What is motivation? Goals, methods and examples of motivation

Motivation is a complex of internal and external processes that encourage action. In other words, a motivated person is one who is ready to take action. To motivate yourself, you need to understand the mechanisms of how motivation works, identify the stages and types. This information will help you finally put an end to procrastination and begin to apply it in life, stimulating your brain every day to new achievements.

How does motivation work?

To receive a motivational charge, you need to understand the work of the motivational process.

Numerous studies of this phenomenon report that motivation begins with a need. When a person lacks something, he begins to look for ways to get it. To have a need for something means to feel a lack. There are two types of needs:

Innate needs, primary. Otherwise they are called need (for food, water, sleep).
Acquired needs, secondary. They are individual in nature and determined by the social environment. The need for popularity, love, respect, recognition, etc.

If we need something, discomfort arises, a feeling of inferiority, and a desire to get it. When stress from lack of what one wants reaches its climax, a person begins to act to satisfy needs.

But the need is often not enough to get a charge of regular motivation. Also required:

strong desire to change life = feeling that this cannot continue;
material resources to change lives;
willingness to develop and face difficulties.

When the needs and the listed factors come together, a person will have motivation, an irresistible desire to act.

It can be summarized that the motivational process consists of:

awareness of unmet needs and demands;
setting goals for their satisfaction and self-realization;
identifying the actions required to achieve goals.

This is how motivation is born and continues to live in the brain if a person clearly understands why and why he gets out of bed every day and acts. The main thing is not to be deceived and work on what you really lack, otherwise motivation will quickly disappear.

When meeting with a new employee, the HR manager must take into account the career stage that he is currently going through.
This can help clarify the goals of professional activity, the degree of dynamism and, most importantly, the specifics of individual motivation. Let's present a brief description of the career stages (Table 12.3). [p.273] Lack or insufficiency of individual motivation in achieving specific goals. [p.303] In a hierarchical system with many levels, the mechanism of internal promotion not only represents the determinant of the overall efforts of the participants, but makes a great contribution and connects them to the goals of the organization. The degree of internal mobility thus becomes a valuable indicator of motivation and is meaningful only because of the existence of a hierarchy. Here we come to the motivation for gaining prestige, whose effect is stronger the more the prestige of the position is connected with the prestige of the organization itself (its brand image, its growth rate, etc.). But it also reveals another factor that an organization can take advantage of, namely, the sensitivity of individual motivations to the mood prevailing in the group. The participant's perception of the results expected of him by colleagues of the same rank or by those above him in the hierarchy can play a decisive role in normalizing his behavior, that is, in encouraging him to follow the goals of the organization and join one of the cells from which he consists of. [p.255]

Many theories have sought to explain the mechanism of motivation, and they differ in their assumptions regarding the extent to which the conscious and unconscious determine our behavior. Each of these theories is true to some extent, but so far there is not a single one that is completely established. Currently, perhaps, the main attention of researchers is focused on the importance of individual motivation for achieving general and individual goals. [p.46]

Conceptual management tasks include developing a concept for the department’s activities, creating a system of both collective and individual motivation and are solved by the highest level of department management - the head. [p.92]

CARE ABOUT INDIVIDUAL MOTIVATION FROM THE PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE [p.203]

The practice of management is already armed with knowledge, which was extremely relevant in conditions when changes were taking place in society, a departure from relations expressed in orders and subordination. At the same time, the fact remained in the shadows that individual motivation cannot be mechanically transferred to the motivation of groups. Groups sometimes react very differently from their individual members. Divide and conquer - these words of Louis XI can be understood and divide groups in this way, and this will make your power easier, because you will be dealing with individuals or small groups. [p.168]

There are certain parallels between group and individual motivation, especially at stages two through five. In stages four and five there can be tension. [p.169]

Memorizing information depends on repetition and the degree of updating when processing information. These, in turn, are influenced by many individual (motivation and ability) and stimulus-related (pictures, concrete words, repetition, mnemonic devices, and time-compressed speech) characteristics. [p.120]

