Motivation-Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore?

Human beings are pre-wired to be motivated. Think about it. Something gets us up every morning. Whether it’s the need for coffee or breakfast or the desire to go to work so we can pay the bills we’re motivated to satisfy those needs.

When it comes to work, some people just seem to be naturally more self-motivated than others. And every one of us can recall a time when we felt less motivated about our current situations. The work project we don’t want to do, the laundry piling up at home, there are plenty of things in real life that act as de-motivators. On the other hand, when we’re excited about what we’re doing, we reap the rewards.

Job performance= ability X motivation

So how do we, as professionals, respond when we are feeling less than motivated? After all, how can I inspire students to achieve if I’m not enthusiastic about being at work myself? Just as with students, there is no one size fits all solution to discovering ways to motivate ourselves. There is a motivation cycle that looks like this:

Basically it means that our motivation leads to increased job satisfaction which leads to increased productivity and therefore increases motivation. But remove one of the links and the cycle falls apart. You can’t be productive if you aren’t motivated but lower productivity decreases motivation. We can start by remembering what brought us into this work in the first place? Did you want to make a difference? Enjoy college? Delight in working with college students? Or was it just a job? Think about a time when you were excited to come to work in the mornings. What was it about that time that made it enjoyable? How can you get that back? It’s important to understand the sources of your motivation so you can use them to dig yourself out of a slump.

It’s also important to spend some time looking at what decreases our motivation. College students can be a frustrating group. They are adults, smart and competent, but in so many ways they can still be very immature. Listen to your own self-talk. Are you struggling because you feel unappreciated? Like you aren’t making a difference? Overwhelmed with the workload? And what will improve these feelings?

I am a quote queen. I have been collecting motivational quotes since I was very young and have several volumes full of statements that inspire, motivate, and move me. I love reading inspirational books and going to conferences with speakers. When I'm working I surround myself with motivational objects-quotes, pictures, plants, stuffed animals,-whatever will make me feel good when I look at it.These things energize me and help me regain focus when my motivation dwindles. What works for you and how can you incorporate them into your work life?

I've got another story for you:

The last day of classes before Spring Break in 2008 was rough, and I was feeling severely unmotivated. I had the job of my dreams, providing support services to students with learning disabilities who were attending college, but I was unhappy. I finally had a chance to make a difference for a group of students who were grossly underrepresented in higher education, but I didn't feel like I was reaching them. I was sitting at my desk that cold rainy morning trying to beef up my lesson for the day when I got an email video from my sister.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, the speaker was Randy Pausch, a computer science professor from Carnegie Melon who had given a talk at the university called “The Last Lecture.” He had recently been diagnosed with inoperable cancer and was dying. His speech was really aimed at leaving something for his children, but it had become an internet sensation. He was even invited to be on Oprah giving the scaled down version in my email inbox. My sister simply wrote "Watch this when you have 10 minutes. Very inspirational." I was in the mood to be inspired, so I watched. And I cried. And then I scrapped my entire lesson and brought the video into class. I can’t say that all of them reacted the way I hoped, but I know it touched a few. That day I realized that I cannot reach every student, but I also can’t give up on them. Four years later I still watch this video whenever I'm feeling discouraged or need a little inspiration. I hope it helps you as well.

I hope that this might inspire you the way it has for me. And if it does, take some time to watch the original lecture. The full version is available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7zzQpvoYcQ