What motivates your work?

my main motivation for work and just about anything is I know I have to work a little and make some money to be able to sooner rather than later end up doing what I love and am passionate about. my dream of making something more than ordinary out of my life pushes me more than just about anything.

 

I take care of sick people.
They have cancer.
Sometimes you can cure them and sometimes you can't but there is always something you can do to help them.
There is nothing else in the world like that feeling.
And so I can get dragged through all sorts of daily bullshit, like meetings, insurance company crap etc. etc. but when you walk out of the exam room knowing how you just helped another human being.......well that's why you come back the next day.

 

"It's a problem of motivation, alright. Now if I work my ass off an Initech ships a few more units, I don't see another dime. So where is the motivation? Here's something else Bob, I have 8 different bosses. So that means when I make a mistake, I have 8 different people coming by to tell me about it. That is my only real motivation to not be hassled. That and the fear of losing my job. But that will only make someone work hard enough not to get fired."
-Peter from Office Space

That is just about my life story, minus Jennifer Aniston.

 

normally if i get up on time and have work waiting on me when i get to work, i can rock and roll. if i get to work and stand around i have a tendancy to loose all motovation. plus lots of coffee

 

A paycheque isn't enough to motivate me. I feel like a spoiled brat sometimes. I don't know what motivates me.

I just want to do something interesting. I like challenges and hate time sucking bureaucracy. I feel like I am spending way too much time talking about what and how we are going to do something rather than just doing it. Sick of it and not sure how to make a change.

 

In short, I really like what I do for a living, and I really like the people I work for and work with (for the most part). The satisfaction of doing my job well and earning praise for it is very rewarding. Obviously some projects are less interesting and more tedious than others, and often they'll fall to the bottom of my list in favor of other things I actually want to do; it's for this reason that I'm thankful I generally work well under pressure.

 

Great thread.

My creative side is motivated by friction and emergencies. Piss me off or bring me something to fix right now and I'll get all kinds of pumped up.

My daily grind is motivated by walking shoulder to shoulder with some of the finest human beings on the planet. I work to be as good as them.

Personal accountability through a daily tracker spreadsheet. Work tasks, gym tasks, professional development, etc. I have tasks annotated, I have alarms set, I have check marks to earn, I have larger goals to meet.

Different. I tend to shed all that organization when I'm at home on vacation so I don't get too worn out from it all. This usually means I'm a mentally disorganized mess from time to time when I'm on the couch here.

Go back to work, usually. My job is incredibly binary. Like a light switch, really.

Not a great way, heh, but peer pressure helps when I'm feeling lazy or getting in a funk. Too much ego to let someone else do better than me.

 

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I like what I do for a living. Network engineering for outsourced customers means that I'm constantly busy and that my work is infinitely variable. There's no telling what sort of dumbass issue I'll be working on next. I have a seriously short attention span and get bored easily. Constantly varying work keeps me motivated.

Skiing, motorcycles, hiking, camping, and Molly help me recharge.

 

I stay motivated when I have too much work to do. The more I get pushed my way the happier and more productive I am. then when its time to shut down, I shut it all the way down. After clocking out I will do as little as possible, then up again at 4:30 am ready to go. When my work area lags and drags waiting on parts from the machines, I will use my comp time and get the hell out. My Boss hates that and I don't understand why.

 

I had to read through to see if I'd responded to this. I thought I had.

I have several motivators for my work - money, of course being one of them.

But the magazine we publish does good for charities and fundraising efforts and also incorporates dining, travel, fashion and beauty. I enjoy bringing it all together and seeing the final product. Having a tangible product as a result of my hard work is very satisfying.

Plus I get a few perks here and there that I immensely enjoy.

 

[quote="genuinemommy, post: 228523, member: 13"

I've been thinking about this more and more recently.
Recent months have taken the wind out of my sails and I'm finding it more challenging to find that inner motivation that has kept me going in the past. I'm starting to look around for other motivation sources, but I find it more of a distraction than anything. I'm not sure what to make of it and curious if others face a similar dilemma at times.[/quote]

I've always found motivation to be a rather elusive concept. It seems to go in cycles for me where it ebbs and flows. My strategy is to try to ride the inertia when I'm feeling it, and be grateful. When I hit a slow patch, I try not to take it too personally.

I used to beat myself up over it when I wasn't productive. With some experience, I have gotten better (not perfect) at simply riding it out with faith that my inspiration will return again on its own timetable. In the meantime, I try to use the time to focus on other areas of my life and discover satisfaction in different ways... family, hobbies, posting advice to strangers on internet chat boards.

When I'm in a low spot, I try to lower my expectations for myself. I think very concretely about the things I need to accomplish, and set out reasonable work goals for myself each day. When I have completed the day's tasks, I give myself permission to spend my energies on something that interests me more. This is in contrast to more motivated periods of time, when I don't plan so much but just kind of go with the flow.

Of course, all this presupposes that your situation is otherwise acceptable. If you are simply in the wrong career, relationship, etc... simply riding out the storm wouldn't be the right call. But you didn't frame the question in such a way that pointed to anything along those lines.