When you’re engaged on something which makes you intrinsically motivated, you’ll find that:

• It’s easy to maintain your focus
• You give it your best effort
• You do it for the love of doing it not for any reward or money

There is a note of caution...your intrinsic motivation can be subject to your moods
When you’re feeling happy and and upbeat you enjoy life and enjoy getting stuff done... but when you're down anything can be a struggle.

Then there are the tasks that will never be fun....

...and here we have extrinsic motivation to help.