Chapter 3. Motivation and personality. Personality correlates of motivation

What is motivation? Instincts and subconscious

The motivation that is inherent in every living creature is aimed at satisfying its urgent needs - thirst, hunger. Man, unlike animals, also has social needs, which at first may be perceived as “known”, but not obligatory. A real motivation to action can be formed artificially - with the help of positive reinforcement and praise.

For example, children know that they need to do their homework. But at first, the child may not do homework until another incentive appears - praise or the threat of punishment. Attachment to a person of the opposite sex can be a consequence of attraction, or it can be the result of a good-natured attitude on his part.

Researchers who were interested in what motivation is and what its main mechanisms are, gave this phenomenon different definitions. The most common of them sounds like this: motivation is a person’s desire to make efforts to achieve results in an area of ​​life that is significant to him.

Sometimes actions to achieve a goal may be taken as actions that, in fact, have nothing in common with it. For example, a man like Casanova collects women, trying to “conquer” as many of them as possible. Or a woman is trying to change her husband at any cost. But this activity, which seems to be the intention to achieve a goal, rarely brings a feeling of happiness and inner comfort.

R. Sternberg, a scientist who was interested in motivation for personal development in line with cognitive psychology, studied the reasons why people with a high IQ could not achieve good results at work. It turned out that the desire to achieve a goal in almost any job plays no less a role than the IQ level.

Another study belongs to B. Collins, an American researcher. Her experiments showed that self-confidence determines a good attitude towards mathematics more than actual abilities. The experiment took place on several groups of schoolchildren - with high and low self-esteem of mathematical abilities. Those students who were confident in their skills quickly abandoned the wrong path in solving problems and worked on them longer. They achieved higher results than those students who had the same abilities as them but low self-esteem.

Motivation. The role of motives in human development

Matov A.D.

MAOU gymnasium No. 29, Tomsk

Motivation: the role of motives in human development

Considering a person’s life as moving forward along the path of development, we can say that this is a process of overcoming new milestones, achieving new results, self-development and personal growth. In this process, the question of the meaning of all actions and deeds plays an important role. Any action or inaction almost always has its own motive.

In psychology today there is a sufficient amount of research on the issue under consideration, both in foreign science and in domestic science. In some cases, “motivation” and “motive” are synonymous. Motivation is spoken of in terms of a complex of various motives. The relevance of this topic lies in the fact that, having gained an idea of ​​​​what motivation is, what our true motives are, what the actual mechanism of motivation is, it is possible to manage life more effectively, adequately perceive the entire situation of interaction, enjoy the present, listening to your needs and desires, make plans for the future based on your true motives.

Human needs are conditional, mobile, and virtual in nature. The virtuality of needs is that each of them contains its own other, a moment of self-negation. Due to the variety of conditions of implementation, age, environment, biological need becomes material, social or spiritual, i.e. transforms. The transition from need to activity is the process of changing the direction of need from within to the external environment. At the heart of any activity is a motive that encourages a person to do it, but not every activity can satisfy the motive. The mechanism of this transition includes:

• selection and motivation of the subject of need (motivation - justification of the subject to satisfy the need);
• in the transition from need to activity, the need is transformed into purpose and interest (conscious need).

Thus, need and motivation are closely related: need stimulates a person to activity, and a component of activity is always motive. Practicing psychologists are interested in achievement motivation as an effective driving force. In a critical life situation, a person can also be activated for purposeful activity by motivation to achieve success. This is applicable in any field: creativity, sports, work, science, education. [1]

Achievement motivation plays an important role in regulating human behavior. The study of its problems is a significant direction in psychology, which is determined by different trends in the development of modern society. Scientific and technological progress, increasing the prestige of education confront a person with the need to achieve a certain level of success in situations related to competition, objective assessment, and competitive selection. To achieve your goal you need to make an effort. Achievement motivation can allow this. That's why it's so important to develop it. And this is necessary for more than just one generation. If the foundations of achievement motivation are laid in the period from three to thirteen years, parents simply need to create optimal conditions for its development. Perhaps our theoretical research will help to understand the importance of achievement motivation in the life of every person.

Taking into account the above, the purpose of the work is to determine the role of achievement motivation in personality development.

Main part

Motive

- this is what motivates a person to activity, directing him to satisfy a certain need. For example, the motive can be either to work hard with inspiration and enthusiasm, or to avoid doing something as a sign of protest.[4]

Motives can be needs, thoughts, feelings and other mental formations. However, internal motivation is not enough to carry out activities. It is necessary to have an object of activity and correlate the motives with the goals that the individual wants to achieve as a result of the activity. In the motivational-target sphere, the social conditioning of activity appears with particular clarity. Motive is often confused with need or goal. This is fundamentally wrong. A need is a subconscious desire to eliminate discomfort, and a goal is the result of a conscious process of goal setting. Hunger is a need, the desire to eat is a motive, and food is a goal.

