Internal conflicts are sometimes difficult to detect. They often show themselves in ways that appear unrelated to the underlying issue. Three common internal conflicts that you may come across are:
· Anxiety due to change. Often learning involves some internal and external change. Indeed, would learning be worthwhile if there were not some changes in your life? Change, however, also involves anxiety for many people. There may be some internal anxiety from changing beliefs, behaviors, and responsibilities. External anxiety may come from a changing environment, expectations or even from others close to you who see changes in your behavior. This may be especially the case if achieving your goal needs self-development.
Understand that anxiety in this form is common, both in yourself and others. Add some assertions stating that you deal positively with change. Keep in mind that your changes may cause others to feel anxious, and they may react negatively. If you need further help in dealing with these issues, I suggest you try searching out books or people who can help you deal positively with these issues.
· Awareness of risk and fear. Some motivation issues can arise because of believed or real risk during learning activities. These issues may arise in the form of excuses or self-sabotage. Pilots sometimes experience this after gaining their license. They stop flying for awhile, citing numerous excuses. The underlying issue is a disproportionate sense of risk. Ironically, these pilots are often the safest pilots as they are far more aware of risks. They also understand how to reduce those risks.
Review the section on knowledge and fear below, and try some of the techniques to help get your sense of risk in perspective. If you still feel the personal risk is too great to continue a learning activity, be sure to at least talk to some people before abandoning it.
· Learning oriented versus performance oriented. Some people consider themselves learners. They feel comfortable with making mistakes while learning. Other people consider themselves performers. They consider mistakes and errors as negative outcomes and they strive to remove them from everything they do. If you have a performance orientation, you may feel internal conflict and excessive stress when learning, especially when you make a mistake. Often you unintentionally degrade your performance if you allow this conflict to continue. Review the section on making mistakes below. Let your guard down while learning. You can always put it back up once you have finished learning!