‘Motivation’ in austerity UK and why opposing it will improve our mental health

source: The Orkney News
published: 8 June 2016

Motivation is an impulse that causes people to act. It’s an internal process that makes us move towards a goal. Trouble is we have to set that goal first and believe in it strongly. The eye has to be firmly on the prize or the goal will not be realised.

We can’t observe motivation we can only infer it from someone’s behaviour. In Scotland we can be said to suffer from a ‘cringe’ not universally but there is a cultural norm that pulls us back. Looking at the optimist /pessimist divide how are we placed.

A positive attitude (more on that another time perhaps) does make all the difference. Our perceptions lock on to some things then they cannot be unseen. Thinking outside of the box it reads Opportunity is now here for me. I must be an optimist!

Back to motivation. Theories of motivation describe how people react to reduce their needs and maintain a constant physiological state such as eating to stay in a state of balance or homeostasis.

These theories fail to make sense of why some people can starve themselves for political causes despite extreme hunger, so there is more going on in terms of what motivates us.

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