Motivation -

This is the process of influencing a person in order to motivate him to certain actions by activating certain motives. belief intention

There are two main types of motivation:

• external influence on a person with the aim of inducing him to perform certain actions leading to a desired result. This type resembles a trade deal: “I give you what you want, and you satisfy my desire”;
• formation of a person’s internal motivation Its implementation requires great effort, knowledge, and abilities, but the results exceed the results of the first type of motivation. This type is educational and educational in nature.

Basic human motives

Emerging needs force a person to actively look for ways to satisfy them and become internal stimulants of activity, or motives. Motives can be different: interest in the content and process of activity, duty to society, self-affirmation, etc. Thus, a scientist can be motivated to scientific activity by the following motives: self-realization, cognitive interest, self-affirmation, material incentives (monetary reward), social motives (responsibility, desire to benefit society). [4]

Motives are relatively stable manifestations and attributes of personality. For example, when we say that a certain person has a cognitive motive, we mean that in many situations he exhibits cognitive motivation. The motive cannot be explained on its own. It can be understood in the system of those factors - images, relationships, personal actions that make up the general structure of mental life. Its role is to give behavior impetus and direction towards a goal.

Incentive factors can be divided into two relatively independent classes:

• needs and instincts as sources of activity;
• motives as reasons that determine the direction of behavior or activity.

Some motives are main, leading, others are secondary, side, they do not have independent meaning and are always subordinate to the leading ones. For one student, the leading motive for learning may be the desire to gain authority in the class, for another it may be the desire to obtain a higher education, for a third it may be an interest in knowledge itself.[7]

To motivate a person means to touch on his important interests, to create conditions for him to realize himself in the process of life. To do this, a person must at least: be familiar with success (success is the realization of a goal); to have the opportunity to see yourself in the results of your work, to realize yourself in your work, to feel your importance.

But the meaning of human activity is not only to obtain results. The activity itself can be attractive. A person may enjoy the process of performing an activity, such as being physically and intellectually active. Like physical activity, mental activity in itself brings pleasure to a person and is a specific need. When a subject is motivated by the process of activity itself, and not by its result, this indicates the presence of a procedural component of motivation. In the learning process, the procedural component plays a very important role. The desire to overcome difficulties in educational activities, to test one’s strengths and abilities can become a personally significant motive for studying.

At the same time, an effective motivational attitude plays an organizing role in the determination of activity, especially if its procedural component (i.e., the process of activity) causes negative emotions. In this case, goals and intentions that mobilize a person’s energy come to the fore. Setting goals and intermediate tasks is a significant motivational factor that is worth using.

To understand the essence of the motivational sphere (its composition, structure, which has a multidimensional and multi-level nature, dynamics), it is necessary first of all to consider the connections and relationships of a person with other people, taking into account that this sphere is also formed under the influence of the life of society - its norms, rules, ideology, politicians, etc.

One of the most important factors determining the motivational sphere of an individual is a person’s belonging to any group. For example, teenagers who are interested in sports are different from their peers who are interested in music. Since any person belongs to a number of groups and in the process of his development the number of such groups grows, naturally his motivational sphere also changes. Therefore, the emergence of motives should be considered not as a process arising from the internal sphere of the individual, but as a phenomenon associated with the development of his relationships with other people. In other words, changes in motives are determined not by the laws of spontaneous development of the individual, but by the development of his relationships and connections with people, with society as a whole.

Personal motives -

this is the need (or system of needs) of the individual for the function of motivation. Internal mental motivations for activity and behavior are determined by the actualization of certain needs of the individual.

Activity motives

can be very different:

• organic - aimed at satisfying the natural needs of the body and are associated with the growth, self-preservation and development of the body;
• functional - satisfied through various cultural forms of activity, for example playing sports;
• material - encourage a person to engage in activities aimed at creating household items, various things and tools;
• social - give rise to various types of activities aimed at taking a certain place in society, gaining recognition and respect;
• spiritual - they form the basis of those activities that are associated with human self-improvement. [9]

Organic and functional motives together constitute the motivation for the behavior and activity of an individual in certain circumstances and can not only influence, but change each other.

There are other approaches to classifying motives. For example, according to the degree of social significance, motives of a broad social plan (ideological, ethnic, professional, religious, etc.), group plan and individual-personal nature are distinguished. There are also motives for achieving goals, avoiding failures, motives for approval, and affiliative ones (cooperation, partnership, love).

Motives not only encourage a person to act, but also give his actions and actions a personal, subjective meaning. In practice, it is important to take into account that people, performing actions that are identical in form and objective results, are often guided by different, sometimes opposing motives, and attach different personal meaning to their behavior and actions. In accordance with this, the assessment of actions should be different: both moral and legal.

Types of personality motives

Towards consciously justified motives

should include values, beliefs, intentions.

