I first discovered the exciting world of personal development during a trip to Perth during my school days. I can still remember vividly that I entered a Dymocks bookstore and came across a book titled “You Can Do It!” by Paul Hanna. I read a few pages and was instantly hooked. The content was simply mind-blowing. Honestly at that time, I never knew that life skills such as self-motivation and peak performance can be learnt. To cut a long story short, I bought the book and it was easily the most precious gift I brought home from that trip. This book still sits proudly in my bookshelf today, though the pages have turned yellow after more than 20 years. After my interest was piqued, I began to regularly scour the National Library and local bookstores for similar books related to motivation and other topics in personal development, and became a voracious reader of this genre. I also made it a point to attend motivational talks to learn valuable tips and strategies from motivational gurus whenever I come across such opportunities. That’s how my journey in learning about personal motivation began.

Motivation can be regarded as both a science and an art. Neuroscience research has elucidated the basic neuronal pathways that drives motivation in humans. Nerve cells, or neurons, transmit signals to each other via chemical molecules known as neurotransmitters. Dopamine is the most important neurotransmitter in controlling motivation, particularly in the midbrain. For example, it has been shown that higher levels of dopamine in the midbrain is associated with a higher level of motivation. The dopaminergic pathway between the midbrain and the forebrain is known as the reward pathway, as its activity corresponds to motivational triggers that we encounter in life and guides our behaviour in seeking pleasure or avoiding pain.

There are many different forms of motivation. One way to look at it is push versus pull, as in what pushes you to take an action and what pulls you towards taking an action. What makes most sense to me is to broadly classify motivation as either internal or external. This is also known as intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

In my personal experience, extrinsic motivation is a highly effective driver as I am naturally motivated by the rules and standards set by others. For instance, back then when I was a secondary school student, I needed to arrive in school early in the morning before the assembly started or face potential disciplinary action by the strict discipline master whom almost everyone feared. Right now at my place of work, I need to start my clinic session at 8am everyday (okay, give and take 10 minutes), or else face potential admonishment from early morning patients who in the process of waiting for me, become unnecessarily delayed for their work, class or other personal appointments. Hence, this becomes a fairly strong motivational force that invariably gets me out of bed on time every morning, though there are also some days when I jump out of bed because I did some motivational self-talk or there is something special to look forward to. These are examples of extrinsic motivation that have worked very well across different phases in my life, and both of these examples are tied to potential punishment or embarrassment.

I am also naturally motivated by rewards, which is another form of extrinsic motivation. During my student days, I loved to participate in lucky draws because of the potential to win a prize. A few books I read talked about the topic of luck, and I learnt that in order to increase my luck in a particular area, I needed to create more opportunities. Therefore, I participated in as many lucky draws as I could find and was lucky enough to win a few prizes from time to time. The advice worked! Looking back, what made me massively motivated to put in effort to look for and participate in lucky draws, was the promise of a potential reward. Nowadays, I am a little bit more hesitant to freely participate in lucky draws, because I am worried about potentially getting a lot of spam messages and calls if I give out my contact details on lucky draw forms too frequently. Again, that is the extrinsic motivating force of pain that shapes my evolving attitude towards lucky draws.

Having said that, intrinsic motivation is paramount in influencing my daily thoughts and actions. I can’t survive on extrinsic motivation alone, because that will be hollow. When I was a student, I was motivated to study hard and do well because of the personal pride of accomplishment. As a medical doctor and dermatologist, I am naturally motivated to do my best to help my patients improve and manage their skin and related medical conditions, to counsel, comfort and uplift them. That’s because the joy of making a difference in other peoples’ lives has been strongly rooted in me since a young age. Generally, though extrinsic motivation is highly effective for me, intrinsic motivation has proven to be more sustainable and uplifting. Hence, I firmly believe that a fine balance between both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation works best in propelling me towards taking action.

Overall, I find it fascinating to delve into the intricacies of personal motivation. Through the years, I have learnt how to optimize these pieces of the puzzle to drive me forward on a consistent basis and occasionally give me a booster shot of extra motivation if needed. Through this book, I am privileged and excited to share these ideas with you, and I sincerely hope that you too will be inspired to learn more about harnessing the powerful forces of motivation to move you closer towards your goals and dreams in life.