Finding motivation can be difficult, but when you learn how to apply your strengths you can begin to tap into your intrinsic motivation.
This week on our Learn Better Podcast, host Stuart Pedley Smith, Head of Learning at Kaplan, looks at motivation and how you can learn to lead a more engaged life.
Our guest is Ross Anderson, an expert in well being sciences and human optimisation, also known as The Motivational Dude. Ross shares details of his past involving drugs, crime, suicide and family struggles. Plus, how he found a more purposeful path through motivation.
Ross talks through the different types of motivation and influencing factors. He also outlines the reasons why and how to use your strengths to unlock your motivation. He explains how the key to understanding your strengths and in turn how to motivate yourself, is self-awareness.
Action beats distraction.
Key topics
What is motivation?
Motivation is the reason or reasons for one acting in a particular way. There are 2 types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic.
Intrinsic motivation comes from your inherent joy and satisfaction of doing something, and often when doing these things you will not be distracted from them easily. For example, playing football because you enjoy it.
Extrinsic motivation comes from influencing factors such as money, wealth, fame and beauty. For example, working hard to receive praise and recognition.
7 reasons why
As humans there tends to be seven key reasons why we do what we do, these are:
- The drive to learn
- To connect and bond with other individuals
- To defend and protect
- To acquire
- Meaning and purpose
- Self actualisation
- The drive to feel
How to tap into your intrinsic motivation
To tap into your intrinsic motivation you first will need to go on a bit of a self awareness journey. It is important to learn about your strengths, and you can begin to identify these through an online psychometric test.
Once you have established your strengths, you will need to live through these and see how they feel. Wrapping your strengths around your activities, goals and pursuits should help you feel energised and motivated.