Value

is a concept used in philosophy to indicate the personal, socio-cultural significance of certain objects and phenomena. A person’s values ​​form a system of his value orientations, elements of the personality’s internal structure that are especially significant for him.

Beliefs -

These are the motives of practical and theoretical activity, justified by theoretical knowledge and the entire worldview of a person. For example, a person becomes a teacher not only because he is interested in passing on knowledge to children, not only because he loves working with children, but also because he knows well how much in creating a society depends on cultivating consciousness. This means that he chose his profession not only out of interest and inclination towards it, but also according to his convictions.

Intention

- a conscious decision to achieve a specific goal with a clear understanding of the means and methods of action. This is where motivation and planning come together. Intention organizes human behavior.

The types of motives considered cover only the main manifestations of the motivational sphere. In reality, there are as many different motives as there are possible person-environment relationships. [8]

Motivation of a person and personality

Motivation -

it is a set of internal and external driving forces that encourage a person to act in a purposeful manner; the process of motivating oneself and others to act to achieve organizational or personal goals. Motivation is a person’s ability to satisfy his needs through activity. Motive, in contrast to motivation, is something that belongs to the subject of behavior, is his stable personal property, which internally encourages him to perform certain actions. The concept of “motivation” has a double meaning: firstly, it is a system of factors influencing human behavior (needs, motives, goals, intentions, etc.); secondly, the characteristics of the process that stimulates and maintains behavioral activity at a certain level.

In the motivational sphere, the following are distinguished:

• personality motivational system

  - the general (holistic) organization of all the motivating forces of activity underlying human behavior, which includes such components as needs, actual motives, interests, drives, beliefs, goals, attitudes, stereotypes, norms, values, etc.;

• achievement motivation

  - the need to achieve high behavioral results and satisfy all other needs;

• self-actualization motivation

  - the highest level in the hierarchy of personal motives, consisting in the individual’s need for the fullest realization of his potential, in the need for self-realization.

Worthy goals, long-term plans, good organization will be ineffective if the interest of the performers in their implementation is not ensured, i.e. motivation. The higher the level of motivation and activity, the more factors (i.e. motives) prompt a person to activity, the more effort he is inclined to put in.

Features and structure of achievement motivation

The study of such broad forms of motivation, which, manifesting themselves in various fields of activity (professional, scientific, educational), determines a creative, proactive attitude to work and influences both the nature and quality of work, becomes of great importance. One of the main types of such motivation is achievement motivation.

Research on this type of motivation began in the middle of the 20th century. A theory of achievement motivation has emerged, which determines what degrees of task difficulty motivate a person. For the first time, the achievement motive as a stable personality characteristic was identified in the classification of G. Murray in 1938. According to him, achievement motivation is associated with performing difficult tasks of management, manipulation and organization. Following G. Murray, the problem of the achievement motive was given attention by the American scientist D.S. McClelland. He believed that achievement motivation “is an unconscious urge to perform a much more perfect action, to achieve a standard of perfection” [10]. Speaking about the motive for achievement, one cannot fail to mention the research of the German scientist H. Heckhausen. In his understanding, achievement motivation is an attempt to increase or maintain the highest human abilities for all types of activities to which success criteria can be applied and where the performance of such activities can, therefore, lead to either success or failure [12]. J. Atkinson’s model of risky choice is also quite informative. Among domestic psychologists, M.Sh. was one of the first to address the issue of achievement motivation. Magomed-Eminov, making an attempt to study the structure and mechanisms of functioning of this phenomenon. The scientist proposed a dynamic model of motivation, consisting of four structural components: initiation or motivation of activity; goal setting; implementation of intention and post-implementation. One of the main mechanisms for updating achievement motivation, according to M.Sh. Magomed-Eminov, advocates a motivational-emotional assessment of the situation, consisting of an assessment of the motivational significance of the situation and an assessment of general competence in a situation of achievement [10]. In all the studies mentioned, achievement motivation has two outlets: achieving success or experiencing failure. Thus, achievement-oriented behavior presupposes that each person has motives to achieve success and avoid failure. In other words, all people have the ability to be motivated to succeed and anxious about failure. In principle, the achievement motive is associated with productive performance of activities, and the failure avoidance motive is associated with anxiety and defensive behavior.

Achievement motivation undoubtedly influences personal development. However, psychological differences in the behavior of people motivated for success and failure should also be taken into account.

Subjects motivated to achieve success set real positive goals, the achievement of which will be clearly regarded as success. Such people are prone to reasonable risks: they choose tasks of average difficulty, where success and failure become equally probable and the outcome depends as much as possible on the person’s own efforts. Easy tasks are not chosen as a matter of principle, since they do not bring a sense of satisfaction and real success, and if too difficult ones are chosen, the probability of failure is high [6].

