hello my dear steemians, today I bring you three stories about how and when it is necessary and we must act, about the motivation and the effective way to apply it, I hope you like it.

Motivation: how to start acting

Motivation is the main driving force of any effort. What is its nature, can it be put at the service of its own objectives and how to manage it? This is illustrated by the example of three stories.

uring the past year, Shoshak disappeared eight large X's and one L. They left their lives, more precisely, with labels on their clothes. For more than ten years he weighed 180 kg. He is 36 years old, a dark and bearded man with a warm look. He often hears compliments, but the previous ten years could not brag about it.

In life, Ali has already happened more than once that the day he ate 4 large shawarma, eating pizza every day he drank 7 liters of carbonated beverages. We can't say that he didn't make any attempt to lose weight before: low-carbohydrate, SlimFast, Fit + Feelgood - he was tormented by a dozen different diets. But a few weeks later they fell back into the old plate game. During the last battle, he lost 15.4 kg in the first week.

This fight began on German television, on The Biggest Loser, in which participants should lose weight as quickly as possible. Millions of spectators saw Ali. In the end, he was able to lose almost two pounds, throwing a total of 85 kg, and received the title of the most flexible (weakest). This success was achieved thanks to motivation, which stimulated him at the right time and then did not abandon him. Now he says, "In life you have to get to the point where you understand: if you don't help yourself, no one can help you.

Motivation gives energy, so as not to abandon what has been started. It is the spark that illuminates us when we think: "To rise or to remain lying, to surrender or to resist? Motivation is the force that brings us closer to the goal. If it is strong, it can graduate from the institution of an illiterate person.

One competition stimulates and leads to maximum results, another such pressure paralysis
Behind the desire to understand the secret of motivation lies the hope of better controlling one's own behavior and that of others. However, this is not so simple. This is known not only by teachers, parents, politicians, marriage counselors, trainers, leaders, and psychologists.

One competition stimulates and leads to maximum results, another of these pressures is paralyzed. When one is ready to give his life for the sake of the goal, the other is apathetic and is not interested in anything. Sometimes the motivation comes from nothing and disappears when it is needed most. It doesn't matter if you want to lose 85 kg or just 5.
Motivation cannot be seen, only its results or its absence.

The question "What motivates the functioning of man and other living beings? It has persecuted scientists and philosophers for a long time. Many publish articles and tutorials, which become best-sellers. There are lectures, trainings, video lessons. Thousands of websites dedicated to motivation are full of quotes asking for action. They say that even from the stones that stand in the way, you can build something beautiful.

To better understand the mechanisms of motivation and to use for ourselves and others the power of their action, let us consider three spheres of life in which people test their willpower. Typical themes for a good start, where most of the time they suffer a defeat: losing weight, playing sports, learning a foreign language.

REGAIN WEIG

When Ali was 14, he started playing American football. He coached five times a week, played for six years in the Bundesliga, in 1998, along with the national team became the champion of Europe. In those years he weighed 90 kg (serious weight requires serious sport). At the age of 23, he finished his sporting career and gained weight.

"I'm not used to being motivated, this function was always performed by the team," says Ali. "I didn't know what it was like to get up and go swimming or running. He worked in the kitchen of one of Texmex's restaurants, moved very little, smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. At one point, she stopped looking in the mirror when she brushed her teeth. I bought clothes on the Internet, because no store offers an 8XL size. Today Ali talks about a "second birth". He doesn't say the word "diet," he says "restructure life.

Researchers have established several motives that govern our behavior. Some of them are in the field of biology, such as hunger or thirst, fatigue or pain. These basic instincts are made to do the things necessary to maintain life and health of the body. Others, such as curiosity or revenge, develop more as a result of experience and social needs, i.e. partially learned (as a lesson).

Ali Shoshak, winner of the television show "The Biggest Loser," was able to lose weight faster than everyone else.
One well-known theory of motivation is that of the "big three" by psychologist David McClelland. In the early 1960s he identified three dominant human needs: success, power, and belonging. Makklilland also demonstrated that the body is positively reacts to its satisfaction: in saliva increases protective immune system concentration of immunoglobulin and brain dopamine intensely expelled, causing good health.

He divided the different motivations into two categories: extrinsic - conditioned by external circumstances (from the Latin "extrensicus" - from the outside), in which a person does something to receive a reward. And the inner motivation that comes from our inner world, for example, because we get pleasure from something. In the television program The Biggest Loser, the winner receives 50 000 euros and is famous.

