Motivation

We all have something in our lives we would like to change or to move toward. This can be simple goals like learning Spanish or finding more time for international travel. This could also be bigger goals such as getting a promotion, changing careers, or reaching your peak level of athletic performance. If your goal is something you have had in the back of your mind for a long time and haven’t been able to make changes, what is stopping you?

Motivation can be defined as the direction and intensity of one’s efforts.Direction refers to why a person is involved in certain situations and why a person avoids other situations. Intensity is concerned with how much effort a person gives toward reaching a certain goal. All three aspects play a role in how driven someone is to reach their goals.

To have an understanding of motivation it’s important to know the common views of motivation. Most people fit into one of the three views of motivation: trait-centered, situation-centered, or the interactional view.

• The trait-centered view of motivation contends that motivation is primarily a function of individual characteristics: personality, needs and goals. Some people have attributes that seem to predispose them to success and high levels of motivation while others are lacking in those areas. The trait-centered view is deemed narrow since it is thought many situations should also include environmental factors.¹ 
• The situation-centered view of motivation states that motivation is determined by the situation. For example, a player might be motivated to practice but unmotivated to play in games. A player’s feeling of self-efficacy (success) may be high in practice. In competitive game situations a player may have a lower sense of self-efficacy. Situation-centered motivation is also deemed narrow since not all negative situations make us respond negatively.¹
• The interactional view is the most widely endorsed view of motivation because it incorporates both trait and situational factors.¹

Sometimes it is difficult to find the motivation to make a difficult change in our own lives. We know the change could be good and benefit in many ways, but it might seem impossible to motivate ourselves to make the necessary change. Thinking about making a change but unsure of the reasons why? Hopefully this tool can provide a visual to assist in finding your motivation.

For example, if you are trying to decide if it is the right time to start an exercise plan, use the following chart to help you in your decision.

Should I Start This New Exercise Plan?

Here is a blank one if you would like to use it for any of the difficult decisions in your life…..

Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org

References

1 Weinberg RS, Gould D. Foundations of Sport & Exercise Psychology. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc. 2003.