Subjects motivated to avoid failures set themselves unreasonably high goals or, on the contrary, very easy ones that do not require special labor costs; prone to extreme choices of tasks: unrealistically underestimated or unrealistically overestimated. [eleven]

Differences in the behavior of people with different dominant motives can also be traced in their preferred methods of self-control. Those motivated to succeed use rational strategies aimed at increasing the significance of practical activity, and self-instructions obliging them to maintain the focus of cognitive and emotional processes on the current situation. Those motivated to fail choose self-instructions that oblige them not to be distracted by irrelevant aspects of the situation and rational strategies that devalue the significance of the overall goal. Moreover, their emotional control is aimed at relaxation (calmness and self-confidence), while in people with the motivation to achieve success, emotional control ensures activation through feelings like anger and dissatisfaction with oneself [6].

Summarizing all of the above, we can characterize people motivated for success as active, proactive, responsible and conscientious. People motivated to fail can be characterized as having little initiative.

Motivating students is an important step in developing students' motives that can give meaning to learning, and the learning activity itself will become an important goal. To ensure fruitful learning activities over a long period of time, it is necessary to use different methods of developing motivation, including achievement motivation.

Techniques for developing motivation for educational activities:

• creating entertaining situations - the process of introducing interesting experiences, life examples, facts, analogies into training sessions to attract attention and increase interest in the subject;
• creating a situation of cognitive dispute - attracting attention to the issue and the emergence of a desire to understand it;
• creating a situation of success in learning is based on the fact that joyful experiences contribute to overcoming difficulties.

To increase motivation in learning, you can use different techniques and methods. In any case, it is necessary to focus on each individual, his characteristics, as well as the psychological characteristics of the team as a whole. In this case, motivation for achievements in learning will contribute to obtaining positive results.

Conclusion

As a result of the work, we can say that we have identified the features of achievement motivation and revealed its structure through consideration of two trends: motivation to achieve success and motivation to avoid failure; We also traced the manifestation of achievement motivation in people’s behavior and its role in personality development.

The study found that motivation to achieve success is understood as a force that causes an individual to take actions that he expects will lead to success. This tendency is manifested in the direction, intensity and persistence of activity. Motivation to avoid failures is defined as a mechanism developed in the psyche to avoid mistakes and failures; For a person motivated to fail, the main thing is to avoid making a mistake, sometimes even at the cost of transforming the original significant goal, its complete or partial failure to achieve. Motivation to achieve success contributes to the development in a person of the desire to overcome obstacles and resist difficulties. This is exactly what makes an individual a person. Thus, the motivation to achieve success is always positive and is more conducive to personal development, in contrast to the motive to avoid failure.

Bibliography

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Motivation: daring or brave?!

Courage is a quality that can lead to success in the most ordinary people. Motivation for personal development will be much higher for those who have determination. It is she who allows you to do those actions that seem incredible and unthinkable. What is motivation for that person who does not have extraordinary talents or a bank account? First of all, it is the determination and courage to do something that at first glance goes beyond the acceptable and seems dangerous.

Mediocrity is the enemy of success. Being content with an average and ordinary life, a person will never suffer a crushing defeat. But he will never be able to surpass his result. At the same time, mediocrity can almost completely deprive one of mental strength.

Why is courage necessary to achieve success? Today you are on top of the world, content with the success you have achieved. Tomorrow you will vegetate at the bottom. Having lost everything, a person again finds himself at the bottom along with the fragments of broken ambitions. He found himself back where he came from - in a universe called "mediocrity." Only determination and courage can help you get out of this gorge.

Personal growth techniques are tools that are like mountaineering equipment. With their help, anyone has a chance to get out of the gorge of an average life. Such a person chooses an extraordinary life. The word "extraordinary" is a term that denotes that life which is above the level of mediocrity.

Over time, an ordinary person realizes that his everyday life no longer meets the demands that life makes of him. And he begins to do more than is expected of him - he gains courage. And so day after day, month after month. This is the only way to achieve high, rather than average, results.

Motivation of human activity

An incentive that encourages people to act is regarded as the motivation of human activity. In addition, this concept hides the skills and abilities of an individual to effectively satisfy his personal needs.

In psychology, a person’s motivated impulse is understood as an ongoing process that contains mechanisms of a psychophysiological type that control human actions and determine a person’s efficiency, his discipline, stability and orientation.

The main postulate of Maslow’s works: “Man is a thirsty creature.” Most often, he is never completely and completely satisfied, and if he experiences something like this, it is very short-lived. After satisfying one desire, the next one immediately arises and so on ad infinitum.

It is precisely this series of incessant desires that is the basis of personal motivation according to Maslow. This or that motive becomes significant if the previous one has been satisfied.

Let's explain with an example. So, if a person is hungry or threatened by the elements, or he experiences dislike from those around him, then most likely he will not even have the desire to paint a picture or dress luxuriously.

