Motivation

“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.””
Andrew Carnegie

It’s generally accepted that motivation is the fuel that drives humankind. If we were not motivated, we’d never strive to reach higher than we can, go further than we hoped. Experts define motivation as the internal factors in an individual that causes him to focus his energies on his target. Simply put, motivation is the behavior of an individual that is directed at achieving his goals.

The one thing that governs all motivation is desire. In fact, you could go as far as to say, desire for something or a goal in mind is the catalyst for a person’s behavior.

Take for instance, an athlete who puts in 5-6 hours of practice a day. He wakes at the unearthly hour of 5 am, trains for a couple of hours and after a break, begins training again. He is single mindedly pursuing his goal – a gold medal in the forthcoming championships. Towards this end, he focuses all his energies, eliminating distractions and concentrating all his physical energies and mental discipline to achieve his aim. The athlete in this example is acting out of pure motivation. What is he motivated about? The first answer that would come to mind here is “the championships.” But, the fact is that the championships are only the primary motivator. Beyond the championship lies all the glory and adulation that a star athlete receives, not to mention the multi million dollar endorsement contracts, the screaming fans and the heady lifestyle. These are all motivators. For the athlete, reaching these goals can come through winning the championships, and this serves to motivate him.