Finding Your Personal Motivation

Every person finds motivation to get the work that needs doing done in their own way, so when it comes to business there is no one size fits all answer that works every time for everyone. What does tend to work, though, is a formula that can help you discover what type of motivation works best for you, when you need to complete tasks and keep your business growing. Try answering these questions to find out how you can help yourself stay motivated when working.

1.) What Is It That You Find Valuable About What You Are Doing?

In other words, when you look at the type of business you do, what makes it worthwhile to you? A lot of us will look for a happy, semi-spiritual answer here, and if that is your motivation, good for you. For others, though, there is nothing wrong with the motivation that cold hard cash provides. While you are considering this question, you should also think about what parts of the business tend to bring you down. You will need your motivating factors in place the most when you are trying to complete these tasks.

2.) What’s Your Preferred Order Of Business?

Some of us like to tackle things best to worst; doing what comes easily means that we can get fired up and sometimes burn right through the harder, less pleasant tasks. On the other hand, those unpleasant tasks are always just hanging around and waiting to get done, and may prevent you from starting anything at all until they are out of the way. Determine if you are a best to worst or worst to best person, and then coordinate your tasks accordingly.

3.) Who Is Your Competition?

Some of us work best when we are just competing against ourselves; these people want to improve on their own performances and get ahead by doing so. For other people, head to head competition is the key motivator; they need to have an idea of how other people in their field are doing in order to keep motivated. In other words, winning is the key. Either category works well for motivation because you can always do better than you already have, and there will always be a bigger fish in the sea.

4.) What Type Of Feedback Do You Require?

Do negative comments spur you on to better yourself, or do you flower with praise? If the first, then try to determine where you could do better on any completed task. If the second, don’t be afraid to compliment and reward yourself for jobs well done!

5.) What’s Your DF?

DF stands for deadline factor. There are people who simply cannot operate until something is absolutely due, and those who love the freedom that comes with an early completion. Knowing which type you are will not only help you stay motivated, but will also save your sanity.

6.) Consequences Or Rewards?

Some of us work best if we know that by doing a good job, we can avoid consequences. For others, the completion of a task may be accomplished through the promise of a reward. When it comes to your own business, it’s going to be you who determines the reward, so if you are a reward person, make sure to have something in place once you get that task accomplished.

Remember, a lot of the motivational factors are determined by personality types, and it may be that there are some areas you would like to work on in your own life that will change your motivating factors. It is best to start out with what you are familiar, though, and if over time you find that this changes, then you can determine a new path as far as motivational tools are concerned.