According to Maslow, humans are driven by multi-level motivation. For example, why does a person eat? First of all, to satisfy hunger, but there are other reasons! So it is with the rest of your needs, which have multiple reasons why they should be satisfied.

The directed activity of the human body provokes a periodic need to motivate the individual’s behavior, as a result, the emergence of diverse motivations is possible: cognitive, nutritional, sexual, protective.

It is motivation that turns out to be a kind of trigger that triggers processes in the cerebral cortex that determine the characteristic behavior of an individual under the influence of the sensory arousal he experiences, its decrease or, conversely, its increase.

Personal aspirations excite a person and cause him an emotional uplift, while all human motivations can be considered as a transformation of the state of a need expressed in something.

The primary incentives for a person to act are his interests in objects that have lasting significance for the individual. It is interests that turn out to be the mechanisms that motivate and regulate human behavior, determined by the hierarchy of existing needs.

It is noteworthy that there is no direct relationship between interests and needs; moreover, there is often no even awareness of such a connection.

Interests motivate a person to act; moreover, they themselves are shaped by his activities. Satisfied interests grow into a crown of ever new interests that require constant satisfaction.

Thus, interests, becoming a kind of guideline for an individual’s behavior, are ultimately transformed into the main psychological motivating mechanisms of behavior. The passions he displays, his desires and aspirations are closely interconnected with a person’s interests.

As a stage of maturing needs, desires are considered that are correlated with upcoming plans to achieve goals. Desires are divided into three main categories:

• Natural natural desires: quenching thirst and hunger, natural needs, the need for rest and sleep, and the like.
• Those that are natural, but the frequent satisfaction of which can be refused - the need for sex, for example.
• Those that are unnatural and are not among the necessary desires are the need for recognition and fame, the desire for leadership and power.

A persistent desire for a certain desired specific object is called passion, and this state turns out to be dominant, directing all human life. The coloring of passion can be not only positive, but also negative, which depends on the goals of the individual.

Often negative passions became the cause of crimes and personality degradation. Positive passions guide a person to achieve significant goals in the field of art and science, for example. The complete absence of passions could be the cause of the hopeless stupidity of the human race.

A person can be motivated both at a conscious level and subconsciously. Intentions and conscious motivation are directly interrelated. Intentions are combined into initiatives that push to action. Intentions are the basis of human behavior; they also guarantee freedom of action, acting as a conscious behavioral act. Motives act as justification for intentions.

A conscious impulse that is aimed at achieving some goal necessary for an individual is called a motive.

Most often, several motives are the reason for the motivated activity of an individual. Some of the motives are dominant, giving the individual’s activities a very specific meaning.

Often motives come into conflict with the means of their implementation. As a result, either a change in the motive occurs or it is inhibited. It is necessary to distinguish motives from motivations; the latter include statements of an exculpatory nature regarding the actions committed.

Attitudes are the determining factors in motivating personal activity. An attitude is a stable basis of human behavior; there are general and differentiated attitudes.

Thus, the motivation of human activity contains a set of interdependent circumstances. And the actual motivation of an individual manifests itself as a set of needs. In order for motives to be realized, the individual must do some internal work. Nowadays there are many formulations of personal motivation.

Sometimes motives are confused with goals and needs. In this case, a need means an unconscious desire to eliminate inconvenience, and a goal means the outcome of a meaningful desire. If we consider what has been said as an example, then within the framework of the described categories, hunger will be a need, and the desire to satisfy it will be a motive, at the same time, a piece of meat that should satisfy hunger will be a goal.

Negative thinking as a positive factor in personality development

People want to go through difficulties, gritting their teeth and heroically facing any obstacles. At least that's the ideal - grumbling and complaining are considered unacceptable behavior by many. Motivation and personal growth are the lot of strong people who never complain about the weather, enduring pain and fear.

But wait! In fact, any new action - even if it is not a shock to fate - causes pain and fear of failure. Coming to an interview, opening their own business, dialing the number of a girl they like for the first time, people feel the whole range of manifestations of fear and excitement. The heartbeat quickens treacherously, the palms become covered with sweat. “Butterflies in the stomach” appear or blood pressure rises.

Does our body know at this moment that we simply need grumbling and complaints? The question is rhetorical - after all, all psychophysiological symptoms signal this. Those who are interested in motivation for personal development often believe that they must be ideal. But sometimes the feelings you experience allow you to do only one thing - what every self-respecting actress does when the day of the premiere arrives. She throws a huge tantrum.

Whining and dissatisfaction with reality have also acquired a cultural form throughout human history. For example, blues in music, gypsy flamenco. A negative attitude indicates energy with a minus sign. Adults forget about the release a flash of anger can provide (of course, without harming the people around them or the environment).