You can rejoice in Ali's resistance. But most people fail, even when they only want to throw 3 or 5 kg. Very often, it's not even about changing your whole life. It's enough, for example, to reduce your sugar intake. Or eat more vegetables. How can we cope with this, if you don't even get a euro for it?

Psychology professor Gabriele ÖTTINGEN explores and teaches the topic of motivation for over 20 years in Hamburg, and New York University. In an experiment with 23 overweight women, she examined what thoughts make the diet successful. All of these women enrolled in a program with a diet. Before it started, Oettingen asked them how much they wanted to lose and what chances of success they imagined. The participants were then broken into two groups and asked to imagine the following scenario: one group had to imagine that they successfully completed the program. Another had to think it couldn't resist the temptation.

It is not enough to imagine the achievement of the goal, as advocates of positive thinking preach. For the dream to come true, one must really look at things

Result: The member of the group with particularly positive fantasies, which represents what is going to be thin and easy to give up sweets, was reduced to 12 kg less than those who do not think of themselves in a positive way. Obviously, it is not enough to imagine the achievement of the goal, as advocates of positive thinking preach. For the dream to come true, one must really look at things. Therefore, at the same time as the purpose and positive feelings you will experience in case of success, it is necessary to remember both the obstacles and the pitfalls, Oettingen recommends. He calls this technique "mental contrast.

Another method - a constant schedule: in everyday life, a person does by habit a lot of things in between times, such as brushing his teeth or fastened in the car. In addition, who manages to turn something good into established habit, such as not adding sugar for coffee or eating an afternoon apple instead of baking, is not necessary every time to gain strength. But until then it will require a lot of speed and a lot of repetitions each day. It is very good when you have someone supports and encourages your effort, but the unpleasant truth is that in the crucial moment you are always alone. "However, people can learn mental strategies, how to find in themselves the power to motivate," - says ÖTTINGEN.

In the film "Rocky" Sylvester Stallone plays an unknown boxer poor Philadelphia, who wins at the end of the current world champion and the love of a woman zapoluchaet. There is a scene: at four o'clock in the morning, the alarm clock rings, the hero gets up, must train. However, he does not get up immediately. Eight seconds Rocky continues to sit on the edge of the bed. He should motivate himself to go out on the street at least two and run, realizing that he has less chance of success. Eight seconds later, he gets up, drinks a cocktail of five raw eggs and runs out into the street.

DOING SPORTS

Stefan is a bodybuilder, is 25 years old, has big G's and J's in his training bag, which means Gym-Junkie (a gymnastics fanatic). Stefan has been working on his body for 8 years. To do this, he goes to the gym in the industrial zone area every day. He has to climb 52 steps, until he is in front of a mirror wall. And he goes this way, no matter if he was tired, if he worked until one in the morning or fainted and can only do cardio exercises for endurance.

"I don't like cardio," he says. - But I can get over it, because then I wonder: what is your long-term goal? What do you want most? The goal of avoiding something unpleasant is the goal of having a well-formed body with lots of lean muscles. It is not necessary to share Stefan's ideals, but we can say that he is a master of self-motivation.

You say to yourself: when I finish the job, I'll go straight to the pool. After a while, such a "yes - then" sequence will become an established habit.

A survey of a network of fitness clubs, one of 1.4 million members of which it is, showed this result: only one percent of customers attend training every day. More than half do not train more than twice a week. This is the basis of this business. If all members wanted to practice at the same time, there would be queues in front of each branch.

Most people are far from being able to remember the seven directions of trainings per week, they can't even cope with the fact that on the way to the office to use the stairs instead of the elevator. Or start running at least once a week. Or go to a yoga course, which you enrolled in several months ago. Too primitive is the excuse that this is constantly hampered by something.

Psychologist Walter Michelle recommends that these people make a "yes/when - then" plan. You say to yourself: when the work is done, I will go straight to the pool. Or: if I get up in the morning, I'll put on sneakers. After a while, such a "yes - then" sequence will become an established habit.

If you did, then you mocked the limbic system in the brain (psychologists call it the "hot system"). She is responsible for appetite, desire or fear. It is the hot system that is "to blame" for not keeping our promises to start running or dieting.

The threshold at which you decide on some kind of action, each has its own: for someone decided he was going to practice sports, as he said himself in a sports bag shoes, others transcend his Rubicon once he was on the treadmill
Its opposite is the "cold system": thanks to it we can weigh advantages and disadvantages, make plans. Psychologist Jens Kleinert believes that the more exactly we formulate goals, the better. "This week, on Tuesday and Thursday, I will go to work and get back on the bike" more effectively than "this week I will move more". Or: "During lunch in the dining room, I will reject dessert" will help more than "in the future I will eat less sweet".

