How to unlock what motivates you to realise your potential
Knowing how to inspire motivation within yourself can lead to greater fulfilment and contentment. Three successful people reveal how they tap into their drive.
When author Jane Harper was working as a newspaper journalist in Melbourne and dreaming of being a novelist, she found herself daunted by the huge task of writing a book.
But a switch in mindset helped inspire motivation for her to start writing.
“I really didn’t know if I had it in me to do a whole manuscript and there are a lot of unknowns when trying to write that first book,” Jane says.
“What changed for me was the realisation that the importance to me of achieving the goal of writing the book outweighed the risk that nothing may come from it.”
That first novel, The Dry, is a literary success and was made into a film starring Erica Bana.
Six years later and Jane is now the bestselling author of five novels, and her books are published in 40 territories worldwide.
The latest, Exiles, was released a few months ago.
Yet for Jane, she was never motivated by sales or accolades – it has always been about achieving the personal goals she sets out for herself.
“I love writing and I love the process of having an idea build and build and then seeing it come together on the page and seeing it in readers’ hands,” she says.
“Seeing that seed of an idea become a finished product is so motivating.”
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How to find what motivates you
Former Olympian and Commonwealth Games athlete Anna Baylis represented Australia in mountain biking and now works as a mind-body coach.
She helps people achieve their own health, fitness and life goals and says the key to unlocking what motivates you is self-discovery.
“Without knowing yourself, it simply becomes too easy to follow the crowd,” Anna says.
“Working towards what is important to you will always be more meaningful, which will drive you further towards what you want.”
Anna says there are three key areas to assist with finding your drive.
1. Know what you need
“Being aware of your needs and channelling that into resourceful behaviours will direct you towards living the life you desire,” she says.
2. Identify your strengths
“A lot of my clients take on the role as a people pleaser and live their lives to make sure everyone else is happy and everyone else has their needs met,” Anna says.
“They find it hard to motivate themselves to do things to meet their own needs and create their own happiness because they often don’t know what their needs are.”
She suggests reflecting on what your strengths are, thinking of when you feel most fulfilled and be driven by what makes you feel alive to inspire motivation.
According to the World Economic Forum, research found pursuing fulfilment is not a luxury, but essential for mental wellbeing.
3. Live your values
Values guide our decision-making process and can spark motivation.
“Some examples of values include happiness, health, family, honesty, integrity and adventure,” Anna says.
Mindset and motivation specialist Nathan Hulls gives motivational talks to high school students across the nation.
He adds that often a seismic life event can inspire motivation in people.
“Life events where people hit rock-bottom give someone the painful jolt of motivation where they make a choice to change, to create new habits, to leave bad habits behind and to live a more functional and resourceful life,” Nathan says.
But it can also be difficult to unlock motivation when you are bogged down in everyday life.
“Often people lack motivation to achieve their goals or ambitions because they are in survival mode and their energy and focus is almost 100 per cent in just getting through the day,” he explains.
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Five key physiological needs to help inspire motivation
Physiological drives – such as hunger, thirst or pain, as well as events in your external environment – can induce motivation.
Nathan suggests working on these basic physiological needs – food, warmth, rest, safety and connection – to maximise your drive.
“With those needs being fulfilled we can have energy and focus to start to work out our skills and our ability to grow, to accomplish our goals and to contribute to people and things beyond ourselves,” Nathan says.
Jane says the best advice she could give to others trying to tap into a bit more drive is to focus on the goals you can achieve.
“Focus on your input rather than what you hope the outcome to be,” she says.
“For example, you can’t know what is going to happen to your manuscript if you’re a writer — whether it will be read or well-received.
“All you can do is produce the best piece you possibly can.
“Selling a certain amount of copies is not something you can control, but goals like ‘I’m going to write this scene today’ are goals you can achieve.”
Written by Erin Miller.
