Blog Short #205: How to Rev Up Your Motivation

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Motivation is a slippery friend: Sometimes, you’ve got it, and tackling goals is easy, but sometimes, it plays hide-and-seek and makes you work to find it. Sometimes, it’s missing in action altogether.

The problem is that you can’t get yourself going without it, nor can you reach a goal without sustaining it long enough to cross the finish line.

If you wait for it to appear, you might wait forever. So you have to nudge it.

To do that, you need to know how it works and what strategies to use to get it going and keep it going as long as you need it.

Let’s start with how it works.

Optimal Arousal

According to the arousal theory of motivation, getting the energy and drive you need to motivate you depends on your level of arousal. Arousal, in this case, refers to how alert you are, your energy level, and how well you can attend and focus.

Motivation is best when the overall arousal level is optimal, which means it’s not too high or too low.

When it’s too low, you might feel tired, blah, sad, depressed, or generally unmotivated to do anything.

When it’s too high, you could feel anxious, overly excited, keyed up, aggressive, or stressed out.

At an optimal level, you have just the right amount of drive and energy coupled with enough calmness to direct your attention where you want it to go. You feel energized to tackle what you want to accomplish.

You’ve heard people talk about being in the zone or working in a state of flow, yes? This means they have an optimal level of arousal and feel motivated to engage in their work without resistance.

However, everyone has their own unique optimal arousal level.

That means that the first step in working with your motivation is to become familiar with how much arousal you need and what that looks like.

Someone who gets overstimulated easily or likes to work quietly needs a lower level of arousal, whereas someone who thrives on external stimulation needs a higher arousal level.

How Do You Discover Your Optimal Arousal Level?

Through trial and error.

Your goal is to figure out where your sweet spot is, and a good way to do that is to examine three types of arousal. That will help you pinpoint where you need to make changes.

Here they are:

1. Mental Arousal: You feel mentally aroused when your interest is captured, and you want to learn more. You’re intellectually intrigued and curious to explore. You feel alert and energized.
2. Emotional Arousal: Emotional arousal are the feelings that accompany your mental arousal or lack of it. It can be a rush of excitement, enthusiasm, passion, joy, or conversely, fear, sadness, overwhelm, or anxiety. Depending on the situation, you may have a heightened sense of pleasure or alarm.
3. Physical Arousal: You experience arousal in your body, which increases your alertness and readiness to engage in action. You feel energetic. However, if you’re tired, overwhelmed, or anxious, your body lets you know and interferes with your motivation.

All three types of arousal can occur together. One can precede the other, or they might all happen simultaneously.

Knowing about them means you can engineer healthy levels of each type to facilitate more arousal and increase your motivation.

You do need to be aware, however, that arousal will only improve your motivation up to your optimal arousal level.

If you go past that, you may become overwhelmed and, if below that, find yourself unable to take action. You have to observe yourself in different situations to see what works best for you.

The Two Types of Motivation

A second factor that significantly affects motivation is the type. There are two types: extrinsic and intrinsic.

1. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of you. You’re motivated to act or achieve a goal based on external rewards such as recognition, praise, money, or status. You might also be motivated by avoiding punishment or loss.
2. Intrinsic motivation comes from within you and provides meaning, a sense of satisfaction, enjoyment, or personal well-being. It aligns with who you are, your purpose, and what interests you.

Sometimes, both types of motivation stimulate your drive.

For example, if you learned a new skill to improve your job performance, you could be motivated by an internal sense of accomplishment at learning something new.

You could also be motivated by positive recognition from your boss or a promotion or raise.

Research has shown that intrinsic motivation is more potent because it isn’t dependent on changeable outside variables.

It is also more likely to last when obstacles arise, and motivation is more challenging to maintain.

Motivation has three components, and without all of them, it can quickly wane.

1. Activation is the “start” phase of motivation. You take action to begin the steps toward achieving your goal. An example would be setting up a budget to control overspending if your goal is to get out of debt.
2. Persistence is the sustained effort to stay on task despite obstacles. If you had a lapse of controlled spending, persistence would mean accepting your temporary lapse and getting right back on your budget without giving up.
3. Intensity is the energy and strength of focus that you apply to attaining your goal. For example, you might seek to learn more about how to pay off credit cards successfully and increase your income.

In this example, extrinsic motivation could be avoiding a bad credit score that keeps you from buying a house.