This is Rubicon's so-called psychological-motivational model. Scientists named it after a small river near the city of Ravenna in Italy. Once Caesar crossed it with his armed forces, he headed south. It was an irreversible transition and declaration of war to the Roman Senate. The model that bears this name says that all those who pursue a goal go through four phases: weighing, planning, action and evaluation. As soon as you decide on an action in the weighing phase, there is no going back, you are doing this action.

Rubicon, the threshold at which you decide on some kind of action, each has its own: for someone decided he was going to practice sports, as he said himself in a sports bag shoe, others transcend his Rubicon, when we arrive on the tape, or left the dining room, rejecting the dessert. All those who want to learn to motivate themselves need to find their internal Rubicon.

LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Almost 2 million people in Germany enrol in foreign language courses every year. Thomas Müller from Munich is one of them. He is 47 years old and has taught Indonesian for 7 years. Let's say that Müller's motivation was love.

With his current wife, he met in a tourist town in southern Bali. But she didn't speak German, and in English very little. And Mueller was a tourist who, when ordering from a restaurant, pointed to the colorful images on the menu. She bought dictionaries and language study programs and enrolled in the course. Since then, every Thursday from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. he teaches an unknown language.

Whose language learning is associated with love, he can consider himself fortunate. In this case, motivation is associated with emotions. There is nothing better for motivation than the desire to better understand a partner or the opportunity to communicate with friends and relatives. But no one will start a relationship to learn a foreign language.

How can you motivate 99% of non-lovers, who just want to improve their English or learn Italian? Philologists and psychologists have been discussing this topic for many decades. And it's not just about academic curiosity, it's about the big money people pay to learn a foreign language. The good news is that the lack of talent for languages (politically correct is called linguistic ability) can be compensated by high motivation, regular activities and diligence. But what is the best way to motivate yourself or the students?

We study a foreign language for two reasons: to better understand people from another culture, or to benefit, to negotiate with foreign partners, to get a job abroad.

At the beginning of the Canadian psychologist 70 Robert Gardner developed the theory which adds to many different motivations two more. Those who study a foreign language, said Gardner, motivated or "instrumental" or "integrative". Integrative motivation means you are learning a foreign language because you are interested in your own language and culture. Would you like to better understand people from this culture, and perhaps become a part of it, to integrate it. On the contrary, those who are motivated by the "instrumental", learn the language as it can be useful - it is possible to negotiate with foreign business partners, or to get a job abroad, and your holiday in another country, you can communicate freely with local people.

Gardner's theories were criticized by philologists. Many people are motivated both instrumentally and integratively, they cannot clearly separate from each other.

A new guru in the study of foreign languages became the Hungarian psycholinguist Zoltan Durny. Motivation is a dynamic process. It is not static, but mobile. In case of failures, it decreases, and during the successful experience becomes stronger, for example, when thanks to the language learned you are better oriented abroad or on the Internet. High self-confidence promotes internal motivation. A good teacher develops external motivation. But it depends on the person and the environment, you can not generalize.

There is no general recipe. But there is the main point: become the researcher of your motivation. Imagine that you can now speak the desired language. How do you see yourself right now? Such mental images stimulate, says Zoltan Derni. A questionnaire was developed, which can be used for the study itself (at the moment it is available only in English).

Motivation is a dynamic process. It is not static, but mobile. If it fails, it decreases, and during successful experiences,
Linguist Claudia Rimer, who surveyed more than 1,000 people in 20 countries studying German, advises creating successful experiences. Best of all, while communicating with native speakers. Language institutes provide language partners for this. But even "deciphering" a website or ordering a plate of Italian in Italian are the small steps that motivate it. "So the language becomes part of his life," - says Riemer and tells the story of a sixth-grade group that was asked a year and a half of English classes to interview foreigners arriving at the airport. For the children, this was a key experience.

And our hero Müller, meanwhile, lives with his Balinese wife in Munich. At home, he cannot speak Indonesian, because his wife wants to improve her German. Since then, Muller's motivation has diminished. But when he travels with his wife in Bali, he can tell his mother what dish he likes.

Stefan is now in the stage of another diet. When he returns home around midnight after training, he prepares his meal ahead of time for the next day. He eats potato and chicken every day or a salad with rice waffles.
Ali now weighs 96 kg, has been bearing weight for several months. He has a one-week plan, in which he writes down what day he can eat and how much he needs to exercise. From his job at the restaurant, he quit and receives a fitness trainer certificate. He wants to have nine cubes in his stomach in nine months. Looks like he'll deal with it.