Doing the same job for a long period can inevitably lead to feelings of sluggishness, and a mundane life can certainly feel boring after a while. If you’re fortunate enough to have a great boss or life partner, they can provide encouragement from time to time, helping you break free from these feelings of inertia and boredom.
However, great bosses and partners are rare treasures, so it’s crucial to rely on ourselves for self-motivation. There are numerous strategies for self-motivation, but systematic approaches are few and far between.
Today, I’m excited to share with you a comprehensive three-step self-motivation technique:
Step One: Set Expectations
This step primarily utilizes the McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory and the Expectancy Theory.
Step Two: Process Stimulation
This step is grounded in the Social Comparison Theory and the Self-Determination Theory.
Step Three: Result Reinforcement
The Self-Efficacy Theory, Attribution Theory, and Reinforcement Theory play a crucial role in this step.
These motivational theories, while highly effective in team motivation, are just as impactful when applied to ourselves. Let’s embrace this technique and pave the way toward a more motivated and fulfilled life.
Step 1: Setting Expectations
The first step in self-motivation is to establish expectations that are aligned with your personal needs and preferences.
Why is this important?
Due to genetic factors and varying upbringing environments, each of us has unique intrinsic needs for achievement. David C. McClelland, a psychologist from Harvard University, has conducted extensive research and proposed the “McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory.” This theory suggests that, assuming basic survival needs are met, the three primary human needs are achievement, power, and affiliation.
1. Achievement Need
People with a strong need for achievement have a burning desire to perform competently and successfully. They find joy and fulfillment in achieving their goals. These individuals are career-oriented, love to showcase their abilities, rarely take breaks, and enjoy working for extended periods.
2. Power Need
Those with a strong need for power feel responsible and are willing to engage in competition for power, finding joy and satisfaction in their influence and authority. They aim for higher social or organizational status and enjoy the pursuit of influencing others.
3. Affiliation Need
Individuals with a strong need for affiliation desire approval from others. They adhere to group norms, are loyal, reliable, and find joy and fulfillment in social interactions, friendship, and camaraderie. They seek harmonious social relationships, are always ready to comfort and assist friends in need, and strive to avoid the pain of rejection by groups or communities.
According to McClelland’s motivational needs theory, to effectively self-motivate, we must first establish the right expectations that align with our intrinsic needs. For example, if you have a strong need for affiliation and inherently prefer egalitarian relationships, but you force yourself to aspire to become a leader due to societal expectations, this misalignment of expectations can significantly diminish your internal drive.
Not only would your motivation be insufficient during the pursuit, but even if you somehow succeed, you could easily become weary and constantly think about how to escape from managing others and remove the “mask” of leadership.
Once you have set expectations that align with your intrinsic needs, establishing direction becomes possible. Next, you need to consider the degree of expectation, because if the degree is not right, even with the correct direction, you will lack motivation.
For instance, if you are a salesperson with a strong need for achievement, enjoying the pleasure of closing deals after overcoming challenges, you can self-motivate by setting expectations to close more deals. However, if I demand that you close a sales order of 10 billion in 3 days, would you still be able to self-motivate? I believe you wouldn’t, because the expectation is so high that it extinguishes even the desire to take on the challenge.
This reaction aligns with the findings of Expectancy Theory, which posits that people engage in certain behaviors because they believe these actions will lead to a desired outcome, and that this outcome has sufficient value to them. In other words, the level of motivational incentive depends on the extent to which people expect to achieve the anticipated results. If expectations reach an unattainable level, intrinsic motivation is lost.
Based on McClelland’s Achievement Motivation Theory and Expectancy Theory, we can set the correct expectation direction and degree for ourselves. If you have a strong need for achievement, you might set a business-oriented expectation, such as becoming a top salesperson or a senior expert. If power is your primary need, a managerial expectation, such as successfully advancing to a director position, could be more suitable. And if affiliation is your main need, you might set expectations around building deep connections with five outstanding individuals.
With the right expectations and attainable degrees, our self-motivation is fueled by robust internal motivation.
Step 2: Process Stimulation
Sometimes, even though we really aspire to achieve the expectations we’ve set for ourselves, we can find ourselves feeling lazy and unwilling to take action. This happens because our lofty aspirations are high-level needs; achieving them would be great, but not achieving them won’t kill us. Consequently, their motivating power is much weaker than that of our basic needs like eating and staying warm. Therefore, it’s crucial that we engage in process stimulation to enhance our driving force and motivate ourselves to take that first step towards realizing our expectations.
