Can Motivation be Taught?

Nature vs. Nurture

Two major forces help determine our behaviors in life: One is nature, or the genes that we receive from our ancestors, and the other is nurture, which includes how we are raised, the environment in which we grow up, the experiences we encounter, etc. There has been a great deal of debate among scientists in evaluating how much nurture and how much nature shapes our lives.

We are born with the motivation to meet our basic needs—to get enough oxygen to breathe, to get enough food to sustain life, etc., and this clearly fits into the nature category. However, beyond that, based on our experiences as children, we begin to form beliefs about what is important in life, observing others around us. We also become trained to pay attention to rewards and punishments in our lives. For example, what leads to good outcomes? If you’re interested in learning more about instant versus delayed gratification among children, you may want to research the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, which is quite interesting.

We Can Teach Ourselves

Motivation is the push that makes us reach for our goals. Perhaps a more important question than whether motivation can be taught is how we can teach ourselves to maintain motivation (and we can teach ourselves) and how we can model it for others. For example, it is important that we recognize our potential, because without doing so we may put forth no or little effort to challenge ourselves. We want to teach ourselves to recognize our strengths and to recognize how resilient we can be. One way we can teach ourselves motivation is to set short-term goals. In addition, becoming proficient in holding ourselves accountable, and allowing others to hold us accountable, can both help us stick with goals. We can also surround ourselves with others who are actively working towards achieving goals and who have a strong work ethic. Finally, we should not only recognize but also celebrate our successes and use these to motivate us further.

One additional note is that having balance in life is important. Motivation is currently correlated with accomplishing goals, but motivation does not necessarily mean that one will take care of themselves. Having too much motivation in one life area, such as in a career, can make it difficult to maintain motivation in other areas, such as family or self-care.