Motivation Training Materials On How To Motivate Others

Dr. Purushothaman
December 14, 2013

This article explores the nature of motivation and provides guidelines on how to stay motivated. By knowing what motivation is all about and what types exist we can broaden our view and engage in a range of activities that can motivate us even further.

What is Motivation?

Motivation can be defined as follows:

Motivation is what influences an individual do what he does given that those influences can be goals, attitude or incentives.

Hence ultimately, motivation is about influences. There are two categories of motivation:

Intrinsic. An intrinsically motivated person is motivated to go through the activity because he enjoys the activity.

Extrinsic. An extrinsically motivated person is motivated because of other reasons such as rewards and incentives.

Knowing how motivation works can also help you to learn how to influence others. Hence, knowing what motivates people is always a handy skill, whether it is applied to yourself or to others.

Motivation can further be classified into a number of distinct types. These are as follows:

Competence Motivation. This is the drive to be skilled at doing something. It motivates an individual to improve the quality of his work and become better than others. Ultimately, this leads to a competitive skill where the individual’s self-esteem and self-actualisation is also significantly reinforced. He takes pride in what he does, can help others in a meaningful way and is creative when facing challenges.

Affiliation Motivation. This is the drive to do something so others can see what you have done. In this type of motivation, most people expect praise and a positive confirmation from others. It is effectively a socially-driven motivation.

Achievement Motivation. This is the drive to get something useful done. It is about the pursuit of goals and the eventual satisfaction when they are achieved. Achievement motivation can be combined with systematic praises and rewards to increase its effectiveness.

Power Motivation. This is the drive to influence others. Here, people are driven by creating change and a motivation to increase productivity through other people.

Most people usually have a combination of these motivations when going through life. Generally, our personality may bias us towards one type of motivation more than others, but it is good to be aware of all types so you can take advantage of the range of motivation types.

Knowing about the types of categories is one thing, but staying motivated is another. Use the following techniques to stay motivated:

Motivate yourself every day. Motivation is not a one-of thing. It is more of a system and hence you need to have a process where you motivate yourself regularly. Make sure to monitor yourself so you don’t fall out of the habit.

Formulate your mission statement. You must always have an overall objective. This helps you to define your midterm and short term objectives. It also allows you to filter out unnecessary tasks in line with your mission statement and objectives and so you can become vastly more productive. This in turn helps you to become more motivated.

Be enthusiastic. Find something that you feel passionate about doing. The extra energy you get out of doing it will push you through all the hard work and potential challenges that you will face later on.

Think positive. Always look at all the positive things in your life and environment rather than focusing on what is wrong. The positive attitude will give you energy and makes you appreciate your life as it is. Negative attitude in contrast will only damage your feelings, slows you down and makes you feel depressed. Positive or negative thinking is just an attitude, so it is totally under your control how you want to think about the world you live in.

Focus your resources. Set objectives and then focus all your energy in achieving it. Take steps to reduce physical and mental distraction so that your time is spent productively. A focused effort helps you to become even more motivated as you immerse yourself in the task.

Overall, getting motivated and staying motivated is a process which you need to constantly work on and examine yourself to make sure you are not drifting. You can also take advantage of systematic training to enhance your skills.

Trainers can use Motivation Skills Training Materials to help others become more motivated as well using a tutor-led training course. For details see the training resources provided below.

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