Did you know that researchers have mostly concluded that intrinsic (self) motivation doesn’t exist? 
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That may sound shocking to hear but think about it for a minute: Have you ever said that you were feeling motivated to do something and then you never did it? You felt really motivated to lose those extra pounds but then ended up adding on even more? Had a surge of motivation to learn Krav Maga so you would be able to defend yourself and then never even made it into a class to try it out?
Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
There are two general categories of motivation, the previously mentioned Intrinsic Motivation, and Extrinsic Motivation. Intrinsic is the self-motivation, the type that we speak most of when we relate motivation to our goals. Extrinsic is the outward motivation.
If we relate it to running, intrinsic motivation would be waking up and thinking you should feel like going for a run and extrinsic would be deciding to run because a bear is making its way towards you. Not getting eaten by the bear is a powerful motivating force to go for a run, and is that outward motivation where the consequence or the reward pushes you enough to take action.
But we aren’t talking about extrinsic, which definitely exists. The question is are you able, or is it even possible, to self-motivate?
MOTIVATION FOLLOWS ACTION
If you felt so much motivation to do something, why hasn’t it happened or why didn’t you stick with it? There is clearly an issue with motivation if we can be motivated to do something but still not do it, so relying or waiting on it is going to be problematic.
It is fascinating to think about the implications around that it may not actually even exist, but for our purposes whether it actually exists or not we should be able to see how motivation by itself is pretty meaningless. All the motivation in the world won’t do anything to get you any closer to your goal. It is the action that is important.
If you want motivation, take action as motivation always follows the action.
Have you ever done a simple chore like vacuuming the carpet and then pretty soon you are organizing your whole closet?
Successful people have discovered and are tapped into this powerful source of motivation, they just do things which leads to doing more things, and eventually greater things.
Bottom line: If you want to find motivation or even if you feel the motivation to do something, you still have to JUST DO IT. Take a small step, don’t wait, take some small action, and the motivation will follow. If you have the mindset of waiting for the motivation to come first you are going to miss out on so much of your potential.
Consistently taking small actions towards your goal leads to something more powerful than motivation, which is discipline and habits.
And if you are just waiting for motivation to strike, that has another name…PROCRASTINATION! So get up and get after it!
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