If you dress an angry and angry girl in a lacy white dress and attend an official event with her, you can be sure that she will ruin all your plans. If you dress a child in a dirty suit and let him run around, scream and throw out accumulated emotions, and then let him sleep, after a while you will have a peaceful and rested child in front of you, who can safely be taken anywhere.

Motivation for personal development: developing a plan

Consider a few facts:

• Global intentions are meaningless if they are not translated into practical actions. You can decide to devote one hour a day to sports training. But if you don’t do this, then the intention will remain a “castle in the air.” In addition, if not backed up by action, this intention can seriously reduce self-esteem;
• People more often overestimate their ability to willpower than underestimate it. They often want to change, but only a few succeed. This happens due to an overestimation of one’s ability to change, the strength of one’s motives for personal growth;
• Small but regular actions are much better than no action at all. Small but constant steps are also much more effective than working on a task “in one sitting.” This effectiveness is due to the fact that regular actions create a habit that over time becomes a lifestyle.

All these statements lead to the following conclusion: small intentions are more effective than grandiose plans. A slight digression is necessary here. Small steps are good motivation for developing a person in a positive way. With their help, you can create good healthy habits that will help make your activities much more effective. But they will not help you get rid of negative habits - drug addiction, alcoholism, smoking. In this case, you need the help of a narcologist and psychotherapist. But if you need to overcome laziness, fear, and the tendency to waste time, then small steps will be indispensable.

They are a mini version of your big intentions. For example, the desire to exercise for an hour a day turns into a ten-minute warm-up. The general cleaning planned two months ago involved washing the dishes. The desire to learn to think positively is reduced to two good thoughts a day. In general, these should be funny and somewhat stupid versions of global plans.

What is the power of small steps?

Why do small habits have the power to transform an entire lifestyle? They increase motivation for personal growth and give confidence in one’s strength. To implement them, very little willpower is required. Small steps have several benefits.

1. First, they significantly increase the chances that if you take one small action, you will continue to work. This happens because after the first step the internal resistance decreases;
2. Secondly, even if after ten minutes of warm-up you do not continue to exercise, even this will become a habit over time. Therefore, it will become much easier to increase the number of approaches;
3. The third benefit of mini-steps is that they do not destroy self-esteem. If you take on a huge amount of work at once, there is a high chance of failure. Small steps allow you to gradually achieve good results without feeling guilty or incompetent.

Research shows that about 45% of human actions are formed with the help of habits. In fact, the role of habits is much greater - they many times enhance the benefits of a beneficial action and the harm of a bad one. Get into the habit of exercising for 20 minutes. per day allows you to maintain good physical shape, and the habit of eating healthy food every day contributes to longevity and good health.

If you write just one thousand words every day, you can write 365 thousand words within a year. Of course, this result is slightly less than the 580 thousand words written by Leo Tolstoy in the novel War and Peace. 365 thousand words per year is approximately the volume of seven short novels of 50 thousand words, which is the volume of many acclaimed works. For example, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby contains 50,061 words.

Examples of motivating yourself

How to motivate yourself to clean?

Motivation in life and achieving goals is simple and pleasant! So in any business you should proceed from the dividends you intend to receive. If this is a hateful dishwashing, then realize that your dividends will be the status of a responsible person who cares about the welfare of the family. Plus you eliminate chaos.

And as you know, chaos, which is constantly in sight, creates an imbalance and a feeling of discomfort in the Soul and thoughts, do you need it? Well, in general, you’re not stupidly washing dishes now, but doing magical magic! You mentally clear the field of your family from negative, overwhelmingly accumulated emotions. From misunderstanding, tension, everything that interferes with the flow of good.

Like this with a sponge with foam - rrrrraz! – and washed it away, and now we are waiting for joyful events. And let everyone be in the dark, thanks to whom all this will come. The main thing is who is great? You are well done! So much for motivation in life and achieving your goals!

Miracle technique of motivation

Motivation in life and achieving goals is actually very simple. If you just can’t find positivity and decent motivation in your work, then treat yourself like a five-year-old child. In general, note that this is a very correct interaction with oneself in difficult situations.

First you need to meticulously try to understand whether it is really so important to do this. And if there is an opportunity not to do it without significant harm, it is better not to do it at all. If there are no loopholes, then, just like the child, you need to promise yourself a reward.

I’ll now make this meaningless, incomprehensible and unnecessary report. Simply because it is impossible not to do it. But then I take myself for a massage with a massage therapist, whom I’ve been wanting to see for a long time, but still can’t. Or another example.

I’m now cleaning up the kitchen from several liters of sticky juice spilled by the children. After all, despite the fact that I’m tired and exhausted from the day, it’s impossible not to wipe it off. Otherwise, the whole apartment will stick. But then I will definitely take a bath with foam and even put a mask on my face. So bad on all fronts.

