As a life coach one of my goals is to help clients find and develop the best version of themselves. Most of the work is done by the client as they look deep inside themselves to find the answers they seek. My role is to provide fresh new perspectives and use my own intuition and experiences to help guide them through their specific life journey. In order to gain a valuable coaching experience one important aspect needs to be known: What is your motivation? The answers are plenty as we are motivated by numerous things that we value. They rank in importance depending where we are currently in life. The next question is usually never asked , " What is your motivation style?" Let me define the six motivation styles first and then we can explore a few of them.
The six motivation styles are:
* Intrinsic Motivation: doing
something for the love of the activity, or for the internal satisfaction you get from doing
it, rather than looking for or expecting an external reward in return.
* Conditional Motivation: doing something for the sake of the reward at
the end of the task.
* Proactive Motivation: being motivated in advance based on a positive vision of what
you are working toward.
* Reactive Motivation: being motivated due to a deadline that needs to be met and you need to get going.
* Self-Motivation: is being motivated for the sake of self.
* Empathetic Motivation: is being
motivated for the sake of others.
All of these styles are used throughout our lives as we develop and grow into adulthood. The motivation to complete tasks, graduate high school, complete college, gain worthy employment, start a business, start families, do what we love, will differ from person to person. Many people were programmed since they were children to go a specific path and others had the option to pick and choose their own. Either way they had to find their specific motivation to achieve their goals.
So now that hopefully you have a better understanding of the six styles lets look at a few that I help my clients explore deeper during coaching sessions. People seem to be struggling with motivation in their 9 to 5 jobs. Some of these jobs are well paid but often can be redundant and can make some feel like they are at a "dead end", The love and passion for the job and the duties involved have lost their initial luster. In this situation the person feels stuck and they are no longer enjoying work. They might even be contemplating a career move and even quitting the job they have. The bombardment of social media is not helping either. There are many influencers telling them how to get rich quick and how to make so much money that they can leave their jobs and live their best lives. While this may be true there is a lot more that goes into it and maybe it's not as simple as it seems. Let's use this example to explore intrinsic motivation versus conditional motivation.
If you are stuck in the 9 to 5 job then most of your motivation is conditional by nature. You are motivated to show up to work, complete your job duties, and then go home after 8 hours on the condition that you get a paycheck at the end of the week. You are excited and relieved to leave the office or punch out and get as far away from that place (trust me been there done that). In the morning you are motivated to go back to that place because you know that you have bills to pay, a family to feed, and many other obligations. You are doing what you need to and you understand the entirety as one big transaction. You work and you expect to get compensated. Simple enough.
Now in this same example what opportunities do you have to mix in a little bit of intrinsic motivation? I challenge my clients to explore the possibility of enjoying the work they are currently doing. This may be hard to digest at first but in the current 9 to 5, I believe that not all is terrible or lost. If you have been employed by the same company for any extended period over 5 years there could be something that you enjoyed from the onset. The type of work you do might have been exciting at one point. The people you work with are usually your second family away from home. The challenge here is to find the things you actually enjoy about what you do. What other tasks or duties can you seek that will reignite the fire inside to make a difference and to help you keep developing even further? Have you tried your best to improve your skills, to continue your education, to seek promotions? Are there any programs within the company that help the community? What other special skills and qualities do you have that can benefit your employer in other areas? If you are already going to be there from 9 to 5, would it not be better served if you enjoyed part of it?
My challenge to you is the next time you head into work or you are about to do a task you grudgingly dread try to become curious about even 2% joy you may be experiencing while doing that task. What small element of the task do you find enjoyable? The small things are the ones that stand out. The attention to detail and how all of those small things affect the bigger picture, What part of the process that you control affects the end product and total customer experience or satisfaction? Always know that what you do matters and who you are is important.
My hope is that you find your specific motivation style that fits your current needs and that it helps you to develop your personal plan for success. If you would like more information about my work please contact me through my website: https://vidarealcoaching.com/
Love Your Journey...
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