Motivation and Gratitude: How They Can Go Hand in Hand

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Is feeling motivated a bit more challenging for you these days? It may be a consequence of overall COVID-19 burnout. Alternatively, it could be pandemic-related parental burnout. In fact, even before COVID-19, consistent motivation was hard to come by. Specifically, intrinsic motivation—where a person has a drive from within—is significant and powerful to cultivate because it is rooted in your identity and is a “continuous source of motivation,” according to Psychology Today editors. Intrinsic motivation is significant today and every day, because it furnishes willpower, can flip moods, and lays the building blocks for an authentically exuberant life.

How can motivation help you? What is the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation? What role can gratitude play in finding continuous intrinsic motivation?

Motivation helps push you forward—and ahead—in life. The difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation is that extrinsic motivation examples can include:

• Working for monetary compensation
• Helping others in return for validation and praise
• Wanting to get a good grade
• Doing something to put it on your resume
• Going to new places so you can put in on your social media

Intrinsic motivation examples can include:

• Using positive self-talk because you want to enjoy a positive mindset
• Reading a book at night to your children because it makes you happy
• Exercising because you enjoy the way it makes you feel

While extrinsic motivation comes from anticipated rewards outside of oneself, intrinsic motivation is fueled from within. Intrinsic motivation is harder to come by because of much of the materialism in society, compounded by the prevalence of social media, making us often look outside of ourselves for that “push” or “drive.”

Gratitude can play a strong role in motivating us to engage in positive behaviors leading to self-improvement, according to researchers. Intrinsic motivation, I argue, is possibly strengthened through the same region of the brain that gratitude activates—namely the medial prefrontal cortex, or MPFC. In a widely cited article in Nature’s Neuroscience, researchers observed that internal goals, i.e. motivation, were linked to the prefrontal cortex region of the brain. Without the MPFC, researchers say it would be difficult for humans to engage in decision-making, goal-directed, and reward-related behaviors. Thus, the possible overlap in brain activity stimulated by gratitude and intrinsic motivation is arguably the primary reason why the two go hand in hand.

Can gratitude be a source of intrinsic motivation?

Quite possibly so. While there has been no landmark neuroscientific study tying the link between gratitude and motivation, there are other studies that link gratitude to “upstream generativity”; in other words, gratitude has been shown to induce a sense of wanting to give back, particularly in youth.

This link between gratitude and intrinsic motivation could quite possibly be rooted in psychological frameworks such as:

• How you view the world
• How you view others and their strengths
• What you celebrate and how you celebrate
• Your identity and its irretractable tie with a regular feeling of gratitude

While gratitude cannot be forced on anyone, as its impact can be diminished, an individual who regularly engages in a gratitude practice may have more to benefit from besides more positive emotions, minimized stress, and improved relationships. That individual may also gain intrinsic motivation, which is invaluable in today’s society. With the attainment of intrinsic motivation, accomplishments can come quicker, satisfaction undeniable, healing much sooner, and endless space for constructive joy. “Constructive joy,” a term coined herein, is simply your ability to create your own joy from within through the lens of gratitude.

How can you start a gratitude practice to help you build motivation from within?

1. Start small. First, leave doubt aside and believe in the potential of gratitude. Belief takes you a considerable way forward, so keep your mind open and skepticism low. This may be difficult if you’re feeling burned out, hurt, worried, or depressed to the point where you don’t feel like your usual self. That’s why you ought to start small. List two things you’re grateful for in a day and describe how they made you feel and why.
2. Keep the practice up for at least two weeks. Revisit how your lists made you feel at the end of the two weeks. Try the gratitude practice for at least two to three days each week.
3. Write it down. You’ll recall how your lists made you feel better if you write them down. A mobile app or journal can help you record what you’re grateful for.

Remember that intrinsic motivation is only one of the possible benefits of a gratitude practice. Gratitude has the ability to take our thoughts, feelings, and willpower to a higher level. If you invest in gratitude, it’s perhaps one of the safest bets to improving your life—in a powerful way.