I is for Intrinsic Motivation!

We all have the desire to feel that we are in control of our lives, that we are improving ourselves, and that we have a purpose in the world. 

Finding the hook that motivates you in life can feel difficult. You sometimes aren't sure what you want from life, and struggle to find the drive to move forward.

When we think of motivation, we often limit our thinking to the extrinsic motivators: the rewards and punishments that we get. At school, many people try hard in exams to satisfy their parents, because they get rewarded for doing well, and get punished for doing badly. In work, we usually do our job because of the financial reward.

There is another form of motivation that we rarely consider: intrinsic motivation. 

This is the motivation that comes from within, which drives us to do things not for other people, or for rewards or to avoid punishment, but we do it for ourselves, to make us feel good about ourselves and because we genuinely want to get better at something.

That isn't to say that extrinsic motivation isn't useful, there are many situations where it is effective and necessary, but having intrinsic motivation drives us much further when it comes to creative thinking, problem solving and self improvement. When we have intrinsic motivation to do something, we are more persistent, enthusiastic, driven, excited and confident, because the task actually means something to us, and isn't just a means to an end.

Examples of activities that can help build our intrinsic motivation include fishing, reading, playing an instrument, drawing, blogging, playing sports, gaming and writing. We don't get any external reward or punishment for doing them, we do these things for ourselves because we find them enjoyable and exciting, and have a desire to improve our abilities while doing them.

Different people are passionate about different things, so below we have listed some activities for you to try to help find the right intrinsic motivation activity for you!

Exercises and activities to try:

List your passions - Have a go at writing a list of all the things that you like in life, that you are interested in, that you have a passion for. Listing everything that you are passionate and seeing it on a page can help you see links between the things you are passionate about, and may help generate ideas for an activity to try. 

Maybe some of the things you like are photography, make up, fashion, writing, and being creative. You could start writing a personal fashion blog! Or you might be into drawing, writing and reading comics. You could have a go at writing and illustrating your own comic! These are simple examples, but by doing this activity yourself you may discover a theme in your interest that you didn't realise before, and this could lead you to find the right activity to build your motivation!

Pursue new opportunities -  Sometimes we don't actually know that we are passionate about something until we try it for the first time, or sometimes we have something that we would love to try and we just feel a bit scared to try. Pushing ourselves to try new things is the best possible way to build our motivation, all it takes is a little step outside our comfort zone!

Have a look at your local arts centre or college and see if they have any courses or activities that might interest you, or look for some free online short courses to try. See if there are any local clubs or community groups near you that you could take part in. Going out and trying something new, even just once, will help to build that motivation and make us more willing to try other things!

LIFEMAPS: an introduction

Mental wellbeing is so important!

YouthAction has recognised the need for new approaches to developing young people's mental health, and has developed a new mental health model entitled LIFEMAPS to address this need.

LIFEMAPS clearly demonstrates how youth work approaches can build the mental health of young people. It clearly states that mental wellbeing is not uncovered or discovered, it is built through actions, skills and attitudes, and fostered through positive relationships. 

LIFEMAPS is your map for the journey to positive mental wellbeing!

LIFEMAPS is an acronym for 8 interlinked concepts that describe a full approach to developing positive mental health;

Learning - Accepting that failure is a necessary part of learning rather than a negative consequence, which enables us to find the courage try new things, build resilience and approach challenges without the fear of failure.

Intrinsic Motivation - Finding activities that we really enjoy and are interested in, and have an internal motivation to pursue because they brings us a sense of personal reward and pride, and contribute positively to our mental wellbeing.

Flow - Finding activities that fully immerse and engross us, causing us to lose ourselves in the moment, which can give us a break from negative emotions and build positive feelings of achievement in their place.

Emotions - Balancing out the negative emotions with positive ones; not by forcing positivity, but by being open to new experiences, people and ideas to help us build a wider range of positive emotions like joy, inspiration, hope, awe and serenity.

Mindfulness - Promoting a positive outlook by taking time to notice small, everyday moments that bring us pleasure in order to bring balance to our minds and counteract the negative moments.

Accomplishments - Building self esteem through accomplishing personal goals, and realising that life isn't about winning or losing, but more about learning and growing, and that small milestones pave the way to big successes.

Purpose - Finding a sense of meaning in the world outside yourself by finding ways to help others, through small acts of kindness to your friends and family, volunteering or joining a cause you are passionate about.

Social Connections - Building our sense of belonging and community by building strong connections with others through work, school, family and friends. This satisfies our desire to be valued, cherished and listened to, which is critical to mental health.

These 8 elements are interlinked and we can find many activities that will satisfy several of these elements, for example learning to play a musical instrument will satisfy Learning, Intrinsic Motivation, Flow and Accomplishments. Asking an old friend to meet for coffee and catch up would satisfy Emotions, Purpose and Social Connections. Going for a walk in the park and stopping to smell the flowers satisfies Emotions and Mindfulness.

Lifemaps is easily tailored to any individual, as some people may have plenty of Social Connections but no sense of Purpose, and others might have a lot of Intrinsic Motivation but struggle with Learning. All it takes is a knowledge of yourself and the areas of your life you want to work on, and then finding activities and behaviours you can practice to help build those elements.

Starting this Wednesday, we will be writing a weekly post exploring each element in more detail and suggest activities that you can try to help satisfy the needs of each element. We really hope you find them helpful!

Please follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with our posts and upcoming events, and see you on Wednesday for ways to improve your mental wellbeing through Learning!

Hello!

Hi everyone! Welcome to the Lifemaps blog, where I will be writing about the Lifemaps initiative, and exploring the steps that young people can take to help build mental wellbeing.

I'm Amy, the Media Coordinator for the Lifemaps project, and I have been fighting depression and anxiety for 8 years now, so I know a fair bit about the difficulties of dealing with poor mental health. I am happy to say that I am doing very well these days, and the positive behaviours and activities that are central to the Lifemaps model have been instrumental to my recovery.

I'll be the one writing the blog posts over the next few months, and will be keeping you all up to date on our Facebook and Instagram, where I will be posting positive photo messages every Monday as part of our Monday Motivators series, sharing articles about mental health, sharing information on our events, and posting video productions exploring Lifemaps from our training sessions and youth led events.  I am really passionate about this project and think it can go a long way to help those struggling with their mental wellbeing.

Please share this blog with anyone who you think would benefit from some exercises to improve mental wellbeing, and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me through this blog, by messaging the Lifemaps Facebook page, or dropping me an email at amy@publicachievement.com.