- Why is motivation at work so important?
- 10 Steps to find motivation in your work
- 1-Find a reason
- 2-Challenge yourself
- 3-Find a meaning to your work
- 4-Get rewards
- 5-Vary the tasks
- 6-If you need autonomy, create it
- 7-If you see that you cannot, decrease your demands
- 8-Practice gratitude
- 9-Take care of yourself physically
- 10-Increase your resources
The motivation to work or employment is essential for people in the organization are productive, creative, engaged and feel loyal to the company. Sometimes it is hard to find the energy to go to work. You can not find reasons, nothing excites you and you prefer to do many things before.
However, and even if you think it is impossible, you can create your motivation to work by changing a series of aspects. In this article I will explain what problems you may be having and what you can do to get motivated again.
Why is motivation at work so important?
Creating that motivation is especially important:
Your work life occupies a large part of your time, in some people 8 or more hours a day and 6 days a week. What's more, you will be working the years of your life when you will be the healthiest physically.
Many people work on things they don't like, waiting for weekends, vacations, or a special date. However, in my opinion this is a serious mistake. For example:
- You can spend 45 hours a week at work, completely unmotivated and waiting for Sunday's game to arrive.
- You can be thinking all the time about Saturday's departure.
- You can also wait for the day of the festival of your town or your city to arrive.
This is what I call the 90/10 rule; spend 90% of the time on things that do not please waiting 10% of the time that will be spent on what does please. If you spend at least 8 hours of your day at work, it's important that you like it, or at least give it a try.
Time is worth more than gold and it is worth spending it on something you like.
10 Steps to find motivation in your work
1-Find a reason
If you have a big enough reason, you will be able to do almost anything. If you have no reasons, you will be unmotivated, you will not make an effort and you will tend to give up soon.
What is it that motivates you to be working every day? Some reasons can be:
- Move up in the company.
- Have experience to access a better job.
- Earn money to have the house you want.
- Have a reputation as a good professional in your sector.
The reasons depend on each person, you have to look for yours and remember it often to create that motivation.
2-Challenge yourself
You can create challenges when you feel that your work or life is not offering enough opportunities to use your skills. For example:
- Adding tasks in your work.
- Proposing something that is difficult to achieve.
Challenging demands or challenges do not drain your energy and will make you more satisfied and motivated at work. In general, it is only recommended that you increase the level of challenges in your work when you have sufficient resources available to deal with them.
In other words, adding new challenges if you don't have the ability to handle them will increase the likelihood that your health and stress will worsen.
3-Find a meaning to your work
If you find the meaning of your work, you will have much more energy to push yourself. It's about being aware of the impact you make. They can be many:
- If you are a doctor or a nurse, you will be helping other people regain their health.
- If you are a writer, you may be helping the reader, entertaining him or informing him.
- If you are a waiter you can be giving a good experience to the diners.
- If you are a consultant you will be helping a person or company to develop.
4-Get rewards
If you know that at the end of the day or your work schedule you are going to do something that you like, you will be much more motivated. Plan a task or activity at the end of your work schedule such as:
- Go out with your partner or friends.
- Watch a movie.
- Practice your favorite sport.
5-Vary the tasks
Some people do well with automated tasks, but others need more variety. You can change the tasks you do if you feel like you are doing repetitive work.
Therefore, try to structure your day so that you do several tasks. Depending on your profession you can structure your tasks in one way or another. For example, if you are a psychologist:
- Study the case of a patient.
- Plan tasks.
- Reply to messages.
- Attend a patient.
- Read new research
- …
6-If you need autonomy, create it
You may be one of the people who feel most motivated when they feel autonomy at work. That does not mean that you do what you want, but that you have the freedom to achieve your goals in your own way, that you have the freedom to act or influence your functions.
Depending on your position, profession or experience, you can opt for more or less autonomy, although you can always try to create it with proactivity and initiative. If you think you have little autonomy due to the rules or your boss, you can talk to him / her and discuss your concerns.
7-If you see that you cannot, decrease your demands
Sometimes I have encountered situations that overwhelmed me; I have been sent to do tasks that I could not, since I had no experience or training to complete them efficiently.
This situation tends to increase stress and decrease motivation, as you tend to think that you cannot achieve what you need. In these cases you can:
- Lower the level of demands when they exceed your capabilities. You can do this by asking for help or decreasing the level of actions / tasks you have.
- Demand less of yourself. That is, to understand that it is necessary to go little by little in learning and that it is normal not to know how to do everything.
8-Practice gratitude
Have you ever thought that millions of people around the world are unemployed? Simply feeling grateful for having a job will make you feel better and increase your motivation.
Gratitude promotes positive thinking and attracts good energy.
9-Take care of yourself physically
People who are physically stronger and healthier perform better in jobs. If you have little stamina and are not in shape, it will cost you much more effort to work, you will perform less and you will be more likely to be demotivated.
Although there can be multiple causes, if you feel tired often it may be due to poor health. Try to follow a lifestyle in which:
- Get enough sleep.
- Have a healthy diet.
- Do exercise
On the other hand, if you are continuously sad, have excessive anxiety or other kinds of psychological disorders, you may need to seek help from a mental health professional.
10-Increase your resources
Resources are physical and social aspects that will help you achieve your goals, reduce the demands of your work and life in general, and stimulate your personal development.
Examples:
- Family.
- Friends.
- A company that cares about you.
- Self esteem.
- Be positive, etc.
In some situations your resource level may be low, for example when you have little social support or when you feel low self-esteem.
In these situations it is better that you mobilize more resources to be able to deal with the demands without much difficulty. Generally, the more resources you have, the less stress you will suffer. Examples of resources are personal and work skills, self-esteem, personal relationships, or financial resources.