Defined as the power that makes a person to take action, Motivation is the driving force that urges people to act in terms of cognitive and behavioral aspects and to learn and achieve their expectations in life.
This force can sometimes emerge as external factors, just like a sailboat. But the truth is that our intrinsic motivation is what actually drives us. Just like a self-propelled steamship…
Researches and many references suggest that intrinsic motivation has three main elements. These are autonomy, purpose and mastery. And researches have also revealed that one of the key motivating factors is the sense of self sufficiency.
People are intrinsically motivated when they are able to act independently, when they feel that their efforts are important and when they have a sense of self sufficiency by enjoying the satisfaction of being more skillful.
We hear the phrase “I can’t get motivated, I don’t know how to do it” a lot in our counseling services and trainings and we consider that this has become an issue for individuals of all ages, from children to adults currently.
So, how is it possible to achieve intrinsic motivation which is defined as the third motive by experts? Is it possible to get motivated on one’s own during the day without any support?
For sure. It is up to us to discover our intrinsic motivation and understand it so that it leads us towards our goals. Many tools can be suggested in this respect, but basically, intrinsic motivational tools are in direct relation with the nature of the work and they stem from the content of the work. It includes factors such as interesting and challenging work, independence at work, significance of work for the employee, participation in the work, responsibility, diversity, creativity, opportunities to use one’s talents and skills, availability of satisfactory feedback on one’s performance.
People become happier and more successful when they can relate their existence in life to their work. At this point, the prerequisite for internal motivation is to know how valuable we are. Then, being able to set goals, assuming responsibility for our own decisions and having this autonomy, developing our sense of self sufficiency, being in places where one feels belonging and valuable will improve our intrinsic motivation.
What are the Factors Affecting Intrinsic Motivation?
In their book Making Learning Fun, Malone, T. & Lepper define these factors as increased intrinsic motivation and state that pursuing “challenges” that are personally meaningful, wanting to have “control” over oneself and the environment around, doing work in which one can “cooperate and compete” with others, having both sensory and cognitive “curiosity” and having their achievements “recognized” by others increase intrinsic motivation.
From this point of view, can challenges, places we can take control of, cooperation and competition, sense of curiosity, and areas we can satisfy our need for recognition also be opportunities for us to create our intrinsic motivation? What do you think?
Finally, I would like to remind you that motivational quotes that you may read from time to time can also be effective.
“There are no hopeless situations, there are hopeless people. I have never lost hope.” – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
