Amb Wise

Koribondo, located in the Bo district of Sierra Leone, is a town known for its rich cultural heritage, warm hospitality, and natural beauty. Surrounded by forests, hills, and streams, it is an excellent destination for outdoor activities, such as hiking and fishing. The residents are predominantly farmers, with rice, cassava, and vegetables being the primary crops. The town is famous for its delicious palm wine, and traditional festivals are held annually.

Motivation is what pushes us to achieve our goals, feel more fulfilled and improve our overall quality of life.

Understanding and developing your self-motivation can help you to take control of many other aspects of your life.

Motivation is one of the three areas of personal skills that are integral to the concept of emotional intelligence.

Daniel Goleman, the author of several seminal books on Emotional Intelligence, identified four elements that make up motivation:

Personal drive to achieve, the desire to improve or to meet certain standards;

Commitment to personal or organisational goals;

Initiative, which he defined as ‘readiness to act on opportunities’; and

Optimism, the ability to keep going and pursue goals in the face of setbacks. This is also known as resilience.

To improve self-motivation, it is therefore helpful to understand more about these individual elements.

The Elements of Self-Motivation

1. Personal drive to achieve

You could think of a personal drive to achieve as ambition, or perhaps personal empowerment. However, it is also worth thinking about it in terms of mindset.

There are two types of mindset, fixed and growth.

Those with a fixed mindset believe that talent is ingrained, and that we cannot change our level of ability.

Those with a growth mindset believe that they can improve their skills through hard work and effort.

Research shows that those who believe that they can improve—that is, who have a growth mindset—are far more likely to achieve in whatever sphere they choose. A growth mindset is therefore an important element in a personal drive to succeed.

Amb Wise

Motivation is what pushes us to achieve our goals, feel more fulfilled and improve our overall quality of life.

Understanding and developing your self-motivation can help you to take control of many other aspects of your life.

Motivation is one of the three areas of personal skills that are integral to the concept of emotional intelligence.

Daniel Goleman, the author of several seminal books on Emotional Intelligence, identified four elements that make up motivation:

Personal drive to achieve, the desire to improve or to meet certain standards;

Commitment to personal or organisational goals;

Initiative, which he defined as ‘readiness to act on opportunities’; and

Optimism, the ability to keep going and pursue goals in the face of setbacks. This is also known as resilience.

To improve self-motivation, it is therefore helpful to understand more about these individual elements.

The Elements of Self-Motivation

1. Personal drive to achieve

You could think of a personal drive to achieve as ambition, or perhaps personal empowerment. However, it is also worth thinking about it in terms of mindset.

There are two types of mindset, fixed and growth.

Those with a fixed mindset believe that talent is ingrained, and that we cannot change our level of ability.

Those with a growth mindset believe that they can improve their skills through hard work and effort.

Research shows that those who believe that they can improve—that is, who have a growth mindset—are far more likely to achieve in whatever sphere they choose. A growth mindset is therefore an important element in a personal drive to succeed.