How self-motivated are you?
Self-motivation is complex. It's linked to your level of initiative in setting challenging goals for yourself; your belief that you have the skills and abilities needed to achieve those goals; and your expectation that if you put in enough hard work, you will succeed.
Four factors are necessary to build the strongest levels of self-motivation: self-confidence and self-efficacy; positive thinking, and positive thinking about the future; focus and strong goals; a motivating environment.
A. Part of being self-motivated is having good levels of self-assurance, self-confidence, and self-efficacy. Being highly self-assured means that you will set challenging goals for yourself. Self-efficacy is a belief in your own ability to succeed, and your ability to achieve the goals you set for yourselves. This belief has a huge impact on your approach to goal setting and your behavioural choices as you work toward those goals. High self-efficacy results in an ability to view difficult goals as a challenge. By developing a general level of self-confidence in yourself, you will not only believe you can succeed, but you'll also recognize and enjoy the successes you've already had. That, in turn, will inspire you to build on those successes.
B. Positive thinking is closely related to self-confidence as a factor in self-motivation. It's important to look at things positively, especially when things aren't going as planned and you're ready to give up. If you think that you won't succeed, this may influence things in such a way that your predictions will come true. This is particularly the case if you need to work hard to achieve success. Your thoughts can have a major influence on whether you succeed or fail, so make sure those thoughts are "on your side." Positive thinking also helps you think about an attractive future that you want to realize. When you expect positive results, your choices will be more positive, and you'll be less likely to leave outcomes to fate or chance.
C. As we've said above, a key part of building self-motivation is to start setting strong goals. These give you focus, a clear sense of direction, and the self-confidence that comes from recognizing your own achievement. First, determine your direction through effective goal setting. When you set a goal, you make a promise to yourself. Part of the strength of this is that it gives you a clear direction. Part is that you've made this promise to yourself, and you'll want to keep this promise. And part is that it's a challenge, and it's fun to try to meet that challenge!
But don't set just any goal. Your goal should have the following characteristics: c larity, challenge, commitment, regularity of feedback, sufficient respect for complexity.
When you have a variety of goals, be sure to schedule your time and resources effectively. Prioritize and establish a schedule that will help you to succeed. If you fully understand your priorities, you probably won't feel as pressured to do everything at once. This can reduce stress and help you to concentrate on the most important strategies.
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D. The final thing to focus on is surrounding yourself with people and resources that help you with your internal motivation. These external factors will help you get motivated from the outside. You can't just rely on these "environmental" or outside elements alone to motivate you, but you can use them for extra support.
When you start your self-motivation program, you may tend to rely heavily on these external factors. As you get more comfortable and confident with your self-motivation, you'll probably use them only as needed, and for a little extra help.
Ex. 3. Scan paragraphs A-D of the text and answer questions a) h) given below. Choose no more than 4-7 words from the passage for each answer.
a) What does being self-assured mean?
b) What is self-efficacy?
c) When is positive thinking of great importance?
d) What can have a major influence on whether you succeed or fail?
e) What is a key part of building self-motivation?
f) What characteristics of goals can you name?
h) What external factors can help us to get motivated?
Ex. 4. There are several steps that a person should take if he wants to:
a) become self-assured, self-efficacious and self-confident,
b) look at things positively,
c) create a motivating environment.