Among Taylor's motivating factors, special mention should be made of special promotions, which became the most effective type of individual motivation. A worker could be rewarded not only by promotion to another category of workers with a better wage rate, but in some cases also changed his social status along with his professional category if he was appointed foreman or foreman. [p.97]

The method of individual motivation is implemented primarily through the implementation of the principle of payment in accordance with the quantity, quality and result of the labor expended. This principle is specified in salary systems, forms of additional wages, bonuses, rewards, etc. (Fig. 14.2). [p.291]

Lack of individual motivation. Rewards in explicit and hidden forms must be sufficient to motivate people to work and fair, which is widely violated. [p.329]

Rice. 7.1. The process of individual motivation

The need for self-expression, or spiritual needs.
This level represents the culmination of all lower, middle and higher human needs. People who have achieved the opportunity to express themselves have realized their potential. Self-expression is closely related to the concept of self. In essence, self-expression is a person's individual motivation to transform their perception of themselves into reality. [p.295] I suspect that many rulers of modern corporations would prefer to live in the era of Ancient Rome. But since slavery is prohibited, terror is no longer such a motivating factor. The best way to get the best out of your employees is to instill in them pride in their organization and the work they do. Individual motivation is undoubtedly important, but the motivation of the workforce as a whole is no less important. One of the most effective ways to achieve this motivation is to create a strong brand. [p.78]

Individual motivation cannot be mechanically transferred to group motivation. Groups sometimes react differently than their members. [p.142]

Now let's imagine a simple diagram consisting of four squares, which is shown in Fig. 18. Individual motivation can range from personal gain to group interest, and the SIN factor of the work environment can vary from low to high. Now let's see which control method is best for each square. If self-interest is high and the SIN factor is low, then the market method, which we used when purchasing tires, is best suited. As individual motivation moves towards group interest, more appropriate [p.180]

The word motivational means that at the heart of the mediation process itself is the creation of motivation that integrates personal and organizational goals. The nature of this motivation is always individual and unique: someone accepts organizational goals as a challenge to their professionalism, someone sees them as a way to improve their status, etc. Creating individual motivation focused on achieving organizational goals is always a puzzle for the intermediary manager, which he must decide based on knowledge of the psychological characteristics of a particular employee, on previous experience of working with him, using various methods of influence (persuasion, encouragement, etc.). Partially, motivational intermediation can rely on the work motivation system already existing in the organization, but, as a rule, the solution to this problem is always creative. Formally existing motivation mechanisms alone are not enough; creative interaction between the intermediary manager and the employee is necessary. [p.166]

FACTORS OF INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS. Each participant in a purchasing decision brings their own personal motivations, perceptions, and preferences to the process. All this depends on the age of a particular person, his level of income, education, official position, his personality type and willingness to take risks. Purchasing agents take distinctly different approaches to organizing their work. Some of the young, highly educated suppliers are computer nuts and conduct a rigorous machine analysis of all competitive offers before choosing a supplier. Others, the old-school iron guys, get their way by pitting suppliers against each other. Sellers of industrial goods must know their customers and adapt their tactics to specific environmental factors, especially [p.234]

Concepts of consumer and consumption. Typology of consumers. Individual, industrial and mass consumers. Forms of consumption. Consumer choice. Purchasing motivation. Modeling consumer behavior. Style and standard of living. Consumption culture. [p.128]

PERFORMANCE - the functional capabilities of the human body necessary to perform a given job. A person’s level of R. depends on the state of health, the degree of training and consolidation of work skills, working conditions, age, motivation to work, his individual abilities, etc. A quantitative measure of R. is established on the basis of an analysis of labor productivity during a shift (product output or time spent on an operation), identifying the subjective state of a worker during a shift (feelings and degree of fatigue, complaints), studying the functional state of a worker using instrumental measurements shifts, as well as before and after work. In the labor process, there are three main phases: production of high and stable P; decrease in P (fatigue). Increases in labor efficiency are facilitated by measures for the rational organization and division of labor, the development of collective forms of labor, and the combination of professions that make it possible to enrich the content [p.296]