Motivation – true or artificial

For many, motivation training, self-hypnosis techniques, and goal visualization turn out to be a valuable tool. But there is another opinion, according to which motivation for personal development is nothing more than a fiction. For example, there is a well-known statement by designer Artemy Lebedev, who answers the question “How to motivate yourself?” in a rather sarcastic way.

In part, one cannot but agree with this point of view. Motivation is an internal impulse to action, thanks to which a person does what he does. But mental visualization always remains in the imagination. Just like positive affirmations. This type of motivation is called artificial.

In addition, there is the concept of internal satisfaction from work - it is successfully used not only in psychology, but also in other industries - for example, in organizational management. When an employee enjoys his work, then everything else - fame, money, prestige - fades into the background. A person works not just to serve his required nine hours in the office - he works to achieve his goals.

Another property of artificial motivation is its non-long-term effect. Visitors to psychological trainings can return to their daily lives inspired, having received a portion of energy - but this does not mean that this state will last long. Therefore, artificial sources of motivation can captivate, and a person will constantly strive for them in order to maintain motivation for personal growth.

Benefits and types of artificial motivation

But it also happens that one has to create motivation for action artificially - for example, due to a busy work schedule, when a person does not have time and energy for natural motivation. There are two types of artificial motivation: “to” motivation and “from” motivation. Modern personal growth techniques often use both types of motivation.

The first type, as the name suggests, is the pursuit of a specific goal. For example, you urgently need to lose weight by the beginning of the beach season. There is an essential point in the “to” motivation. If you work on yourself - train, limit yourself in nutrition - then the result can be the same. If you go to a gym and hire a private trainer, it's completely different. Firstly, you will not be able to skip classes - the money will be thrown away. Secondly, now the coach will be responsible for the result - and it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to cheat during training.

Motivation for personal development, aimed at achieving a goal, is bought with money. But if you have a feeling that you will not be able to hold the answer to yourself, it can be used to quickly and effectively achieve results.

Another type of motivation is “from” motivation. Let's take the same example - you want to lose weight. But now you are driven not by the desire to lose a couple of kilograms for the holidays, but by the desire to avoid health problems. In this case, the driving force is fear. Unfortunately, the motives for personal growth of this type are much more powerful.

There is absolutely no need to wait until the “from” motivation actually appears. You can use this type with less painful costs. To do this, it is necessary to consider the existing difficulties - those that arose due to lack of motivation. To do this, create in your imagination the most terrifying picture of the consequences of inaction.

Then estimate offhand how much cost and resources will be needed to solve this bloated problem in the future, and how many of the same resources will be needed at this stage. A good illustration for maintaining motivation for personal growth is the saying: “The best time to act was yesterday, and the next time is right now.”

Motivation is the basis of personal growth. An example of motivation. VIDEO

Watch an example of bright motivation in this video.

There is such a characteristic of a person - to forget... to forget motivating trainings, what they promised to change their life.

Memory works that way, either laziness, or the brain rejects what makes it not relax. But the fact is obvious - a person needs regular recharge with motivational examples, video and audio recordings.

In order not to forget and constantly motivate yourself, you need a constant stimulus or “reminder-knock-on-the-head”, such as a pin calendar and a song or video that motivates action.

I start my day by crossing out the current day on a pin calendar and watching a video with the song (soundtrack) by singer Yolka “Everything depends on ourselves” from the movie “A Gift with Character.”

At the end of the working day, I listen to the Olympic anthem in Sochi “They won’t catch us.” After which I shade the passing day with a marker and write plans on a marker-magnetic board for tomorrow.

Take it into service too. Below you will find this video, and there will be an article on the blog about the pin calendar. Subscribe to the news so you don't miss it.

And here is a Motivational video with the song Yolki, which is better to sing along for additional effect.

Recently I sold an affiliate information product from coach and info businessman Inna Khan about affirmations. She also has such interesting information products.

Perhaps you will be interested. Read the article about Inna Khan, where there will be links to her products.

So, I tried to tell you about motivations, now it’s up to you, because for each person the force that moves him to the pinnacle of success is different, the main thing is not to be afraid and boldly go towards your goal. Good luck!

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M. Seligman's theory of learned helplessness

What are the reasons that some people do not give up when faced with difficulties, while others capitulate very quickly? A comprehensive answer to this question was once given by the theory of the American psychologist Martin Seligman. His concept explains the reasons for self-doubt - and at the same time it is confirmed by many experiments.

While still a student, Seligman ended up in a psychological laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. At this time, R. Solomon, who headed the laboratory, was conducting a series of experiments on dogs, which were originally developed by I. P. Pavlov. The goal of one of Solomon’s experiments was to form a conditioned reflex response to a sound signal in animals. To do this, the dogs were subjected to not strong, but noticeable electric shocks that followed the sound.

