Motivation as defined in my book, p.1, is the “tendency
to pursue, engage, and persist in activities related to your chosen interest
and goals.”
The essence of motivation is composed of two equally
important elements, direction and intensity of the effort a person puts
forth to complete a given task. It is essential that both of these elements of motivation
are fully acknowledged for their equal significance.
Example 1:
During a Los Angeles Lakers game, the announcer says, “I
would like to see Kyle Kuzma put forth the same intensity on every defensive
play.” In this example, the direction is fully pursued, hence he is playing
basketball but he is not utilizing the second element 100%, intensity of
effort.
Example 2:
A man decides to clean his garage on a Saturday
afternoon, thus we have element 1 here, direction;
he is pursuing, engaging, and directing his effort toward cleaning his garage.
However, he makes progress for the first hour, then he gets distracted by a
book that he finds and begins reading it, ultimately spending the Saturday
afternoon in the back yard reading the book that he found. Obviously, he lacked intensity in terms of accomplishing his
goal of cleaning his garage.
Example 3:
John needs to improve his math grade so he attends a
study group, here we have direction indicating what is pursued, however he does
not contribute much, plays on his phone, and seems disinterested; this behavior
suggest how much effort John puts forth aka intensity.
Remember, the word motivation is derived from the
Latin word “movere,” meaning “to move,” and describes the often powerful inner
voice that activates you to direct your behavior in a specific way. However, as
I point out above, it is essential to look at, and remain very aware of both
aspects of motivation (direction and intensity) when you are goal planning!
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