SOCIAL VALUES - a system of assessments that express the spiritual aspirations of an individual or social group. communities, their ideals, life guidelines, moral principles, attachments and preferences, norms of behavior. This is a set of values, beliefs, and ideas of a person about his purpose in the world and dignity, which act as a source of individual and group motivation, a criterion for the significance of social life. goals, the dominant factor of life. An important place in the S.c. system. occupies an awareness of the meaning of labor as the basis of all human culture, the foundation of world civilization. Along with group and national values, increasing importance is being attached to universal human values - the preservation of peace between nations, scientific, technical and social progress, social. justice, respect for human rights and freedoms, dialogue and mutual enrichment of diverse cultures. [p.349]

The fundamental problem of combining organizational form with the pursuit of long-term, clearly defined goals is obviously the establishment of these goals and the hierarchization of them necessary to explain how individual motivations combine with each other and incentive mechanisms acquire structure. It is also necessary to establish, in addition to the obvious goals, the dominant strategy that underlies the internal coordination procedures of the organization's participants. [p.217]

At the end of the 1960s. Horner theorized the fear of failure and applied it to working women with a strong desire for achievement (Horner, 1968, 1969). This perceived difference between men and women has not been reflected in more recent research on the topic, perhaps reflecting the fashion for gender equality (Weiner, 1992). Despite the fact that the authors’ own research showed differences in the values of factor 1 (high earnings and material incentives), they were higher for men than for women, this difference was not confirmed by further research. An equally important contribution to the development of the doctrine of motivation was made by Vroom, who recognized the individuality of motivation. He emphasized the skills and abilities needed to get the job done. His work is closest to the work of the authors, although he did not identify a separate list of motivational incentives. [p.375]

Although there is a body of work on the effects of psychological factors on performance, it is usually difficult to evaluate this work because many psychologists working with high- and low-performing groups report no real quantitative differences. In general, it appears that some of the psychological factors studied in the language of small group theory can account for between 7 and 18% of performance differences. The findings are 1) to some extent small production units are more productive than larger ones 2) groups made up of friends are more productive than those made up of non-friends 3) units that are under more general control are more efficient than those that are more closely supervised [2], and 4) groups that are given more information about the importance of their work are more productive than those that are given less information [37]. Part of the reason for these observed differences is the possibility that individual motivation to work is differentially affected in the various above-mentioned circumstances. [p.490]

It is fair to note that individual motivation cannot be mechanically transferred to the motivation of groups. Fidelity to A. Maslow’s theory for groups is characterized by a decrease in the strength of motives from the strongest (first stage) to the most spontaneously arising (fifth stage). The area of overlap between the first floor of individual needs and the fifth floor of group needs corresponds to individuals with physiological needs (the solidity of the collective is destroyed at the very first test of strength). The area of overlap of the second level of individual and fourth group needs contributes to the creation of a strong and stable team based on fear. The area of overlap of the third level of individual and third group needs indicates the creation of teams with relatively short-term relationships based on activated social needs. The area of overlap of the fourth level of individual and second group needs indicates that a cohesive team is being formed with psychological needs for power and involvement, which is capable of solving tactical problems (competition in groups is possible on the basis of

The importance and complexity of motivation, as well as its influence and performance, have led to the idea of a motivational mix, which represents a combination of factors to be considered, including reward, tangible incentives, non-financial incentives, leadership, managerial control and salesperson personality (Donaldson, 1998). These factors, together or individually, influence individual work motivation and overall performance. An individual may react positively or negatively to various factors used by management to motivate the sales force. The pursuit of understanding the components of motivation and its influence on performance should at least lead to [p.719]

Mary R Follett A management philosophy based on individual motivation. Group approach to solving management/technical problems [p.94]

In conclusion, it is worth noting that although some allow themselves to doubt that shopping is actually less motivated than any other behavior (Foxall G., Goldsmith R., Brian S. Consumer Psychology in Marketing. 2001. P. 177) , in the sense of the influence of the characteristics of individual motivation, this is exactly the case: at least 90% of purchases made in all product groups are motivated by simple consumer habits. [p.180]

MOTIVATING is the process of stimulating oneself and others to activities aimed at achieving individual and general organizational goals. [p.688]

