What is Motivation?

Motivation is defined as "a force or influence that causes someone to do something" (Merriam-Webster). In essence, motivation comes from the need or want for something to be done and a drive that caused the person to satisfy their need. The drive that forces you to go after that need it motivation. Motivation can be summed up in the image below.

(Theories of Motivation)

It is relatively easy to imagine motivations for people, whether it be in their work life or personal life. Perhaps someone wants a promotion at work and that drives them to work harder. Or maybe an athlete wants to participate in the Olympics, which motivates them to train harder. It could even be something as simple as learning to ride a bike just because a sibling could.

While the basic idea behind motivation is the same, scientists and psychologists have come up with many different theories of motivation. The most famous, being perhaps Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Other theories include Alderfer’s ERG theory, Mcclellan Acquired Needs Theory, Cognitive Evaluation Theory, Two Factor theory, Equity Theory, Reinforcement Theory and Expectancy Theory. Some of these theories are more similar to each other than others.

 Personally, I believe motivation is what drives the world. Every decision made has a reason behind it, a motivation; a business's motivation is to make a profit, a military's motivation is to protect their country, a student's motivation is to get a degree to get a job. Without some kind of motivation, nothing in the world would get done. In this blog, I'll be exploring the different theories of motivation and how they make people work to achieve their goals

References:

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Motivation. Retrieved March 28, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motivation

Theories of Motivation. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2015, from http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/motivation.htm