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One of the qualities that you would see all the employers seek in an employee is
“high self motivation” / “go – getter”. These are the employees who have a
strong will power to keep them going and committed to the task they have taken
up. These employees are usually easy to manage and possess a high power to work
independently. They are an asset for their manager.
You would often see that employees with low level of motivation need more spoon
feeding by the manager. Their anxiety and frustration level is usually high.
They aren’t very productive and creative & possess a low self – esteem.
While the employees who possess a high level of motivation are:
- Optimistic
- Confident
- Enthusiastic
- Strong will powered with an ability to bounce back and finish what they have
at hand.
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Where does motivation come from?
There can be various sources of motivation in a person’s life, like:
1. Self
2. Family and social circle
3. Environment
4. Someone whom you look up on to
Self
Out of all these sources of motivation, the strongest one is “self”. All other
factors may vanish but if you possess a strong will power and positive
thinking, your motivation level will definitely bounce back even if it has
taken a dip for the time being.
Tips to become a positive thinker:
Here are some tips to increase your ability to think positively:
1. Say/ Read motivational statements to yourself
2. Observe your thoughts and deal with inertia
3. Enter into constructive self criticism
4. Set challenging but achievable goals
5. Imagine success
Say/ Read motivational statements to yourself
Our mind has a tendency to believe what is told to it again and again. Give it
positive and motivating thoughts as food to chew. When you sit on your desk to
work, say a positive statement to yourself.
For e.g. “It’s a brilliant day. I am going to finish all that is required to be
done.” OR
“The new project really needs some creative thinking. I have accomplished so
many projects in the past. I’ll successfully finish this one too.”
Keep some cards at hand and write your strongest positive thought of the day on
it and stick it on your desk where you can see and read it again and again.
You can even pick up the motivational quotes of other successful people and
read them. Slowly your mind will start believing them and considering them its
own.
Observe your thoughts and deal with inertia
Many a times, we avoid doing things which we know we have to do but we do not
like. Our level of motivation to do them is very low. To deal with such tasks,
set aside a reasonable (but not too long) amount of time and decide what you
want to accomplish during this period. Stay focussed and you will see that you
have easily finished the task which you were putting off since long.
For e.g. If you do not feel motivated to write the short weekly report you are
required to submit, notify yourself that I avoid doing this job. Now, set aside
some time on a fixed day and tell yourself that at the end of these 2 hours my
report will be ready. You will start to see that you are doing it more
regularly now.
And, this regularity will further add to your motivation.
Enter into constructive self criticism
Negative criticism sabotages your motivation and confidence. The only way to
motivate yourself in such a situation is to criticise yourself constructively.
For e.g. If you are unhappy with the project report, look at it again and ask
yourself, where is it lagging and how can you improve it. Rather than thinking
that it is useless, see which are the good points covered by you and then tell
yourself, it has the right facts and figures to let the management make a
decision. The explanation part is not that effective but I can improve it by
adding following 5 points.” You will see yourself writing a much effective
report than you had expected.
Set challenging but achievable goals
Goals provide us a sense of direction and build up our level of motivation.
When you are not able to see your destination clearly, you don’t know what you
are trying to achieve and how much effort does it require. Ultimately you loose
the vigour.
So, set some challenging but achievable goals. The goals which are very easy to
achieve do not add fuel to motivation. It is the challenge in achieving those
goals which acts as a real motivator.
The goals which are extremely difficult or impossible to achieve also act as
de- motivators.
While working towards your goals keep reviewing what you have already achieved.
This review not only keeps you on the track but also increases your level of
motivation further to achieve the rest.
Imagine Success
Imagining success is a big morale booster. It helps you anticipate the problems
you may face while trying to achieve your goals and prepare yourself to deal
with them. The physiological changes you experience during this imagination act
as relaxants and increase your level of confidence.
When you imagine yourself being successful in a situation, you fear factor
drops down and you perform with more vigour.
Family and Social Circle
At some point of time in life, we all face a crunch of motivation. The level of
motivation goes so down that it becomes difficult to get out of it on your own.
This is when your help lines come to rescue. These help lines are your morale
boosters in the form of your family, friends or colleagues.
Before you are faced with an emotional crisis, you should know, who these help
lines in your life are. The qualities you would want to look for in these
people are:
- Trustworthiness
- Suitability to the situation
- Availability at the right time
When you are emotionally low is the time when you can be misused the most.
Opening up in front of someone trustworthy will make sure that your emotions
are not misused and you are not blackmailed later on.
Suitability ensures that the person is able to understand your perspective and
can offer the solution to your problem. Discussing the problem about a project
at work with your mum may not be that helpful because, she may not have the
right solution to the problem which a colleague might have. So, you have to
identify a suitable person.
Availability is the largest of three factors that you would bank up on. Someone
who is trustworthy and suitable but not available can not help you much.
So, you need to look up on the people in your family and social circle and
gauge them on these parameters while you prepare your safety net.
While expecting that they are able to offer you a constructive solution, you
have to ensure that you tell them everything as it had happened. Putting your
feelings into words also ensures that they are vented out and you feel light.
Ensure that you reciprocate the kindness of your family and social circle &
you are available to them in their time of need or otherwise. They should not
feel used.
Environment
Although you can’t change the physical atmosphere of your work place much yet
you can make some changes to your work environment and make it more positive.
You will notice that smallest of things like the ones mentioned below make big
difference to your morale:
1. Keep the desk clean and well arranged
2. Surround yourself with motivating objects, picture, quotes
3. Let the natural factors like air and light be supportive
4. Avoid disturbing sounds and bad odour
You might also notice that while the presence of these factors might not boost
your motivation much but their absence will definitely scale it down.
Someone whom you may look up on to
There may be some people living or dead whose life story can be a motivator for
you. You may or may not know these people personally. Thinking about these
people in times of distress and how they dealt with their problems can be a big
morale booster for you.
Practising these small and easy things at work everyday will help in increasing
your motivation level and turning you into an asset to your
manager.
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