A firm's organizational efforts to implement strategic decisions. Key functions of the strategic development department. Strategy modeling is a continuous, iterative activity. Final and ongoing analysis of the organization's external environment. Strategy for organizational change. Strategic advantages and disadvantages of various organizational management structures. Aligning the organizational structure with the strategy. The Bartn-Obel model in assessing the suitability of organizational structures for strategy implementation. Strategic change management. Making the necessary changes to the strategy with an emphasis on key strategic goals. Motivation for strategic change. Budgeting for strategic changes. Strategic reflection. The main tasks of strategic reflection. Individual and group resistance by changing the human factor, sources and strength of resistance, resistance management. System resistance, its sources and methods of dealing with it. Features of using the resistance management method (accordion method) when implementing strategic changes. Overcoming resistance to change within the company. Mobilizing the firm's potential to implement the strategy. First level changes. Second level changes. Strategic Readiness Model. Methods for unfreezing companies. Using Information Leaders as Change Agents. Cross-functional working groups. Rotation of ra- [p.392]

Stages

If we take a closer look at the stages of motivation, we get six of them:

The emergence of a need, awareness of a lack.
Finding ways to satisfy needs.
Formation of goals and objectives.
The beginning of the journey, the first steps towards realizing your goals.
Reward for activity, first results, motivating to continue to act.
Satisfaction of a desired need, loss of a stressful stimulus from a lack of something.

When one need loses relevance, a person has a dozen more of the same in stock, because we are insatiable and strive for the best. The human desire for everything at once is the engine of progress. Craving better and more for yourself is the driving force of motivation.

Kinds

Motivation has several types, depending on which side you look at this phenomenon.

If you study the sources of appearance, then the motivation can be:

external, that is, received from the outside and conditioned by circumstances;
internal, that is, the charge comes from the person himself, is also called the “impulse of the soul.”

According to the duration of action, this phenomenon differs in:

regular, sustainable motivation, it does not need daily replenishment;
unstable, unstable motivation, which requires constant additional stimulation due to a weak desire to act.

Motivation can cover a different number of people, depending on the goals:

personal motivation is necessary for individual growth and is usually stimulated by the individual himself;
group motivation is needed for the coordinated work of a team, be it work or sports.

There are two ways to encourage action:

positive motivation: to strive for something because of positive incentives (new experiences, emotions, rewards);
negative motivation: the desire to avoid negative phenomena (punishment, fines, dismissal, reduction in income).

These were generalized types of motivational processes, but there are specific areas of activity that are the driving forces of a person to achieve goals. They are called motives and are caused by various reasons and emotions.

The desire to be like a successful person. A strong motive to achieve goals, a person begins to associate himself with a famous person who exerts influence. Identification drives a person to become like a role model. This is an effective way to move towards goals, but it is worth distinguishing between true desires and those that are contrived due to the connection.
Fear moves people well. Having made employees afraid, management often motivates them to do their work faster and better, threatening them with layoffs or dismissal. In order for fear to be constant and motivation not to disappear, it is necessary to create a feeling of the inevitability of punishment and its severity.
Power is one of the strongest driving forces. The desire to control oneself, life, other people, and have influence on others is a great motivation to achieve goals. The main thing is not to become a tyrant.
The impulse for public approval and the desire to join a certain social group stimulates a person to new achievements. After all, we all want to feel connected to like-minded people, to be accepted in society, and we are afraid of condemnation from people important to us. This helps you to be better and constantly develop, meeting social expectations. The main thing is not to forget that your own happiness is more important than approval from the outside.
Moving up the career ladder has motivated many people since time immemorial. We all want our efforts to pay off and be appreciated; we want constant growth and new challenges to make life more interesting. Staying in one place all your life and performing the same tasks is boring and depressing, so career advancement is one of the strongest incentives to action.
Self-development is also a powerful engine of life. Standing still or degrading is not typical for such a developed creature as a person, and even unnatural. The thirst to learn something new, to make an important discovery, to become better morally, intellectually or physically are the driving forces of millions, or even billions of people around the world.

