What Motivates You?

Keyzer

I was reading a book about motivation last night and it got me thinking about what motivates me, and I found myself at a loss as to what motivates me.
At the moment I'm stuck in a rut (well kind of) workwise and would love to progress my career and get some more IT certifications under my belt, but when I sit down to actually do anything, workwise or study wise, I last about 5 minutes before I get bored and end up doing something else.

What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?
What drives you on?
What motivates you to be the best?

bonzai bob

Pay day.

Keyzer

bonzai bob wrote:

Pay day.

Its got to be more than money, sure payday is cool and money is essential, but there has to be more to it than that.

Lump

I enjoy what I'm doing.

John

bonzai bob

before all i had was work, when i got home i had nothing to do and it got pretty monotonous and depressing after a while, but now i have a past time that i can focus my attention on, so work is just to pay for my past time, where as before i was just working for no reason.

Keyzer

Lump - What do you do for a living if you don't mind me asking?

Bonzai - What your pastime?

bonzai bob

Music. In saying that though, i still hate my job and would rather be poor. But everyone needs money for something, but music makes it easier. I'm sitting in work now but it's easier knowing that i'll be rehearsing tonight, but it'll suck in the morning again. It's a vicious circle:)

Keyzer

bonzai bob wrote:

Music. In saying that though, i still hate my job and would rather be poor. But everyone needs money for something, but music makes it easier. I'm sitting in work now but it's easier knowing that i'll be rehearsing tonight, but it'll suck in the morning again. It's a vicious circle:)

Shouldn't your job, the place you spend 8 hours a day be more satisfying for us?

whiskeyman

yeah, a pastime / hobby is a great motivator... especially when work sucks.
You're looking forward to 5pm (or whenever you finish) so you can get out and enjoy yourself.
It'd be annoying if you look forward to finishing work, only to go home and waste the evening in front of the TV day in day out.... (sure, a good TV binge is good, but not all the time!).
Perhaps joining a sports club and keep up training / work on improving your game, and meeting new people.
I also go to loads of concerts / sports events... it's great knowing you have tickets to a gig during the week.
Of course, payday is a great motivator too, especially when saving for something to make your life more enjoyable (holiday / car etc...) .
The ultimate motivator would be to get enjoyment from your job. Not many people are in this lucky position. I still try to enjoy my work as much as I can, more by enjoying the company of the people I work with, but the job itself sucks and the pay is pretty bad. It could be worse though I guess, and
thinking my job sucks is motivation for me to work damn hard and try to get promoted / get a new job.

RicardoSmith

Interesting thread.

I used to work in graphics which I enjoyed because I didn't think you could make enough money at it in the long run. Too many design places and graphic design jobs are sweat/slave shops. Maybe I just wasn't good enough or dedicated at it though. I'm now in IT (programming) which definately pays more, and I enjoy some/even most of the time, but the constant learning is a slog. I still think theres something else out there that would suit me better. But these days you have to consider where its leading you. You also get bored in any job. I was contracting for a while and really liked the variety of new places, people and work. But I didn't find the money great especially working through agencies.

I'd like to try running my own business in the future. But what business?

I have to say once I'm interested in something, even if its at work I completely lose track of time. If I'm clock watching I know theres a problem.

bonzai bob

Keyzer wrote:

Shouldn't your job, the place you spend 8 hours a day be more satisfying for us?

In a perfect world yeah, but hopefully my pastime will be my job some day.

Keyzer

I would like to start my own business in the future. Its always been an ambition of mine, whether I do or not is a different story. Whether I am motivated enough to actually do it is what worries me. I suppose I would like to start my own company for personal satisfaction and achievement and also to earn more money.

I am worried that I am just wasting my own time at the moment.
I don't have a lot to do in my job so I'm pretty bored most of the time.
I don't know, maybe I'm at the age when I'm worrying about where I'm going to be in 20 years and what I'll be doing. I am planning to go to Oz, and would also like to live in the US at some stage, but thats short term.
Long term is whats worrying me.

RicardoSmith

Nothing to stop you starting planning a small business while you are in another job. Even test the water see if its viable by trying to run it in your free time.

bonzai bob

My brother started off doing fas courses in web design etc years ago. He pretty much learned EVERYTHING to do with computers and now has his own business, it's still in the early stages but it's going well, he's done sites for companies all over the world from Jamaica to Germany, last week he moved to the south of Spain where he'll be working on 3 more online based businesses that are to go public later in the year.

He has some good ideas and if it works out(i'd bet money that they will) then he should end up fairly well off, all this started from a fas course. Go figure.

Lump

Keyzer wrote:

Lump - What do you do for a living if you don't mind me asking?

I work in the BBC as a post production assistant, on the way to being an editor. Wanted to do that job in that location for years.

John

PhoenixRising

I think that enjoying your job is the key. If you enjoy your job, and don't mind going to work each day, you'll find it easier to motivate yourself. It sounds obvious, but you should be doing something you know you are good at, and something which you have a natural talent or ability for, and which you can get a certain amount of job satisfaction from. Luckily I've ended up doing something which I have always wanted to do. It's never too late to make a career change for something else.

