It is incredibly easy to be extrinsically motivated. There are many things that motivate us to go and do things: money, success, fame, fear of failure. Practically everybody can be motivated if they are guaranteed to be given something or lose something based upon their success or failure, respectively. But what do we gain from this besides the material or emotional things? Just like the rest of the world, we have turned ourselves into these creatures with selfish attitudes. We have essentially said that we will not work unless we gain something from it.
The problem is, in part, finding a reason to do what we do without extrinsic motivation. How do we do things without the promise of a reward or a punishment? By having a genuine desire to do so. Genuineness is not something that can be faked. It's very definition is "being authentic; not pretending." In order to live our lives genuinely, it must be our desire to do what we are doing: going to school, working, studying just to gain the knowledge, practicing, going to church, etc. Yes, there are benefits to the things that we do. However, that should not be the reason that we actually follow through with our activities.
Self-motivation is not something that comes overnight. Yes, sporadically we can feel motivated to do something out of the blue. However, a constant genuineness is what we should strive for - the rest - the best part of doing something, the benefits - will come as a result.
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