The Ultimate Guide to Finding Motivation for Work

Finding motivation for work can be one of the biggest obstacles we face in life. Considering that we spend the majority of our waking hours at work, not being motivated can ruin our career aspirations.

Weforum included a survey by Gallop that found nearly 70% of people are unmotivated and disengaged at work.

This means that many companies suffer because of it, and in various ways such as:

• Reduced revenue.
• Negative workplace environment (staff mood, attitudes, and behaviors).
• Career dissatisfaction, which can cause people to quit their job.
• Poor quality of service and products.

What’s the bottom line? A prosperous company requires motivated employees.

This article is the most in-depth guide out there on becoming motivated for work. So, if you’re unhappy at work and looking for some career motivation, this guide is for you.

Let’s begin.

Here is the ultimate guide for finding motivation at work:

What does motivate mean?

Let’s have a look at the definition of motivate:

1. Motivate – a state commonly understood as a force acting within the agent that creates a disposition to engage in goal-directed behavior.

This means that if a person hasn’t set the right types of goals, then there is nothing to be motivated about. You should check out that article before you continue.

First requirement: Motivate employees

It all starts at having motivated leaders. And it’s up to management to make sure that employees are inspired to be there. Unfortunately, most employers don’t urge their managers to motivate their teams.

There was a recent survey in ScienceNorway which included 2,500 employees and 600 managers from various-sized companies. It found that 80% of managers perceived that they had mastered the art of motivating their employees.

What’s the kicker? The same survey found that less than half of the employees had very different opinions about their managers. The employees did not feel that their managers contributed to positive engagement.

In other words, many managers overestimate their motivational abilities.

This can be very bad for sales teams, which require not only direction and goals from their managers, but motivational incentives.

If you are in this category of having a manager who could care less to motivate employees, you have two options:

1. Speak with your boss and tell them you are having trouble finding inspiration to excel at your job.
2. Quit your job and find a new employer.

What’s the takeaway?

You can’t be motivated to go to work when you don’t have a boss who is encouraging you to be there, and pushing you to better your career goals.

Management, ROI, and motivation in the workplace

It turns out that a lot of the time, workers leave their employer not because of their job, but because of their manager. A manager who fails to inspire their team ultimately costs the company MUCH more than the failure of each individual.

In fact, Greatify reports that according to McLean & Company, uninspired employees cost a company about $3,400 for every $10,000 in annual salary.

This means a failing manager of a team of five—each with a salary of $50k per year, will cost the company $85k annually, simply by not motivating them.

Step one of analyzing a failing sales team isn’t firing underperforming team members, it’s examining management’s motivation tactics.

If you are a manager, you should make sure you try your best to motivate your team. And if you are an employee, you need to make sure you are performing well, so you don’t get on your manager’s bad side.

What’s the takeaway?

Being highly motivated and having a good relationship with your manager means you are 87% less likely to leave the company. This creates stability in your life, and ultimately, generates more revenue for the company.

Find Motivation to work by following your passion

If you are waking up every day, dragging your feet, unmotivated to go to work, and not having what it takes to be productive, you should reflect on your personal life.

Although it may seem that your job is what’s causing your lack of inspiration and drive, it could be that you have no real passions. Finding your passion is a mandatory step to not only being successful in your career, but to having satisfaction in life.

Ultimately, your main focus in life shouldn’t be chasing money. It should be finding your purpose in life, which naturally, will bring you money if you pursue it professionally.

When you are passionate about your work, then it’s not work.

As Muse puts it in this publication:

“If the project you’re faced with isn’t viewed as drudgery, but rather as a piece of the puzzle that’s helping you along your career path, then perhaps the energy required to do it will be easier to come by.”

An excellent way of knowing your passion in life, is to reflect on what your childhood dreams were. What were you passionate about as a kid? Perhaps this is something you should focus on.

What’s the takeaway?

When you are passionate about your pursuits in life, not only will it allow you to succeed professionally, but you will benefit in other areas as well, like becoming motivated for school.

