Motivation Monday: a series pt 4

Good morning! We are already on the fourth installment of our series on motivation! The previous posts can be found here and here and here. Check em out if you haven’t for a quick catch up!

We’ve spent the last three weeks examining the basics of motivation and the two overarching types: external and internal regulation. We covered the types of external regulation and how we can move along that spectrum. Today we dive into the daddy of motivation, intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation is that which is completely internalized. We do something because we enjoy it and are interested in that activity or action or behavior. We don’t do it for any external reward or fear; we genuinely value what we pursue. That said, we can still gain something from intrinsically motivated tasks. They fill us with purpose and reason which is why those activities are so strong regardless of whether we “feel” like doing them.

Intrinsic motivation is the goal when trying to create lifestyle change. That said, it might be fleeting. The continuum of motivation is not static; we move from external to internal regulation and back again as life adjusts. However, finding what we value and place a priority on can help us to internalize these behaviors and achieve related goals.

Motivation drives everything we do, whether we realize it or not. The goal isn’t to have more or less of it but rather what we can do to further internalize the behaviors we want to increase. This doesn’t happen on accident and next week we will discuss the things needed to internalize our regulation. Thank for joining on this little lesson on motivation!