Humans are social animals, and one of the most effective ways to increase our motivation is through social comparison, which can provide a short-term motivational boost comparable to satisfying our basic needs. As the saying goes, “Seeing your colleagues succeed is sometimes more distressing than your own failures.” Comparing ourselves to others to a certain extent can make us dissatisfied with our current state, thus igniting the drive to make a change.
When I was in my twenties, I was quite content with my figure, so I wasn’t interested in exercising. I thought weighing around 100 pounds was pretty good. However, after making friends with a few exercise enthusiasts, I started to feel dissatisfied with my figure. Though I wasn’t overweight, I lacked the muscle definition and posture that my friends had. This difference instantly motivated me to start working out, and I became a regular at the gym. Furthermore, I began paying attention to my diet to reduce my body fat percentage, realizing that dietary improvement was essential.
This is the power of social comparison. After using social comparison to take the first step, it’s important to abandon this method. Continuing to rely on it can lead us to lose ourselves in external comparisons. At this point, we need to switch from social comparison theory to self-determination theory.
Self-determination theory proposes that individuals have an inherent tendency to act according to their own will, doing things because they want to, not because they have to. In other words, when we do something out of our own volition rather than under external pressure, we possess intrinsic motivation, making it easier for us to put in effort and persist in the long term.
Therefore, after using social comparison to take the first step, we need to shift to a self-motivated mode, starting from our own expectations. We then break down our goals into smaller, manageable targets, gradually propelling ourselves forward. To give an example from my own life, after social comparison got me into the gym, I set my first target: to achieve a body fat percentage of 23%. With this self-imposed goal, coupled with the external encouragement from my fitness coach, I’ve managed to maintain a pretty good figure to this day.
Step 3: Result Reinforcement
Once we have a direction set by our expectations and have stimulated ourselves to start moving through process motivation, the only thing left in our self-motivation journey is figuring out how to maintain our momentum. For sustained commitment to any task, having a sense of self-efficacy is crucial. Introduced by Stanford University psychologist Albert Bandura, self-efficacy is our belief in our ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task. People with high self-efficacy tend to have more confidence and are more willing to persevere through challenges.
For instance, if you notice you’ve lost two pounds after a week of running as part of a weight loss plan, you will likely feel more confident and motivated to continue running the following week. Hence, to maintain commitment to a task, it’s essential to foster a high sense of self-efficacy.
But how do we create this sense of self-efficacy? There are three primary ways:
1. Through Past Experiences of Success and Failure
Past successful experiences significantly influence self-efficacy. For example, if you’ve successfully delivered a speech in the past, you’ll feel more confident participating in a debate. Of course, we can’t succeed at everything, and failures are inevitable. In such cases, attribution theory comes into play. Attribution refers to the process of analyzing and inferring the causes of our own or others’ behavior. Different attributions can affect our future behavior and motivation levels. To boost self-efficacy, we should:
- Attribute successes to internal factors, such as our intelligence and effort.
- Attribute failures to external factors, like environmental constraints or others’ mistakes.
This way, your confidence remains intact even after failures, while successes boost your self-assurance, strengthening your self-efficacy over time.
2. Through Observational Learning
Apart from deriving self-efficacy from our own achievements, we can also gain it by observing the successes of others, especially those similar to us. For example, discovering a high school classmate, who you thought was not as good as you, has founded a successful company can make you believe in your own potential. You might think, “If they can do it, so can I!”
3. Through Social Persuasion
The third method to enhance self-efficacy is through reinforcement theory, utilizing praise and constructive criticism from those around us. When we make mistakes, constructive criticism helps us avoid similar errors in the future and believe that we can do better next time. When we succeed, timely praise boosts our confidence even more.
By employing attribution and reinforcement theories to enhance self-efficacy and strengthen the outcomes of our efforts, we can ensure that our self-motivation is not just a fleeting moment but a sustained force propelling us forward.
Final Thoughts
In life, finding great mentors, friends, or the perfect life partner is a tremendous blessing. They have the unique ability to lift us out of our lows and motivate us when we’re feeling lazy. Unfortunately, such individuals are rare and not always available when we need them. The good news is, besides relying on others, we also have the power to motivate ourselves.
From various team motivation theories, I’ve distilled an effective method for self-motivation:
- Set appropriate expectations and directions for yourself using McClelland’s Need for Achievement Theory and Expectancy Theory.
- Stimulate your progress step by step using Social Comparison Theory and Self-Determination Theory.
- Enhance your sense of self-efficacy through Attribution and Reinforcement Theories, strengthening your results and maintaining your perseverance.
So, remember, even when there’s no one else around to lift you up, you have the tools and the power within yourself to stay motivated and keep pushing forward!
