Strengthening My Motivation

Description

This activity is designed to help individuals reaffirm and strengthen their own motivation and personal drive. By exploring and understanding what factors have helped them to achieve in the past they should be more able and determined to achieve in the future.

Situations

This activity is particularly useful for individuals involved in self-development and self-awareness programs. It can also be useful to managers who are

• trying to recharge their motivation to enable them to achieve new heights;

• looking for ways of motivating team members and staff.

Objectives

• To identify the key factors that have motivated participants in the past.

• To explore whether or not these key factors still motivate them.

• To begin to identify new factors that could recharge their ability to motivate themselves and others.

Method

1. (optional) You may wish to introduce the activity by brainstorming, for example: “What is motivation and why is it important?”

2. Divide participants into groups of three or four and ask each group to share its responses to the exercise. Ask each group to list common motivation factors and any other interesting outcomes of their discussion. Then bring participants together and lead a discussion on the issues raised and identified. Questions to address at this stage could be:

• Why do we feel motivation is important (for us and others)?

• What is the activity telling us so far about motivation?

3. Ask participants to consider something they have been putting off and/or something they want to do but have never got around to doing. Divide participants into groups of three or four to share their responses. Bring participants together and review the key learning points.

Exercise 13.1: - Motivation

1. How have I been motivated in the past?

 

 

2. How am I motivated now?

 

 

 

 

3. What differences are there?

 

 

 

 

 

4. What does this tell me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercise 13.2: - Why Am I Stuck?

Situations

What has stopped me in the past from doing this?

How do I feel about it now?                                 

What do I need to do in order to put it into practice?

•

Something I have been putting off

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Something I have been meaning to do

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Something new I want to try

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercise 13.3: - Action Plan

1. Which factors are within my control?

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Which factors require co-operation from other people?

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Who are the people who can help me?

 

 

4. What do I plan to do within the areas identified

a. during the next two weeks?

 

b. during the next two to six weeks?

 

c. in the longer term?