What motivates you to get your work done? Is it the money you’ll earn? The recognition? Some internal satisfaction? It could also be your need for control or simple stubbornness.
Motivation can sometimes be reduced down to what’s called the “intention-behavior gap”. That would be that space or time between when you decide to do something and when you actually get it done.
So, what moves you to close that gap? And how do you do it?
According to some scientists, that motivation can stem from basic things such as pleasure, comfort, excitement, or even hunger. Or it could be something more abstract like purpose or that need for control.
So how do you close the gap? It depends on what sort of person you are.
According to Gretchen Rubin, creator of The Four Tendencies, how you close the gap depends on your tendency:
Upholders respond well to both inner and out expectations (you’ll do what it is you want to do either because you’ve decided to or because it’s expected of you by others)
Questioners who respond well to inner expectations but question and frequently resist outer expectations (you’ll do something only because you have decided to do it not because someone else has told you do so)
Obligers who will do anything for anyone but themselves (you will only do something because someone is expecting you to do it)
Rebels who won’t do anything for anyone including themselves (just forget it, it’s not getting done, or if it really needs to get done, you’ve got to somehow trick yourself into doing it)
Curious as to which Tendency you fall into? Take this quiz to find out: https://quiz.gretchenrubin.com/
So, once you figure out what sort of tendencies you have (and, yes, you can have more than one), you’ll know what you need to do to close that intention-behavior gap—whether you need to simply set your mind to doing it (perhaps you’re a questioner or an upholder) or if you need someone else to expect you do it (you’re probably an obliger).
No matter what your personality type is, there are definite ways you help yourself get things done.
- Make a plan
- Break each piece up into a small manageable task
- Figure out if you need some sort of external motivation
- This can be either a reward (if I get this done, I’ll go out for an expensive coffee) or
- working in a social setting (some people work better when surrounded by other people who are also working) or
- perhaps you simply need to tell someone of your plan (double points if you ask them to check back with you to see if you’ve done it).
- Decide when you are going to do the task and possibly even set a deadline (a reasonable one!).
- Measure how far you’ve come and as you get closer to accomplishing your goal, look at how far you’ve left to go till your goal is accomplished.
Another thing that a well self-motivated person has is tenacity.
When things don’t necessarily go according to your plan, are you simply going to give up? If you fail, what will you do then?
A tenacious person will rework the plan or try again, perhaps adapting the plan so that, hopefully, it won’t fail again. A truly tenacious or stubborn person will keep doing this again and again. Some might consider this a form of resilience—that ability to bounce back after failure—and indeed that helps. Or perhaps you are an optimist who believes that you can truly do this. Sheer optimism could help you you get past those difficult times when it seems as if you’ll never succeed.
Commitment to your goal is also essential. Just how badly do you want to do this? If you only want to sort of get it done, it’s less likely that you’re going succeed. But if your livelihood, health, or self-worth are hinging on you getting this thing done, it’s much more likely that you’re going succeed. Dedication to your goal will make you more focused and determined to succeed.
I also should point out that motivation is a lot easier if you’ve got a bit of an obsessive personality. They run in my family—thankfully, not to an extreme. But I see it in my siblings and my children—we get into things (religion, a particular diet, a hobby) and simply stay there for an extended period of time, sometimes years.
It’s a need for control and it goes hand in hand with extreme focus.
We tend to work a lot—some might even say too much. It’s part of the same tendency. Either our work has to be perfect or it must be completed before we can stop. And it’s really hard for us to stop doing something in the middle—I’d say nearly impossible. We are ultra-organized with calendars, to-do lists, spreadsheets, etc. And not only that, but we follow them as if something horrendous would happen if we didn’t.
When we finish a task we feel good. If we leave something undone, we simply can’t stand it. And so it’s essential that we break up a large task into smaller pieces so that we can finish that piece and be able to set aside the larger task to finish later.
This excessiveness, this obsessiveness, is both a blessing and a curse.
Our loved ones have to be patient when they interrupt us because we’re just not going to stop what we’re doing unless absolutely forced to do so. They need to warn us in advance so that we can plan on stopping even if the task we’re working on isn’t finished. Or if we’re suddenly interrupted, they have to realize that they’re probably not going to get our full attention because our minds are still on that task that we were interrupted from.
On the other hand, that means we get a lot done and are extremely persistent. My husband is constantly marveling at my self-motivation. Yes, I am self-motivated, but it’s because I’m obsessive. I decide I’m going to do something and so I will—and I will keep trying to do it until I am utterly and thoroughly convinced that it simply is impossible. Failure doesn’t stop me—in fact, sometime it just makes me even more persistent and determined.
Sometimes I question whether it’s self-motivation or obsession that keeps me working and finishing things. Whichever it is, it works and I’m going to be grateful for it. (Gratitude is another thing that can really help with your motivation.)
So, what motivates you? How do you keep going when either times or a project gets hard?