7 Stages to Self-Motivation That Will Keep You Motivated at Any Time
What’s the human self-motivation process with which you’ll no longer be afraid of lack of motivation
It would not surprise you to hear that a motivated person is a productive person. Nor will it surprise you that there are ways in which you can motivate yourself. However, I do have something interesting for you.
James F. T. Bugental described the process of motivation in his book “The Art of the Psychotherapist.” I want to tell you about the main idea of the book.
- How does a person’s inner self-motivation happen?
It turns out that motivation is not when you are told from the stage that you are wonderful and that you can do anything. It’s not even the muse that makes your brain create.
Motivation is a whole production process. It is a conveyor belt, standing at the start of which you have no idea what can come out of it. But at the end of the conveyor belt, your life can change.
Enough with the metaphors. Let’s get to the heart of the matter. So here are the seven stages of your motivation.
1. Intensionality
So far, there is no talk of motivation. Before us is the very birth of a deep inner fire. This fire calls us to act from the depths of our subconscious. Hence, it’s all potential, and at most, maybe accompanied by imperceptible excitement before the thought.
2. Wants
If in the previous stage you were fantasizing, now you are more serious. Now you are looking for the realization of your fantasies. You have a list of actual possibilities, or instead, options that can fulfill your dreams.
- “I wish I could fly in the sky like a bird.” — Orville said to his brother Wilbur. Today we know them as the Wright brothers, creators of the world’s first successful motor-operated airplane.
- Or “what if I could have 1,000 songs in my pocket?” Soon the world knew about the iPod.
3. Desires
If in the previous stage you were just fantasizing, now you are more serious. Now you are looking for the realization of your fantasies. You have a list of actual possibilities, or instead, options that can fulfill your dreams.
- “I’m not a bird, but if I attach wings to one motor, maybe I can fly on it?”
4. Willful Intention
This is the final stage of our inner dialogue. It’s a point that challenges us to prioritize between “I want” and “I have to.
It’s where you feel the collision of giving up some desires in favor of others. Here you are choosing a book about aircraft engineering over an interview with Conor McGregor.
5. Action
Here is your personal Rubicon River. Here you will make the sharp transition from an internal desire to external action.
You take one book off the shelf and flip through it, put it aside, take another. And you do this because you are already acting. You compare these books to choose the one that will give you what you want.
- So far, all your actions are preliminary. You are just determining what you want to move towards your goal.
6. Actualization
And here’s the finish line. You have chosen your book. You’ve decided that you can build your airplane and fly like a bird in the sky with it.
Here is the very fire that started in the first stage turned into a fiery motivation. You are no longer fantasizing but working on your fantasies. Here you’ll succeed.
7. Impact
One way or another, your desires and actions lead to change. A choice will inevitably cause a realignment among other urges and motives.
Self-motivation will put other things on the back burner, revise your values, and change your system of relationships. It means that after completing each cycle, you will become a somewhat different person. You’ll be a better person.
The Bottom Line
I could tell you that “The only thing that keeps you from getting what you want is the story you tell yourself.” I am no motivational speaker.
My purpose was to share with you the insight I gained after reading a book. It turned out that motivation is a whole process that has its logic of development. Understanding this, we can reliably move through it and sufficiently self-motivate ourselves.
Have good self-motivation, and be successful!
I hope you enjoyed reading this
