Self-motivation is, in its simplest form, the force that drives you to do things.
Self-motivation is far from being a simple topic; there are many books, webpages and articles that attempt to explain self-motivation and some top academics have dedicated their life’s work to trying to understand, model and develop motivation theory.
Self-motivation is a key life skill and something that everybody interested in personal development should think carefully about.
Motivation pushes us to achieve our goals, feel more fulfilled and improve overall quality of life. People who are self-motivated tend to be more organised, with good time management skills and have more self-esteem and confidence.
Understanding and developing your self-motivation can help you to take control of many other aspects of your life.
Life Goals
It is important to remember, when thinking about what you would like to achieve in your life, that change is inevitable. Your circumstances and priorities will change through your life, you may realise, at the age of 40 that you are never going to be a concert pianist – as you had planned when you were 19. However if you take the right steps from the age of 19 then there is nothing to stop you achieving this potential goal.
When thinking about your lifetime goals, make them challenging and exciting, base them on your strengths but make them relevant to you and ultimately achievable.
It may be useful to categorise life goals:
- Academic goals – what knowledge and/or qualifications do you want to achieve?
- Career goals – where would you like your career to take you, what level do you want to reach?
- Monetary goals – what do you aim to earn at given point in your life?
- Ethical goals – do you want to volunteer some of your time to a good cause or get involved in local events, politics etc.?
- Creative goals – how do you want to progress creatively or artistically?
- Domestic goals – how would you like your domestic life to be in the future?
- Physical goals – do you want to develop you skill in a certain sport or other physical activity?
Once you have thought about your life goals you can start to plan how best to achieve them. Set yourself smaller goals for the future. In ten years I will be… in five years I will be… etc. Work out plans of action with smaller and smaller sub-goals until you can arrive at an action plan that you can start working on now.
