Understanding Motivation
I am in my 30s, and my parents are in their 60s.
Often, I hear them saying, “I'll do this when I feel motivated” or “I'm waiting for motivation to come.” That made me think: were Baby Boomers the last generation who could afford to rely on motivation? And what does motivation even mean?
Before the New Year, I was lucky to meet a professional who shed light on it - Maria C. Merola, Ph.D. specializing in behavioral science and neuroscience.
In her professional work, she explains why our brain works the way it does. Particularly, how thoughts (that are chemicals) can influence the release of neurotransmitters, hormones, and other chemicals that shape brain chemistry, and therefore our body and behaviors. We had a very insightful talk…
How motivation works
Maria introduced me to the concept of the Motivational Triad.
It suggests that our brain is wired to do three things:
- Seek immediate reward
- Avoid danger, risk, and pain
- Conserve energy by being efficient
She concludes that this system once gave us a survival advantage - focusing on predators and prey. But in the modern world, most of us don’t have to hunt or hide for life. Our problems have changed. The speed, volume, and availability of information are unnatural - our brains haven’t automatically rewired to deal with it. This is why, although we are relatively safe and consume low energy, we find it hard to focus on important things.
I can see this dynamic among Taskfulness customers, too: spending time online is convenient for collecting information and staying connected. On the flipside, the X, LinkedIn, and Instagram often get us stuck for hours mixing work and leisure activities unconsciously.
How to align motivation with our goals
I asked Maria how we could hack these natural tendencies and make motivation work for us. Here are 4 practical tips she gave me:
- Normalize addressing your emotions.
Instead of avoiding uncomfortable feelings like fear, disappointment, or irritation and “buffering” with temporary satisfactions social media has to offer, we should learn to process negative emotions that signal we need to address — so we can make healthy changes and grow. - Recognize Passive vs. Active Action
Yes, we may need to read, research, or attend courses before taking on a goal. But we also have to know when to stop consuming information and start creating value. Occasionally, stop and ask yourself: “Am I consuming or creating right now?” - The Compelling Why
For our brain, it is easier to go on a new journey when the path seems justified. Before making any major goal shifts or changing directions, we should ask ourselves:
- “Why do I think this is important to do?”
- “How will I feel when I achieve this goal?”
- “Why haven’t I made this change yet?”
- Set the Do Goals
Our brain hates to take extra effort. That is why, when setting goals we have to provide it with specific instructions:
- Define your desired result.
- Break it into actionable tasks.
- Dedicate time to those tasks in your calendar.
Unlike vague aspirations, these approaches are great for visualizing progress.
Extra tip: plan ahead & leave room to wonder
She emphasized how important it is to plan our weeks starting with free time first.
This way, the parasympathetic system (the one in charge of “rest and digest”) can reactivate. When our mind is bound to a survival state (with the sympathetic system on), we are unable to tap into our critical thinking, innovation, and executive functions. That’s why it is important to plan time to recharge, too.
Also, decisions made at the moment are often influenced by emotions like fear or mental fatigue. But planning ahead helps to fix this. When we decide our actions in advance and honor those decisions, we remove the mental chatter that leads to procrastination.
Takeaways
Listening to Maria, it became clear that motivation works better when we put some work into it. I believe there would be skeptics claiming that control of emotions or rigid planning is unnatural… Maria says it is natural to feel intimidated at first. But her professional promise is that given some practice, we can direct our emotions, thoughts, and actions to shift our small and big behaviors.
And in this way, we can control when our “motivation comes.” :)
To learn more, please visit Maria’s blog @MeMa Coaching
Or follow her on Linkedin: @MariaMerola