itSMFA 2017 August Bulletin Bulletin - August - 2017 | Page 11

Motivation:
The Scientific Guide on
How to Get and Stay Motivated
Motivation is a powerful, yet tricky beast. Sometimes it is really easy to get motivated, and
you find yourself wrapped up in a whirlwind of excitement. Other times, it is nearly
impossible to figure out how to motivate yourself and you're trapped in a death spiral of
procrastination. This page contains the best ideas and most useful research on how to get
and stay motivated.
This isn't going to be some rah-rah, pumped-up motivational
speech. (That's not my style.) Instead, we're going to break
down the science behind how to get motivated in the first
place and ho w to stay motivated for the long-run. Whether
you're trying to figure out how to motivate yourself or how to
motivate a team, this page should cover everything you need
to know.
You can click the links below to jump to a particular section or
simply scroll down to read everything. At the end of this page,
you'll find a complete list of all the articles I have written on
motivation.
Motivation: What It Is and How It Works
In other words, at some point, it is easier to change than to
stay the same. It is easier to take action and feel insecure at
the gym than to sit still and experience self-loathing on the
couch. It is easier to feel awkward while making the sales
call than to feel disappointed about your dwindling bank
account.
This, I think, is the essence of motivation. Every choice has a
price, but when we are motivated, it is easier to bear the
inconvenience of action than the pain of remaining the same.
Somehow we cross a mental threshold—usually after weeks
of procrastination and in the face of an impending
deadline—and it becomes more painful to not do the work
than to actually do it.
Scientists define motivation as your general willingness to do
something. It is the set of psychological forces that compel
you to take action. That's nice and all, but I think we can come
up with a more useful definition of motivation. Now for the important question: What can we do to make it
more likely that we cross this mental threshold and feel
motivated on a consistent basis?
What is Motivation? Common Misconceptions About
Motivation
So what is motivation, exactly? The author Steven Pressfield
has a great line in his book, The War of Art, which I think gets
at the core of motivation. To paraphrase Pressfield, “At some
point, the pain of not doing it becomes greater than the pain
of doing it.”
11 itSMF Bulletin—August 2017
One of the most surprising things about motivation is that it
often comes after starting a new behavior, not before. We
have this common misconception that motivation arrives as
a result of passively consuming a motivational video or