How Self-Aware Are You: Part 2

How Self-Aware Are You?

Motivation and Desire

Welcome back to the discussion about self-awareness: The most important aspect of self-improvement (IMO). The starting point of a rewarding yet emotional journey.

Find Part 1 here

In our previous discussion, we expanded on the definition of self-awareness. We explored character traits and feelings. Part 2 of this two-part series will dive into motive and desire. As a refresher let’s define self-awareness.

Self-awareness is the conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motive, and desire.

Motive

For reference sake, let’s define what motive is. According to Oxford Language, motive is a reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden or not obvious.

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Keep in mind that these topics can be interpreted a million ways. Both parts of this series are meant to be basic and a stepping stone to start your personal journey of improvement. Remember I am not a licensed therapist.

((Full disclosure: I lived sick in this area of my life more than I’ve not. I have grown significantly, however, my objective view on motive is skewed and underdeveloped…Soooo instead of wasting your time, I did some reading and this is what I gathered about motive 🤓))

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Guess what?? I suggest using pen and paper to list your motive(s)? Write em down. Next to it – be honest – write pro or con.

Princeton WordNet offers a more descriptive definition of motive. One that I align with.

the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior.

123test.com says this: motives are about what sets people in motion. For example, are you more interested in autonomy and individual freedom or is it power and status that drive you? The following motives are commonly distinguished:

1. Financial reward: importance one attaches to high income, materialism;
2. Power and influence: desire to be able to lead or influence other people and events;
3. Altruism: contributing to the bigger picture and making one’s own financial interests or other interests secondary to this;
4. Self-development: work in which there’s room to develop yourself further;
5. Creativity: coming up with new ideas or products, being actively involved in creation;
6. Social contacts: conviviality and friendship;
7. Autonomy: independence and being able to make decisions oneself;
8. Security: holding long-term security in high regard, e.g. pension, permanent income and one’s own house in which one can continue to live for a long time;
9. Status and prestige: impression or appearance is the more important motive, e.g. through money or a specialisation;
10. Variety: plenty of different types of work;
11. Structure: work that consists in set routines and tasks;
12. Influence: being able to determine what other people have to do and influencing decisions;
13. Work-life balance: work that fits in well with your personal life and ties in favourably with your free time;
14. Working conditions: nice workplace, nice building, nice location, favourable working conditions.

Use the above information to guide your list. I will do the same. Moving on.

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Desire

a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen.

Forgive me as I work through this aloud. I’m afraid it is hard to differentiate between desire and motive. By definition, desire is a feeling whereas motive is a reason. Still, close, to me. And since this post is meant to be informational, I Googled it 😉

My Findings

Ironyoflife.com has this to say:

Desire and motivation are not the same thing. Desire is wanting to do something, but motivation is making it happen. You need a desire to have motivation, but you do not need motivation to have a desire.

“When we talk about our goals, we usually define them in terms of why they are our goals and how we’re going to achieve them. To describe them this way, we tend to use the words “motivation” and “desire” interchangeably.”

Yeah, what they said 😉

I strongly encourage you to read the article I linked if you want to explore further. And that’s about it for part 2 of this two-part series. If you find yourself unsure of where to start your self-improvement journey, start with self-awareness. The key is honesty, acceptance, and kindness. One step at a time.

Until next time. I hope this post inspires you to begin.

Xo

Candace

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