It is most certain that anyone
who can `think', harbors a desire to succeed. All of us want to succeed and not fail in whatever
we do. Now, one can pose a question that, if everyone wants to
succeed why don't they? What is stopping them? There are numerous
answers to this. However, this seven letter word `success' is linked to a ten
letter word called `motivation'. Most people do not have the
motivation to win or succeed; it is as simple as that. So
what then is motivation? Motivation is a desire to achieve
a goal, combined with the energy to work towards it and a desire or
a passion to succeed. Being motivated doesn't mean you are always
excited or fully committed but it does mean that tasks set either by you or
by someone else are completed, irrespective of whether the task is
difficult, or seems uninteresting. Sometimes, motivation can be
positive or negative. Positive motivation, as the name itself suggests,
includes enjoyment and optimism, whereas negative motivation is generally
associated with the fear of an undesirable outcome like, for example,
if a particular task was set for someone to complete a project within
a certain time frame, the fear or a perception that the task cannot
be done, either in its entirety or within the time frame given for
completion, acts as negative motivation for the person involved in the
task. However, each one of us experiences both positive and negative
motivational periods in our lives, sometimes simultaneously for a said
given moment or task. There are also times, when negative converts
to positive and vice-versa. The best way to deal with this volatile
ten letter word `motivation' is to understand that it exists within all of
us and could like a chameleon, change color, according to the situation
we are in or what our mind tells us to do. Whichever form it takes,
what is clear is that we in our minds need to harness it to work for us
positively. It is also good to understand that both negative and
positive motivations exists.
Let's go one step further and talk about people who need
to search for motivation and the other side, where some people
seem to have it inherent in them. I have heard many people ask, "How
can we get motivated?" And "How can we stay motivated?" Some feel
that motivation comes, while performing certain tasks, whereas in
other tasks, the same motivation or the level of motivation is not
there. Some even feel that within a particular task, motivation is there
for a period of time and it either fades or diminishes totally, when
faced either with another task or simply for some unexplained
reason. What then is this nebulous term `motivation'? It is there, it is
not there, it is both negative and it is positive, it is there for some tasks
and not for others. It is at different levels at different points in time. A
term shrouded with many meanings and definitions but something worth
exploring, is one of the most crucial components needed to succeed,
and I would like to come back to the original question, who does not want
to succeed? My grandfather used to always tell us as children—"Any
task is 99% perspiration and only 1% luck". To put in the 99% to a
task one needs motivation, so we come back to the original point how do
we get motivated? |
