Have you ever felt a sudden, undeniable urge to work towards your goals? 

Perhaps you’ve felt the sudden need to finish that overdue assignment you’ve been putting off for weeks, or you’ve woken up and had a day full of productivity. Regardless of how, you have surely felt the lone power of motivation. 

Motivation is in everyone and can be seen in many different ways. However, this sporadic feeling will only get you so far. 

Throughout a lifetime, a person will encounter hardships of all shapes and sizes. It’s no secret that the journey of life takes resilience and plenty of ‘rising every time you fall’ scenarios.

With this in mind, what key factor lies in getting past these roadblocks? What could be better than motivation alone?

The answer is simple: Self-motivation. 

But what does it mean to be self-motivated? 

Think of it as an internal drive; a force pushing us to keep moving towards a better outcome. When a person feels dejected and ready to give up, self-motivation can swoop in at just the right time.

An ability like this can be hard to come by. Especially in the world we are living in today. Now, more than ever, self-motivation should be sought out by all. 

Perhaps you personally do not know how to get yourself motivated, but fear not! This skill indeed lies in everyone! Like any other ability self-motivation (and everything underneath it) can be trained and reinforced.

A self-motivated person will know what they want to do, why they want to do it, and how they are going to get it done. They hold a resilient mindset and push past doubt.

How can you motivate yourself? According to Amine Khallas, “There is not a simple answer for such a question because self-motivation is an art, not a mathematical equation.”

Alison Kelly, a science teacher at Air Academy high school, told of how she believes someone could get self-motivated:

“Figure out what you value, what do you care about, what makes you feel accomplished? Those are the things you need to keep in mind when you need to get a sense of motivation.”

Kelly also added, “Find out what you value and care about. It is single-handily the most important thing you can do for yourself to figure out how to self-motivate. I think a feeling of accomplishment is something that ALL people strive for. You just need to figure out how to get that feeling and keep going.”

Positive Psychology wrote on the importance of self-efficiency and how it positively comes into play with self-motivation, “If you believe you can do it, you have self-efficacy. If you believe it will work, you have response efficacy—[the] belief that the action you are taking will lead to the outcome you want. And if you believe it is worth it, you have weighed the cost against the consequences and decided the consequences outweigh the cost,” (Geller, 2016).

Self-motivation also goes hand in hand with emotional intelligence. Additionally, Positive Psychology wrote that it “highlights its role within our ability to understand ourselves, relate to others, and succeed in reaching our goals.”

Just as the word itself sounds, self-motivation is very…self influenced. To get motivated, you truly have to rely on yourself.

However, Inspiration can have a huge impact on an individual’s self-motivation.

Inspiration can come from anything, it is everywhere, and everyone is inspired by something different.

Odin Wiswall, a junior at Air Academy high school, spoke on the need for both inspiration and motivation to work interchangeably: “[Inspiration] gives the energy to press forward with the goal they had in mind, to complete a project, or even something as small as completing their homework for that night.”

Wiswall stated that “with no inspiration” nothing will get done, and no one will be motivated.

Alison Kelly wrote, “I believe that by inspiring others you can feel a sense of accomplishment. That sense of accomplishment may spark you to feel motivated to complete a task once again the next time!”

In the hopes of leaving you with a positive mindset for building your own motivational strength, here are six things a person can do to keep themselves both inspired and self-motivated, as reported by Courtney E. Ackerman in Positive Psychology:

1. Continue learning and acquiring knowledge (i.e., develop a love of learning).

2.  Spend time with motivated, enthusiastic, and supportive people.

3. Cultivate a positive mindset and build your optimism and resilience.

4. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, and work on them.

5. Avoid procrastination and work on your time management skills.

6. Get help when you need it, and be willing to help others succeed