Desire and confidence: Two factors driving motivation

Success in therapy necessarily entails clients setting and pursuing goals. In turn, clients are more likely to succeed in achieving their goals if their motivation to work toward the goals is high. Motivation is comprised of the energy, excitement and passion which fuels the effort required to make progress toward goals.

Research and experience indicate that there are two primary factors which fuel motivation to work toward goal: (1) having the desire to achieve the goal because of anticipated rewards; and (2) having the confidence that you can succeed in achieving the goal. In the following sections, I will discuss how these two factors combine to influence motivation to pursue goals.

How desire affects motivation

Motivation to pursue a goal will be higher the greater is your desire to achieve the goal. In turn, desire will be greater if you have more anticipated rewards or benefits from achieving the goal. For example, someone will be more motivated to do the hard work of addressing a substance use issue like drugs or alcohol if they anticipate tangible rewards or benefits such as better relationships, better career prospects, financial success, better health and longevity, and feeling better about oneself.

If someone is lacking desire to achieve the goal because they do not have such rewards and benefits to look forward to, their motivation to do the hard work of pursuing a goal such as addressing a substance use issue will tend to be lower.

How confidence affects motivation

Motivation to pursue a goal will also be higher the greater is your confidence that you can succeed in achieving the goal.

Having confidence that one can succeed has a multitude of effects which contribute to greater motivation in pursuing a goal. It puts you in a better mood while pursuing your goal, it leads you to put in more effort toward the goal, it makes you more likely to set challenging sub-goals which are conducive to making progress toward your ultimate goal, and it makes it easier to rebound from adversity and temporary setbacks which are often part of pursuing a goal.

For example, someone will be more motivated to do the hard work of addressing a substance use issue like drugs or alcohol if they have confidence that they can to succeed in achieving such a goal. In contrast, if someone is lacking confidence that they have what it takes to succeed, their motivation to do the hard work of pursuing a goal such as addressing a substance use issue will tend to be lower. The thought process in this case goes like, ‘What is the point of putting in all this work if I’m not going to succeed?’

How desire and confidence combine to affect motivation

Both desire and confidence are necessary for a person to have the motivation required to put forth the consistent effort required to achieve a goal. In other words, even though having one of the two bases covered may seem better than having neither desire nor confidence, the key factor which is missing can often be enough to undermine motivation to the point that a person gives up on pursuing the goal.

Consider the example I’ve featured in this regard: Someone who is confident that they can take the steps to address their substance use issue may not think it is worth the effort if they don’t believe that there are good enough benefits from achieving this goal. On the other hand, someone who is fully aware of the tremendous benefits they would attain by addressing their substance use issue may not think it is worth the effort to do so if they lack the confidence that they can make progress toward this goal.

In short, it is typically necessary to have both the desire to pursue a goal and the confidence that you can succeed to provide the motivation necessary to achieve your goals. In future articles, I will provide ideas on how to target both these factors so that you can be successful in pursuing goals.

May you have both the desire and confidence necessary to achieve your goals,

-Dr. Pat