Motivation Monday: Inside and Out

How do you get out of bed in the morning? What drives your awakening? What's the fuel for that drive?

Some people wake up every morning and think about reasons to do what they do that revolve around how much money they'll make or how much closer they are to a flat screen plasma or simply making sure their boss or spouse doesn't get angry at them. That's what's called extrinsic motivation: a push you derive from something outside of yourself. It can be either a potential positive or avoiding a negative. Either way, it's gaining some peace of mind from what is "out there" in one form or another.

Other people wake every morning with a drive that comes from something internal: intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation could be a focus on a certain challenge you know exists, something that conquering would deliver personal satisfaction. The desire to do well for the simple desire to do well is that internal drive.

So what?

Extrinsic motivation depends on other aspects of rewarding for fruition: a pat on the back from the boss, enough money to buy a new car. And intrinsic motivation is driven without those "things" and is dependent only upon yourself. Of course it also only leaves yourself to blame.

But I tend to look at it this way: Every challenge I meet and beat and every hurdle I jump, I get to see myself grow. A television or a car can break, a boss's validation can be temperamental. Success in yourself and faith in yourself is not stuff, and becomes a solidified part of not just you, but how you deal with the world.

Bring on the success.