Motivation? What really is "motivation" ??

3v.)     What is motivation exactly? How do we apply motivation to our everyday lives and why do we want to motivate ourselves?

I’ve been thinking lately about what motivation really is, by the dictionary definition and as my own definition. By the dictionary, Motivation is a psychological feature that arouses an organism to act towards a desired goal and elicits, controls, and sustains certain goal-directed behaviors. To me, motivation is something that you can create yourself, inside your own mind or it can be developed through an outside source, but the general goal of motivation is to better the self. 

During our readings and articles I’ve learned so much more than I thought I would about motivation, the term is not as simple as you’d like to think. There is so much meaning behind the word. I learned about fixed mindsets, growth mindsets, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, as well as Carol Dweck’s personal beliefs and encounters with motivation. Motivation is the key to becoming a better person and we see motivation all around us. Motivation is deep within each and every person, you just have to push yourself to want it enough.

What does idiosyncratic mean? Is that even a word? I learned from the readings that idiosyncratic is a structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group. In other terms, it is unique to an individual or to a group.