Do You Know What "Motivation" Really Means?

The first thing we have to do is break it down to it's core word which is motive. If you're like me, the first thing you think of when you hear 'motive' is a crime. Perhaps it's too much police drama television these days but when I hear the word, I'm thinking that it means 'the reason a person committed a crime.'

Likewise, when we hear the word motivation, we definitely don't associate that with crimes but rather as a 'reward' or a 'reason' to do something that we generally don't want to do. We often think of it in terms of "having to find the motivation" to do something. It's basically become a bit of a negative thing... something we think of only when we are feeling down or unwilling.

What we need to do is change that, because that is wrong. Here is what the dictionary has for 'motive':

1. something that causes a person to act in a certain way, do a certain thing, etc.; incentive.

2. the goal or object of a person's actions: Her motive was revenge. 

 

See, even the dictionary gives it a 'crime' feel with the revenge bit but you can see how it doesn't have to be a negative thing. It's quite simply the 'thing' that makes you do what you do. It can be anything from eating breakfast because you're hungry (hunger is your motivation) to going to work to earn your pay (money is your motivation).

Did you ever think of hunger as a motivation? Probably not. Perhaps you were hungry but your laziness was trumping it and as you sat there, you tried to find the motivation to get up and get yourself something to eat. You weren't looking for motivation, you were looking for more motivation. An added reason, an extra excuse.

What does this all mean? Well, motivation comes in a lot more shapes and forms than you think and it's a part of your life every single day. You may have just clouded it with what we've come to perceive it as. You don't need to promise yourself rewards or incentives to get something accomplished... the motivation is already there. You just have to stop ignoring it or dismissing it and embrace it for what it is.

Perhaps that laziness wouldn't keep you in your seat if you just simply accepted the hunger for the motivation that it is. You don't have to commit a crime to have a motive and you don't need someone else to 'give you motivation'. You already have it. Use it.