Tom Dunne

PhoenixRising wrote:

I think that enjoying your job is the key. If you enjoy your job, and don't mind going to work each day, you'll find it easier to motivate yourself

Couldn't agree more. What motivates me? That light at the end of the tunnel. I am working in a crappy job with ok money, but I have a planning for the past 4-5 years for a job which will pay above average and will be something that I know I will thoroughly enjoy.

I have applied for three different positions in this field, the thought that one will come to fruition is keeping me motivated.

WhiteWashMan

i think the thing that motivates most people is recognition.

i think enjoyment of a job, is one thing, but what actually motivates you to get going, has to be more than just enjoyment.
usually its a sense of achievement for yourself and the sense of acomplishment and the recognition of your peers.

money is obviously going to be a big factor, and i think the more you get better at your job, the more important it becomes. for sales people, it should be the most important thing.

for me personlly, its about being good at my job, whtever it is. its about being comfortable and confident. im not interested in money over and above what i need to have a comfortable life. i am very interested in having the president of my company tell me im doing a great job, i am interested in having my direct boss tell me im doing a great job and praising me, and most importantly, im interested in my clients telling me im doing a great job, and ordering from me again!

nesf

From Calvin and Hobbes, and in my sig:

"The secret to enjoying your job is to have a hobby which is much worse"


Motivation is a very important factor delienating certain types of worker (horrible generalisations are going to follow )

A sliding scale of motivation, starting at the top.

We have firstly people who love their job. They like spending their day doing it and are happy with the wage/salary they earn. These people vary from simple folk who enjoy a day's hard labour and pint in the pub afterwards, to highly creative people whose creative work is the focus of their life. It also contains those very strange people who get pervese pleasure from chartered accountancy. These are the very lucky few.

Next we have people who love their job but who earn far less than they wish. Professional writers are the most common example of this. On one hand they are doing what they want to do, and this is good. On the other hand they can't lead the kind of life they want because of the financial restrictions imposed by their job. These people are torn because on one hand they are very happy, but on the other they aren't. Personally I think that job satisfaction is more important than monetary compensation, but thats just me.

Then we have the people who don't care about their work but who love their salary or career path. For these people the 40+ hour week is well worth it for the life they can afford to lead outside of work. These people can tend to overvalue the importance of their salary, but generally these people are happy with their lot. They don't mind the daily slog because they feel they are more than adequitely compensated for it.

Then we have the people who just don't care. Nothing negative, nothing positive. These people work because they need to feed themselves somehow, but they really don't care about the job they are doing or the money that they are making. Ambition is foreign to these people, but at the same time they are better suited than most to take on the vast majority of jobs which really aren't challenging or well paid. This kind of worker doesn't really have a career plan or work goal to work with. But this in their opinion is a good thing, because one shouldn't care about one's job. It's just a means to an end after all, and it's necessary part of life, so live with it.

Then there are the people trapped in a rut. Not necessarily in a bad job, but they are going nowhere and this bothers them. This group consists both of people who have met a career deadend and are considering switching to something with more upwards mobility, and it contains people who lack the ambition or skills to really make it in their line of work and are bitter about it. If you've worked in the trenches of sales you see alot of the latter, guys who have spent the past 20 years as a door to door salesman who never made it up the chain. They aren't bad at their jobs, but alot of the time they can almost seem to like the bitterness, or don't feel like they deserve better. This group also contains people who are coming to an end of a career hiatus, where they have spent a few years in a comfortable enough position within a company, but now they are ready to get back on the ladder and start climbing again.

Finally there are people who hate their jobs. The money side of things can be a factor here but not always. Some people are bitter and resentful about their line of work and are very cynical about it. Having this kind of attitude isn't going to earn you many promotions so these people tend to be left where they are, until they either quit, retire or lose it and go postal. Granted there are times when people hate their job for good reason (I hated working in door to door sales, and in telesales, i felt like i was selling my concience by doing them!), some people have ethical quibbles with their work, some just really find it insulting or demeaning. Usually people like this are in a job of last resort, or who are just afraid to go against the status quo and look for new work.


I suppose what I'm trying to say is that finding your motivation within your job is quite a rare thing. Usually your motivation comes from either a) the money you earn, b) the wish to support a family or loved one or c) from a fear of unemployment.

The unemployed are stigmatised in this country, and most of the developed world. A lot of people will put up with a ****ty job just because it's better than to be seen drawing the dole, even when this job causes them to suffer abuse constantly.

Our man in Havana

Personally for me its the fact that I enjoy my work and I get recongnition for it. The money aint great but its the satasfaction that I am making a difference is wht keeps me happy.

RicardoSmith

Bond-007 wrote:

Personally for me its the fact that I enjoy my work and I get recongnition for it. The money aint great but its the satasfaction that I am making a difference is wht keeps me happy.

What on earth do you do?

Our man in Havana

RicardoSmith wrote:

What on earth do you do?

I work in internet security. I monitor websites and I take action against the dodgy ones and their owners. Its a great feeling when a particulary nasty one is closed down.

RicardoSmith

Just curious. How do you know you are making a difference? Do you close more than are appearing? How do you get recognition? Are there metrics?