You should know about motivation as it is very useful in your regular life. The more you know about motivation, the more you will be able to motivate yourself and use it to your own benefit.
8 Myths uncovered about motivation as a genetic trait
1. Motivation always comes from external factors
One thing that people should remember is that motivation is not always the result of external factors such as rewards. Motivation can be found within yourself and is influenced by your genetic material that shapes your personality.
2. You are at fault when you are unmotivated
It is not always your fault when you feel unmotivated to do anything. People would often say that you have to find the motivation to try to move, work or do something. It is more to it than simply the external factors. Your inherited motivation is not something you can control although there are steps you can take to improve your motivation.
3. Money can motivate you the best
Money can be a good motivator but is never the best way to motivate you, especially if impacts negatively your stress levels, mood, and health. You can find inner motivators for added motivation and supporting your wellbeing.
4. Lack of motivation is a lack of desire to succeed
We all experienced the desire to succeed. Just because you lack the motivation to do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t want to succeed. There are plenty of different factors that affect motivation and besides the desire to succeed.
5. Once you are motivated, you stay motivated
Being motivated isn’t something that continues indefinitely. There will be days when you will feel motivated to take on the world and days where you just want to lie down and rest.
6. Motivation is the only thing that you need
When you want to achieve a goal, there are other components involved to reach it. Motivation is an important part of success but is a single contributor factor for it.
7. Being smart motivates you
A lot of smart people are actually unmotivated to do anything. Smartness does not have any relation to motivation. You can be motivated without being intelligent.
8. Enthusiasm and motivation are the same
While enthusiasm and motivation have a lot of things in common, they are not the same. You can feel enthusiastic about a craft or art or your work but can’t find the will or the motivation to do it.
Why hereditary motivation is an advantage
Internal and external motivators are well known when it comes to encouraging someone to do something. Also, It is proved to be easier to achieve a goal when the reward is kept present in mind.
Studies have identified a genetic component that influences people’s motivation. That means that being motivated can be hereditary i.e can be linked to your family rather than being merely instilled in you.
Hereditary motivation can be found genetically as certain personality traits and characteristics inherited that combined to make you more motivated and enthusiastic about certain things.
Those blessed with a genetic predisposition to feeling more motivated are in advantage as it comes to them more naturally. Even though the external factors of motivation stay the same, hereditary motivation becomes the edge.
Why inherent motivation is key to change your life
At this point, you may be asking why inherent motivation, also known as intrinsic motivation, can positively change your life. For a better understanding, we have to differentiate it from external motivation.
Being externally motivated means that you are finding your motivation in external rewards, that you will get when you do a job well enough to be rewarded. Your motivation is tied to the external rewards.
For example, you will only be working hard at work because you are expecting to get rewarded at the end with a promotion or a raise in pay.
Meanwhile, if you are inherently motivated, you find the motivation within yourself rather than in external factors. You will be able to motivate yourself by looking at internal rewards instead of external rewards.
For example, you work hard because you take pride in doing your very best and love what you do. It is about personal satisfaction that comes from within you.
So, when you are inherently motivated, it is easier to find the will to work hard even if there is no external gratification. That is because you found your motivation internally.
You can improve your life by tapping into your inherent motivation as you can find your motivation within yourself without having to expect external gratification. This way you have more control over your motivation and are more likely to succeed.
Here come new ideas about inherent motivation issues
Even though inherent motivation may be great there are some issues associated with it.
First off, not everyone finds it easy to be inherently motivated and we know there is a genetic component that plays a role in feeling motivated.
Secondly, even inherent motivation has its limits. No matter how good you are at keeping yourself motivated, you will still end up hitting a wall later on when all of your hard work doesn’t get paid with external rewards.
That is why there should be a good mix of inherent and external motivational factors that to keep yourself motivated to reach your goals.
