Different Types of Motivation

What is motivation? Many people know motivation as the driving force behind an action. This is probably the simplest explanation about motivation. Motivation can be considered the state of having encouragement to do something.

Why do people do what they do? Why do we go on everyday, living our lives and trying to find justification for our existence? Some people think that they can find purpose in the things that motivate them. Others just see the motivation and react automatically.

There is no one thing that motivates people to perform certain actions. People are different, so it follows that their motivations have to be different. Here are some types of motivation:

1) Achievement – This is the motivation of a person to attain goals. The longing for achievement is inherent in every man, but not all persons look to achievement as their motivation. They are motivated by a goal. In order to attain that goal, they are willing to go as far as possible. The complexity of the goal is determined by a person's perception.

To us, the terms "simple" and "complex" are purely relative. What one person thinks is an easy goal to accomplish may seem to be impossible to another person. However, if your motivation is achievement, you will find that your goals will grow increasingly complex as time goes by.

2) Socialization – Some people consider socialization to be their main motivation for actions. This is especially evident in the situation of peer pressure. Some people are willing to do anything to be treated as an equal within a group structure. The idea of being accepted among a group of people is their motivation for doing certain things.

3) Incentive motivation – This motivation involves rewards. People who believe that they will receive rewards for doing something are motivated to do everything they can to reach a certain goal. While achievement motivation is focused on the goal itself, incentive motivation is driven by the fact that the goal will give people benefits. Incentive motivation is used in companies through bonuses and other types of compensation for additional work.

By offering incentives, companies hope to raise productivity and motivate their employees to work harder.

4) Fear motivation – When incentives do not work, people often turn to fear and punishment as the next tools. Fear motivation involves pointing out various consequences if someone does not follow a set of prescribed behavior. This is often seen in companies as working hand-in-hand with incentive motivation. Workers are often faced with a reward and punishment system, wherein they are given incentives if they accomplish a certain goal, but they are given punishments when they disobey certain policies.

5) Change motivation – Sometimes people do things just to bring about changes within their immediate environment. Change motivation is often the cause of true progress. People just become tired of how things are and thus, think of ways to improve it.

As you can see, there are many types of motivation. Motivational techniques have been experienced by every person from birth. We learn behavior through motivation. We live our whole lives because of motivation. The question that remains however is this: What motivation should a person have? This is important because our motivation decides our behavior. Some types of motivation are more effective than others. However, the perfect motivation for you can only be decided by one person: YOU.

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