Rewards system

In most cases, motivation is based on a reward. We associate positive feelings with that reward and assign a level of motivation based on how important or desirable that reward is to us. The greater we perceive the reward to be, the easier it will be to remain motivated to attain that rewards by achieving a goal. If the perceived reward is unclear or does not evoke feelings of excitement and desire, it will be more difficult to muster the motivation needed to accomplish a goal.

Time and motivation

Studies show that if the person receives the reward immediately, the effect would be greater. The greater the span of time is between exerted effort and receiving reward, the harder it will be to remain motivated. There is something than to be said about repetitive action-reward combinations. When there are regular immediate rewards to actions over a period of time a habit is usually formed.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Motivation usually comes from two sources: you and other people. There is a specific name assigned to each of these two motivational sources. Extrinsic motivation is the motivation that comes from others and intrinsic motivation is the motivation that comes from within you. Rewards can also be organized as extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic rewards are external, meaning that they can be given or taken away by others. Examples would be praise or money. Intrinsic rewards are internal, meaning that the individual is in control of when the reward is received. Examples of intrinsic rewards are a feeling of accomplishment or personal satisfaction.

The role of self-control

Self-control is a component of motivation that those lacking motivation are quick to dismiss as a contributing factor. Scientists suggest that self-control is actually a subset of what is called emotional intelligence. Our emotional intelligence determines how well we understand or own emotions, motivators, and weaknesses. Naturally, those with a higher emotional intelligence are also better at reading the emotions of others and being aware of the mood or feeling that is evoked by a given stressor or motivator. The role of self control in motivation is vital because it is one's self control that ultimately determines whether or not the individual will retain a sufficient amount of self control to see their goal to the end. Those who fail to motivate themselves to achieve something are said to have poor self-control because they allow outside influences to dictate their level of emotional intelligence.

Justifications

There are hundreds of other reasons logical reasons for failure to remain motivated. Many of these reasons deal with over justification. In essence, what we do is find a logical way to talk ourselves out of doing the thing that we are losing motivation over. For example, if we were originally motivated to lose weight to improve our health, we may justify our lack-luster efforts with reasons such as stressors at work, a need to spend all of our time with children, or a failure to take care of other personal issues so giving up on the goal of losing weight really won't make that big of a difference. There are hundreds of other tactics that we use on ourselves that lead us to transition from being highly motivated to accomplish something to suddenly have no desire at all to accomplish a certain goal.