Life is a journey driven by inspirations and experiences. Our achievements or failures make part of our inspirations and experience and how we learn from them makes the difference (Lai, 2011). From learning through my experiences, I have received the determination to move forward even in the worst of discouragement. However, I discovered one unique tool of motivation that I always carry around and never make of it; my own inspiration. It is true that the motivation I have and determination is influenced from others, however, it is my own experience that has kept me even moving further. The greatest asset I can use to move forward is my own motivation that what has made to excel.
I grew up in Hispanic family where my single mother was the sole family provider. Hispanics are among the minor races in my country. Being from such a background has subsequently affected ones status in the society. However, my society comprised people from all races and I never even realized that I was any different. My friends were both Hispanics, African American and white American children who we regularly played with after school. This exposure improved my socialization skills and gave the experience on accommodating never person in my life, despite of their cultural or ethnical background.
During my teenage years, I realized there was I could learn from my humble life and make it even better. It was my dream to join the military and when I became of age, I was overwhelmed with the opportunity to serve my country. I joined the military service at the age of 23 years, pretty young and willing to learn to perform the best in my roles. In the military service, I met and made friends were older and younger than I was. However, my preference was spending time near older people than me I was very willing to learn of their experiences and what inspired them most in the life. For me, my experiences formed a part of my motivation in life.
People rely on the motivation of others to succeed in life. However, those who do not have good motivation systems around them must rely on self-motivation to overcome the various challenges in life (Pardee, 1990). My background was humble and my mother gave me the guidance in excelling since my young age. I had to pull myself motivation to enroll into the military service and no one from my family who encouraged me to take the task. My driving force was my passion. In addition, ever since I discovered my potential, pushing myself behold the limits of what just easily achievable was part of my desire.
I served in the military for six years. This was long enough to appreciate my contribution towards the service of this great country. The military taught one important thing; discipline. In the service, we were guided by the rules and taking instructions was part of the requirements for the task. I remember one time asking my friend whom we had joined the military at the same period,” do you think the government is doing enough to motivate us as soldiers?”. Well, his response was something that I even think of even today,” being patriotic does not require motivation from anyone, it require self-motivation to do what we are held responsible for; serving the country”.
According to Herzberg theory of motivation, job satisfaction, motivation and reward systems form the important part of the organizational theory. However, self-motivation is the factor that overrides the two of the other components (Pardee, 1990). It made sense that being self-motivated encouraged me to endure the six years of hard work in the military service. When someone is self-motivated, he/she put much of his efforts in learning and excelling in any task irrespective of the hardships or technical challenges. I stiff feel the heartfelt congratulatory messages my mother kept giving as my achievements expanded. My passion to excel was truly unmatchable.
With little motivation from factors that have enable other to reach this far, my self-motivation has been paramount in my achievement and success. After serving the military service, I made yet another move to gain higher education. My VA benefits helped me secure the chance and it feels that the benefits of being self-motivated are to be realized. I am focused to secure my Academic goals and after the education, I can secure a good job perhaps and enjoy the fruits of my hard work. Self-motivation has also made me realize that we often do not require people to tell us what they have achieved be start working towards success. We can set our own goals, gauge our self with our capabilities and achieve our success. It feels lot better having other learn from you than you always learning form others.
References:
Graham, S., & Weiner, B. (1996). Theories and principles of motivation.Handbook of educational psychology, 4, 63-84.
Pardee, R. L. (1990). Motivation Theories of Maslow, Herzberg, McGregor & McClelland. A Literature Review of Selected Theories Dealing with Job Satisfaction and Motivation.
Lai, E. R. (2011). Motivation: A literature review. Person Research’s Report.