Scientists have suggested that dogs will eventually begin to react to it in the same way as to an electrical stimulus - to flee. But the animals didn't do this. Instead of simply running away after the sound, they lay down on the floor and whined, still waiting for the electric shock. Seligman suggested that during the experiment, the animals, who had no way to avoid electric shocks, accepted their inevitability - they learned a feeling of helplessness.

The theory of learned helplessness was developed in the study of the problem of motivation and personal growth in people. It has been confirmed that learned helplessness significantly affects various areas of human life - what goals a person sets for himself, how he views his own health, and in what light he perceives the world around him. Subsequently, Seligman and his assistants found that learned helplessness also affects the immune system.

Negative motivation: essence and general techniques

The system of negative incentives is based on the opposition of rewards and punishments. Typical examples of the use of negative motivation methods are the phrases “If you don’t do this, you won’t get that”, “Do this, otherwise...”, etc. With negative (also called negative) motivation, we influence the psychology of the individual with the help of a set of negative feelings and emotions, of which fear works most effectively.

Fear is the most powerful emotion that compels you to action. At the same time, you may be afraid of losing your salary, causing damage to your health, losing a precious thing, a loved one, a favorite activity, or anything else that brings you a comfortable existence and is an important part of your life. Fear drives each of us, because we are all afraid of something, therefore, to properly use negative motivation, you need to find the “weak spot” of the individual and carefully apply this technique.

Guilt is another “negative motive” that can drive a person. But in this case, it is assumed that a person is capable of experiences associated with his mistake, incorrect behavior, that he begins to have pangs of conscience and a sense of responsibility for what happened (or did not happen).

Competitive spirit or the spirit of competition is a strong motivation for those who always strive to be the first in everything. And if a person does not have such a quality, then the method of negative motivation here can be censure for poor results, deprivation of bonuses and privileges.

Dissatisfaction with oneself and one’s life is one of the impetuses for development and advancement. If you don't like the way you look, the way your colleagues treat you, or your marital status, you will try to achieve better results, gain a better position in society, family, and ultimately look more satisfactory in your own eyes. This type of motivation is especially effective for people who are more timid and unsure of themselves.

Learned helplessness in humans

Researchers E. Langer and D. Roden continued his experiments and obtained new results. Their experience took place in a private hospital for the elderly. Psychologists had the opportunity to make adjustments in the lives of patients. On two floors of the hospital, they gave the residents almost identical instructions. On the ground floor, the old people had greater freedom of choice - for breakfast they could choose the dish they wanted, they could watch a movie on the day when it was more convenient for them. Patients also had the opportunity to independently choose flowers for their room and care for them. On another floor the instructions were slightly different. Old people could not choose their breakfast, and movies were shown only on certain days. They also did not have the opportunity to furnish the interior of their chamber, as their neighbors could do.

The nurses chose the flowers themselves and took care of them. In other words, during the experiment, one part of the subjects received the opportunity to influence their lives, while the other did not have such an opportunity. The results that the researchers obtained after a year and a half were amazing. The group that had the right to choose, according to the test results, turned out to be happier and psychologically well-off. Fewer people died among these subjects than in the other. The chance to choose and control a situation saves lives, but helplessness can possibly kill.

How to maintain a high level of motivation?

Maintaining motivation at the proper level can be especially difficult due to fatigue and low interest in the work being done. For some, the lack of results at first plays a significant role.

We examined two methods of personal growth that belong to artificial motivation. This is dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs (“motivation from”) and the desire to achieve a result (“motivation to”). But, in the end, how we achieve our goals is not so important - what matters is the result. If a person does not have a natural desire to work on assigned tasks, motivation for developing a personality of the second type is quite suitable for him.

We motivate ourselves artificially

Artificial motivation for someone can be something akin to a cup of coffee in the morning. How to increase it?

1. Find compelling reasons to work on a task . Sometimes people become so immersed in their daily routine that they no longer see the forest for the trees – their ultimate goal. Answer the questions: what are my motives? What is motivation for me today, how will it help me solve tomorrow's problems? What will I achieve in the end?
2. Record the results achieved . There are various personal growth techniques that can be used to increase motivation by recording the results achieved. For example, keeping a diary - for this you only need a notepad. You can also draw a line on a sheet of A4 paper, the end point of which will indicate the intended goal. It is necessary to periodically mark progress on the line;
3. Reward yourself for small achievements . It is unlikely that anyone from the outside will support your success with their attention. Therefore, it is better to do it yourself. It often happens that in the process of working towards achieving a goal, it is necessary to stop and rest. When it seems that you can’t squeeze any more results out of yourself, it’s better to rest and distract yourself;
4. Before performing voluminous, labor-intensive work, deceive your consciousness. Imagine how well you can do it. In sports, such visualization can improve results by up to 45%;
5. Surround yourself with reminders of your desired goal . Change the screensaver on your phone and computer. Place a sticker with a motivating phrase on your mirror or refrigerator. Even international athletes use this trick.