Get motivated at work by pursuing a hobby

Hobbies are not only good for engaging in creativity and filling in gaps of boredom, but they are necessary contributors to your productivity at work.

Often times, when we have burnt-out moments due to our jobs, going home and focusing on a hobby can relieve some of that stress. Hobbies allow us to feel in control, challenged, and relaxed, which help to take off the edge.

I remember times at work where I was so stressed out, that I couldn’t imagine going back the next day. Then, I went home, strummed some guitar with my band, and forgot about why I was stressed in the first place.

My activities outside work made going to work bearable.

I leveraged my hobby as a tool to prevent work fatigue. This mindset of control helps to build confidence, and it gives you motivation to analyze your situation at work to determine what needs to change.

As Tiny Buddha puts it:

“The hobby gives us a chance to open up to the world. Meet new people, see new places, learn new things, and become braver.”

When you’re inspired by your hobbies, it brightens your mood. And this brightening effect can last throughout the day, which could help motivate you to do your job.

What’s the takeaway?

If you’re feeling drained of energy, and struggling to motivate yourself at work, it’s possible that this dragging is being caused because your work has no place for your hobbies.

It doesn’t mean that if you love writing, you need to be a professional copywriter. But, it could mean that writing more at work will give you motivation for the job.

There’s something to be said about engaging in your passions and happiness in the workplace. Perhaps you aren’t uninspired by your work, you’re uninspired because you aren’t allowing your hobbies to take over your life.

Find Inspiration to work through reading

When you are lost in life, losing yourself, and voraciously seeking employment guidance to learn how to be motivated at work, reading is an excellent way to resolve your doubts.

Not only are there tons of health benefits of reading, but it can help you reach new levels of self growth and purpose. Finding motivation in work can be as easy as clicking on an article from Google.

And there are TONS of articles on the internet—about 2.5 billion published per year, according to GrowthBadger’s review of Internet Live Stats.

That number includes this article you’re reading (not that it would matter in the void of blogging!).

What that number does NOT include is books, which according to Google, in 2010, were exactly 129,864,880 published.

My point? There is a LOT of inspiration out there.

You just need to pick your potion and start reading as much as you can.

That’s one of the awesome things about the internet. There are articles out there for EVERY topic you can think of. Some people believe in the power of reading so much, that they suggest forcing employees to do it. As upstartHR puts it:

Reading should be an expected part of any employee’s performance. It could range from books that management picks for all workers to read — ones that get at the company’s core philosophies — to books that managers suggest for specific employees, with an eye toward helping make the employee better.

I personally think it would be a bit extreme to command this of employees, but it’s the idea I want you to keep in mind.

What’s the takeaway?

If you’re wondering how to get motivation at work, I strongly encourage you to read more. There are tons of articles and books published every day, made specifically, to motivate people. Your journey is a life long learning experience. Never stop reading.

Motivate work expectations through personal development

The purpose of this section is to use personal development and introspection to help you find motivation for work. Personal development is a really broad category, so for the purpose of career advice, I’d like to break it down into two categories:

1. Healthy living
2. Setting and reaching goals

I believe these categories represent a good foundation for you to build motivation from.

1. Finding motivation for the job through healthy living

One of the best things you can do for yourself is to be in good health. This includes having healthy relationships, getting good sleep, and eating a healthy, well-balanced diet, especially one that has mood-boosting qualities.

It’s hard to stay motivated if your brain is suffering from lack of vitamins and minerals. You could benefit from particular compounds known as polyphenols. They’ve been studied to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, helping to combat stress and depression.

A few foods high in polyphenols are:

• Raw honey
• Grapes (especially concord and purple grapes)
• Tea (opt in for white tea)
• Coffee
• Black raspberries (also powerful immune-system boosters)

What’s the takeaway?

Ensuring that your body is fully nourished is the best (and most instinctive) thing you can do to give you the energy required to having a productive mindset for work.

