Motivation is defined as an internal condition that gives you direction, makes you goal oriented and energises you towards a particular goal or behaviour.

Imagine a person who is intelligent though lacks self-motivation.  This person may have little drive to do anything and as a result may not appear emotionally intelligent.  He may simply not achieve much in life.  This is why it is critical to pay attention to all competencies within EI.

Motivation consists of a number of areas as follows:

• Optimism. Have strong expectation that things will turn out alright. Optimists believe that setback is something they can change and therefore do not get depressed because of it.
• Enthusiasm. This is about boosting yourself with physical and mental energy.
• Hope. Don’t give into the face of setbacks.
• Good moods. Just being positive makes you feel good about everything. Giving gratitude will make you feel better about what you have and what you are and in turn makes you more enthusiastic about what you want to get in the future.
• Anxiety. Too much anxiety brings you to a halt. You simply get paralysed. Too little anxiety is demotivating and reduces your performance. You need to have the right level to get to peak performance.

Both optimism and enthusiasm show that an individual is in control of his own life and is ready to meet challenges and is not afraid of setbacks. He treats failures as part of the deal, something necessary for progress.

There are two types of motivation:

• Intrinsic. This comes from rewards inherent to the task itself. For example, you may enjoy the challenge you are participating in such as playing football, or painting. There doesn’t seem to be any reward other than the activity itself.
• Extrinsic. This comes from external world such as money, cheering crowd in a sporting event or even competition since the desire to win against other is an external factor as opposed to enjoying the intrinsic benefits of the task.