Intrinsic motivation might be gaining control over your impulses, gaining the freedom and ability to build your future, and feeling good about yourself.

When approaching any goal, it’s good to ask yourself what both your intrinsic and extrinsic motivations might be. That alone can help jump-start your motivation.

Now, let’s move to some strategies you can use to increase your motivation.

Strategies That Help

Starters

One of the most challenging aspects of feeling unmotivated is getting started. Here are four ideas.

1. Don’t ask yourself if you want to do something. If you entertain that question, you’re encouraging your resistance, which will take a tighter hold on you. Of course you don’t want to do it, or you would be doing it already. Stop considering your desire to do it. That’s procrastination.
2. Use the 10-minute rule. Commit to doing one thing for 10 minutes. When you’re done, you can ask yourself if you want to do more, but you don’t have to. Just get started.
3. Pair the thing you dread doing with something you enjoy. Watch TV while cooking or folding clothes. Listen to music or a podcast while exercising. Drink a big cup of coffee with a candle burning while you review your finances.
4. Act like you are motivated. What would you be doing if you were motivated? Where would you be, what preparations would you make, and what would be your state of mind? Use your imagination and talk yourself into it. It’ll give you a strong nudge.

Sustained Effort

Once you’ve started, use these strategies to keep going when you want to quit.

• Imagine how you’ll feel when you reach your goal. What are the rewards? Consider both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Visualize them and put yourself there.
• Break your work into smaller tasks and focus on only one at a time.
• Remind yourself why this task matters. Intrinsic reward is motivating. So, finding something that fills that need will help you stay with it. It’s your why.
• Do the hard things first. Work on the tasks that take the most mental energy early in the day. You have more willpower at that time. As the day goes on, your willpower declines.

Optimal Arousal Level

Assess your mental, emotional, and physical arousal levels based on what you know about yourself.

Do you need more or less stimulation to be motivated?

For more:

• Exercise.
• Go to a setting where there are more people, like a coffee shop.
• Talk to someone you can bounce ideas off of and who is enthusiastic about what you want to do.
• Listen to an inspiring podcast that revs you up.
• Play a stimulating video game for 15 minutes and then go to work.

For less:

• Take a walk outside in nature.
• Meditate.
• Make sure you’ve had enough sleep. Take a nap if necessary.
• Take a bath or shower.
• Read for a while and then work.
• Do a house chore that organizes your mind.

The key to arousal is learning how you respond to stimuli by watching yourself and then choosing activities to adjust your response.

Self-Talk

While it’s good to be honest with yourself about your behavior and mistakes, it’s necessary to approach yourself with compassion.

Don’t allow yourself to sink into a mire of pessimism and criticism.

Remind yourself of situations in which you’ve overcome a lack of motivation. Review how you did it and affirm that you can do it again.

Self-Care

The last strategy is to ensure you’re giving yourself the fuel you need to maintain motivation.

That means getting enough sleep, exercise, and good food to keep your mind sharp and your mood stable.

A Reading Recommendation

If you like reading, a favorite book on motivation is ​Drive​ by Daniel Pink. I highly recommend it.

That’s all for today.

Have a great week!

All my best,

Barbara

_FOOTNOTES:

_{American Psychological Association. Arousal theory}

_{Bandhu, D., Mohan, M. M., Anurag, N., Nittala, P., Jadhav, P., Bhadauria, A., & Saxena, K. K. (2024, April). Theories of motivation: A comprehensive analysis of human behavior drivers. Acta Psychologica, vol. 244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104177}

_{Cherry, K. (2023, May 3). Motivation: The driving force behind our actions. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-motivation-2795378}

_{Cherry, K. (2023, December 10). How arousal theory of motivation works. Very Well Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-arousal-theory-of-motivation-2795380}

_{Duhigg, C. (2016). Smarter faster better: The transformation power of real productivity. Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.}

_{Nickerson, C. (2023, Sept. 22). Arousal theory of motivation in psychology: Definition and examples. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/arousal-theory-of-motivation.html}

_{Pink, D. H. (2011).  Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.}

_{Tarver, E. (2020, April 28). Arousal Theory of Motivation: Definition, Principles & Optimization. https://evantarver.com/arousal-theory-of-motivation/}

_{Yerkes, R. M. & Dodson, J. D. (1908). The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation.  Journal of Comparative Neurology & Psychology. 18(5), 459-482. https://doi.org/10.1002/cne.920180503}