2. What does motivational mean in terms of setting goals?

I mentioned earlier that you need to have goals, otherwise, you have nothing to be motivated about. If you didn’t get a chance to check out the article I linked earlier, here it is.

In order to create the life you want, you need to have some sort of inspiration to get there. The key is perseverance. As one of my greatest inspirers once said:

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance….” – Steve Jobs

Keep at it. And when you’re done keeping at it, keep keeping at it.

If you are going to a job every day that you can’t see yourself being at long-term, you need to at least be setting goals for yourself to make change. Becoming aware of this is a huge step.

There are two types of motivation that push you to make goals: intrinsic and extrinsic.

1. Intrinsic motives occur when we seek rewards that satisfy our human desires, like happiness, love, and enjoyment.
2. Extrinsic motives are those which we seek to gain non-personal rewards, like money, popularity, and tangible assets.

It’s healthy to have a mixture of both. In a perfect world, you want to have more intrinsic motives than extrinsic.

What’s the takeaway?

If you haven’t set any goals to reward your desires in life, it could be a reason why you are having trouble finding motivation at work. The key is to make goals, persevere through the tough moments, and pursue those goals every day until you see change happen.

Job satisfaction starts and ends with mental health

Let’s face it. Some days, it’s hard to go to work. Why? Because sometimes work sucks.

• The 40-hour work week gets old. Really old.
• You’re tired of not making enough money, but unsure of how to negotiate a raise.
• You are generally unhappy, and thinking about changing careers.

We both know the list can go on. But this article is about discovering ways on how to be motivated for work, not the opposite. This brings me to my next point.

Often times, our lack of motivation is not because things are unmotivating, it’s because we are seeking ways to NOT be motivated.

We feel that there is something wrong with us—we suffer from anxiety, and so we try to find blame in life, instead of treating the deeper rooted issues with our mental health.

I want to ask you, what motivates you more regarding your job?

1. Performing well to get a pay raise?
2. Excelling to gain the respect of your peers?

What was your answer?

Studies suggest that if you answered number two, you are a highly motivated individual. Whereas, if you chose number one, there is a chance you are less motivated than an individual who favored number two.

It isn’t that seeking money is a wrong answer, because it surely is a relevant goal in life. It’s just … the true meaning of life isn’t to have money. Because money doesn’t give you purpose. It’s what you do with the money that displays meaning.

The idea is, in order to have good mental wellness, you should be focusing on things that bring you self fulfillment. What kinds of things brighten your day? And how can you bring those things into your life more often?

What’s the takeaway?

Ideally, if you can find ways to achieve your “enlightenment” without obsessing over money and things that have extrinsic value, then true motivation will arise, until it is only a step away.

Conclusion

Staying motivated at work can be tricky. It’s a balance between pursuing goals that will eventually reward your deepest desires, and having perseverance to continue overcoming obstacles while continually improving yourself.

Every year, when you set your new years resolutions, it’s a great idea to reflect on where you see yourself career-wise in the near, and far future. It’s up to you to decide what your next move will be.

Remember, everyone has a different passion and purpose in life. And when I say everyone, I mean EVEYONE. Every person born into this life has meaning. Whether you’ve discovered it or not, it’s there. And it won’t always come to you. Sometimes you have to find it.

Find it up high, or down low, in places you’re too shy, and in those you didn’t know.

Everyone has a special place and objective in our world. You’ve just got to find yours. That’s my definition of motivation. How do you define motivation?

Here’s a quick recap of the ultimate guide to finding motivation for work.

1. Motivation at work starts with good management.
2. Make sure your manager is motivating you.
3. Find motivation to work by following your passion.
4. Get motivated at work by pursuing a hobby.
5. Find inspiration to work through reading.
6. Motivation work expectations through personal development.
7. Finding motivation for the job through healthy living.
8. Motivation in terms of setting goals.
9. Job satisfaction starts and ends with mental health.

That’s all folks! Thanks for reading.

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