What is the Real meaning of Motivation?

If you are like me, then many a time you might have watched a motivational video, read some motivational stories, or watched motivational movies. Have you ever thought about why the heck we search about motivation?

Is it because we like to know about it? Is it because we feel our mind will become fresh when we see or watch some motivational stuff.

And if you do search about motivation online, then you would be in search of the answer to the following questions –

Real meaning of Motivation:

It’s simply the combination of two words –
Motivation = Motive + Action

In easy words, motivation means to increase the desire to do some work or the desire to achieve your Motive.

Let me explain this with an example-

Suppose you have a desire to buy a brand new bike. So what would you do to buy it? If you have enough money, then it’s pretty obvious you would buy it immediately.

What if now you don’t have enough money and you do know that it’s your dream bike. Then, your Motive is not to buy that bike, your Motive is to work hard and earn more money. Once your motive is defined, now it’s time to take some Action.

“Motivation” is not simply motivational enough if it doesn’t cause that person to move to action. It should not be that good feeling which leads to nowhere. That’s why you should not get Motivated from a feeling, rather it should come from a Motive. A Motive is an inner voice that moves you forward to a goal or an objective. Action is simply the process used to achieve the goal.

Most people get their motivation and think about various new ideas and dreams. But without motive, they remain where they are. The purpose of Motivation is to allow people to do something about it.

Why, When and Where do we need Motivation?

We do require motivation to move forward in life. It is that power, due to which a person gets encouraged to move forward in life.

Suppose you bought a new bicycle. For a few days or weeks, you go every morning to ride your new bicycle. But slowly with time, your interest in that new cycle fades away and you start skipping days. Ultimately, you stop riding it. Then, suddenly one day, you see yourself or hear from other people that your belly is sticking out. Your body fat has increased a lot. Now your mind starts thinking that I shouldn’t have left riding my bicycle, I wouldn’t have gained so much weight if I didn’t have stopped cycling each day. Then one day you yourself take your bicycle out and go for a ride to work on your fitness.

What I mean to say is, we require motivation at that time when we move towards negativity. Because of the right motivation that negativity turns into positivity.

Now you might think why do you need motivation? Let’s suppose you are highly motivated enough to do your utterly important work. Slowly as time passes, you start facing many difficulties, troubles, distractions and distress. Now, this doesn’t mean that you can’t do it. And everyone knows that if there are no troubles in life, everyone would be successful.

That’s the main reason you don’t need motivation only at the beginning of your work, rather you need motivation throughout the journey so that you are entirely focused on your goal which you want to achieve. Deep down, you know that you can do any task given to you, only you need is that push, that motivation in every stage of your life. There are various sources of motivation like reading motivational and inspirational books, listening to motivational podcasts, following successful peoples’ advice, reading their success stories and many others.

Lastly always remember one thing, you should get your motivation for the right purpose because following the wrong direction will only move you away from your goals.

Note: Head over to our Habits category for some great actionable tips only for you.