All these motives are characteristic of any person to one degree or another and are used by teachers, leaders, us and the state, although we may not notice it.

Extrinsic and intense

Extensive motivation is a set of motives that are determined by the influence of external factors on a person: conditions, circumstances and incentives not related to specific activities. In simple words, this is external motivation for activity. Intense motivation, accordingly, has internal reasons that can be determined by a person’s life position: desires, needs, aspirations, interests, drives and attitudes. Within the framework of internal motivation, a person acts “voluntarily”, without relying on external circumstances.

The discussion about the appropriateness of such a classification of motivation was highlighted in the work of H. Heckhausen. However, from the position of modern psychology, such a discussion is groundless and unpromising. A person, being an active member of society, is not able to be completely independent of the surrounding society in choosing decisions.

How to constantly motivate yourself?

Each of us dreams of waking up, getting up like a movie hero, with a smile and a charge of vigor.

But in reality, it turns out that it is more difficult to constantly motivate yourself to new achievements.

To reach the goal, you have to go. Honore de Balzac

To avoid losing charge, you should remember these few rules:

Many people are mistaken in thinking that motivation comes before taking action. It’s the other way around: first there is a need, a desire, an action, and then a shock charge of motivation. By doing what is really necessary, you will feel the desire to continue, especially after the first rewards in the form of the results of your activities.
If there is no motivation, start acting, it will catch up in the process. It's like the appetite that comes with eating.
If your goal seems too big and overwhelming, break it down into small tasks that don't require as much time and effort. Psychologically, it will be easier to perceive them and the fear of failure will disappear.
Create comfortable conditions for activity: tidy up, replace distracting interior elements, get rid of irritating factors.
Surround yourself with the right people. This should not be a bunch of whiners and losers pulling to the bottom. Find new friends, inspired, interesting, whose successes and thoughts will inspire and motivate.
Don't forget to give yourself rest, engage in exciting hobbies, go for walks, go to the cinema and just have fun. You don’t have to work 24/7, it’s important to maintain a balance.
Read motivating literature and watch movies that inspire you to achieve accomplishments. As they say, business comes with pleasure.
Don’t give up when you fail, learn to see new experiences and opportunities in it.
It's best to write down your goals and objectives on paper and hang them in a visible place so you don't forget about them. And also add: why do you need this and remind yourself every day.
Summarize intermediate results, evaluate your results and praise yourself.
You shouldn’t criticize us strictly for mistakes and failures, because there are no ideal people, and mistakes teach us, so they are important and even necessary.
Exercise regularly, it improves intellectual activity and increases productivity.
You can arrange a mini-competition with your friends to achieve goals, who is faster or who is more, but do not forget that the main thing is happiness and inner comfort, not victory.
Don't burden yourself with huge to-do lists. It’s better to do 2-3 important things every day, this will allow you to keep up and not get overtired.
Don't delay, set a deadline.

Just live happily and move forward steadily, don’t overload yourself and do things that aren’t really necessary.

Plan and “tree of small goals”

Here you need to move from the general to the specific. And since our goal is to spend less, we begin to look at all our income and expenses. And we draw up our budget. We recommend recording all your expenses and income for 1-2 months as it is convenient for you. And this is the first small step towards your goal.

The second step will be to open a deposit account in your bank, where you will start saving from 10 to 30% of your ALL income. And put it aside as soon as the money arrives in your account or falls into your hands. It is important!

The next small task, or the third step, is to save the required amount of money in 3-6 months and start investing. That is, during this time, take the simplest courses, preferably paid courses on investing money. Or set a goal and study the most popular book or guide on investing. Do not transfer all your money to investment projects without experience, take 50% of the money you have accumulated and try what you can do.

We think about benefits, not about obstacles and difficulties

Any goal is always fraught with difficulties. In order not to leave the road and go towards the goal, you need to help yourself in personal growth. Try to find phrases for motivation when achieving goals that will resonate in your soul.

Motivational books and films

To get a boost of motivation when you don't feel like doing anything, sit down to watch an inspiring film or read a book about those who have succeeded.

