By motivation we understand a set of principles or factors that influence one in the direction of acting for success. Apparently without motivation we’d all be conquered over by laziness and passivity. And indeed, ever since we came to understand the world around us, supposedly at a very young age, we have been involved in experiences filled with many motivating factors. It all starts with the child being rewarded with a candy for listening to his/her mum. Therefore, without even becoming aware of what we undergo, we are taught the very basics of responding to motivation.

Motivation seems to appear when, after performing a certain action, there is some kind of reward that creates pleasure or satisfaction to the individual who receives it. The reward in itself may be manifest inherently, meaning that the mental and emotional satisfaction prove sufficient to cause a repetition of the action later. Yet, there is an external type of motivation too that consists in material or laudatory rewards. As a result, motivation can fall into two distinct categories as intrinsic, or inner, and extrinsic, or outer. Like you may know it already, anything intrinsic is limited to yourself, while the extrinsic variant involves external people and elements. The intrinsic type of motivation is also divided into two more subcategories. One is the intrinsic motivation that relies on enjoyment (let us take a hobby for example) while the other is the one that is based on obligation (like performing a task at work that we want to carry out very well only for our own sake and not for anyone else’s).

All in all, motivation surely defines the way we move through life. This is the thing that has made us take our first steps, that has supported us in learning how to pronounce certain words correctly, that has pushed us forward in school years and university studies perhaps, that has made us get a job, get married, have children, provide the best for our children and want to grow old within a home full of peace and warmth. Motivation assumes many forms and can be related to many things.

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