I'm doing some personal research to find new ideas regarding self-motivation but thought OP might find this interesting/useful..
Intrinsic motivations has 3 needs
* competence - feeling one is able to do the task and can succeed at it.
* relatedness - feeling that there is value in the task (to self and/or to valued others; how the task relates to the whole)
* autonomy - being in control of our own lives, making choices of what we do, when we do it, and how we do it.
Extrinsic motivations has been shown to weaken or break intrinsic motivations, and reduce the desire and willingness to do the task. However, in order of most demotivating to more motivating...
* external motivation sustains behavior by contingent reward/punishment from our environment (eg do task because paid to do it)
* introjected motivation sustains behavior by the desire to avoid internally imposed guilt/recrimination (eg do task to earn money to sustain family)
* identified motivation sustains behavior by the desire to express important self identifications (eg do task because it is 'what I want to do')
* integrated regulation sustains behavior by assimulating rules/regulations into one's beliefs/models.
Links about motivational theories from my favorite site: http://changingminds.org/explanation...motivation.htm