Top 5 motivational films:

“Always say YES” shows the viewer that sometimes you just have to agree and not close yourself off to opportunities. An excellent cast of actors and sparkling humor will help you have fun and be inspired.
“Until I play the game” - we are all mortal and that is why life is so valuable. The film inspires not to wait for a miracle, but to live the way you want now.
“Slumdog Millionaire” is, as the title suggests, a film about a guy who rises out of poverty. Motivates, touches, inspires.
“All or nothing” - sport is the very area where without motivation you cannot cope and become a champion. This is what the comedy tells about, revealing human willpower and desire for victory.
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” is a cult film that tops many ratings. A sweet, kind, cheerful and at the same time sad film, inspiring not to wait for a turning point, but to simply act.

For those who don’t like watching movies and prefer the classic form of information consumption, a selection of the Top 5 motivating books:

“Life Without Borders” from the author Nick Vujicic, who lost his limbs, but not his fortitude. Nick shares advice on how not to despair and move forward if circumstances are against you.
Barbara Sher, author of the book “It’s Not Harmful to Dream,” teaches readers not to be ashamed of their impulses and desires. To make your dreams come true, you need to dream correctly, and Barbara will teach you how.
Often, fear and self-doubt prevent us from starting to act; in order to overcome them, we should read the book “How to overcome fear” from Olga Solomatina. Foreign literature does not always sink into the heart, because there is a different mentality and realities, but Olga is a domestic journalist who describes our life and problems.
Meg Jay, in her book “Important Years,” will tell you why you shouldn’t put your dreams on the back burner and how to avoid wasting important years.
Full Throttle is a work by Howard Schultz that tells readers about the famously successful coffee business, Starbucks. The author shares effective ways of doing business and life.

When procrastination overwhelms you, just grab these collections and the charge is guaranteed.

External and internal motivation for the implementation of personal projects

In this block you can easily find a way to competently motivate yourself to do almost anything. To make it easier to navigate, we will divide motivation into positive and negative.

Positive – desire for pleasure
Negative – the desire to get rid of the unpleasant

So, how to motivate yourself? How to agree with the person you love (yourself) about sports, getting up early, learning a foreign language, developing projects, increasing your earnings - any actions that you need to do, but are a little lazy or don’t want to.

Where is motivation needed?

Motivation is required for a person to work successfully and achieve achievements in any field.

Small and large corporations need it; managers often hire coaches to motivate the team to achieve common and personal goals.

Teachers encourage children to acquire knowledge in different ways, whether in schools or universities.

In general, motivation is needed everywhere: in kindergartens, schools, universities, at work, in sports and in personal life.

Developing motivation in life and achieving goals

To achieve motivation in life and achieve goals constantly, strongly train yourself to notice pleasant and joyful little things. No matter how inconspicuous they may seem at first glance.

A useful practice is to remember and write down every evening for a month what made you happy during the day. Even if it’s an unusually colored autumn leaf on the pavement. Or the aroma of a coffee shop you ran past while rushing to work in the morning.

Joy and motivation

Concentrate on joys. Leaving painful emotions out of attention is the skill that this practice helps to develop. As a result, positivity is generated, negativity does not multiply, the resource is replenished, which is what we need.

Well, to our starting point, to motivation. Something that will motivate you to do this or that action joyfully or, for starters, at least without negativity. As we now know, any coercion is an energy drain. This means an end to the embodiment of the new desired reality.

Don't set big goals

Therefore, do not set volumetric goals. Be sure to break them down into smaller ones, the smaller the better. Then motivation in life and achieving goals will happen more often and more interestingly. Look for benefits for yourself in any business. You must be selfish and do absolutely everything just for your own good, to achieve your goals. And maintaining motivation for them.

The lie that has taken root in society is that doing something for society is good, but doing it for yourself is bad. And, they say, those who are great for others! And those who do it to themselves - shame on them and universal condemnation. In fact, a person is programmed in such a way that he simply will not do anything without benefit to himself.

And it is precisely those same “social activists” who receive a bunch of bonuses in the form of increased self-esteem. Covering up some of your internal dissatisfaction with yourself. Closing the need for service and usefulness again. Yes and much more.