In the beginning and at the root of motivation are our drives. Our drive is what we feel we need to work the hardest for. This drive usually motivates us to ensure that our family and we have the essentials of life. It is relatively easy for us to emotionally deduce that we must work enough to put food on the table and a roof over head. Because there is little variability in this situation, (you earn money or you do not have what you need) little motivation is needed. Using the same type of reasoning, the motivation to provide for those basic physical and emotional needs dwindles when the action of acquiring the needed motivation to get out of bed in the morning becomes routine. This is why the things by which we are most motivated (the need to fill the basic needs to survive) are not necessarily obvious to us.

Taking an emotional approach to motivation also must include an understanding of the fact that some arguments that we may make are contrary to that which logical, but that very easily play off our emotions. For example, a person may wish to be healthy, believes smoking is bad for one's health, and yet continues to smoke. This confusion due to the incompatibility of conflicting options that impede motivational actions is called cognitive dissonance. This emotional struggle often occurs on the cognitive level. We realize that we believe these conflicting thoughts, but cannot find a way to set emotions aside to approach the issue logically.

In psychology there are many more theories that explain why our emotions, unconscious or not, sometimes take the wheel from our logical side and take us on a ride. At the end of that rise, we do not always end up in a state to embrace change or have a desire to muster up the motivation within. If you want to really motivate yourself, you need to figure out where your emotional weakness is. Maybe the root of your problem is that you have a hard time introducing change. Your logic and reasoning may be completely well thought out, but an emotional factor may be what is getting in the way of your progress and therefore those emotions may be just the things that are killing your motivation.

Ignoring your emotions is no way to approach motivations. You must work with and understand your emotions before you can ever hope to align yourself with your goals and attain the needed amount of motivation to achieve those goals. For some people it takes a therapist to help them realize how their emotions are affecting their motivation. Some people just need some honest advice from a friend. Others have the emotional intelligence that allows them to be truthful when practicing introspection. Individuals like this realize that they have strengths and weaknesses and try to find ways to contest those weaknesses in ways that allow their strengths to really be used as assets.

Uncovering the unconscious may not always be comfortable, but achieving a higher understanding of yourself can be helpful to you in so many more areas than just goal achievement. The emotional approach to motivation is an approach that is sure to help you attain more long-term results.