how do you stay motivated in your job?

I agree with a lot f what everyone has said. To stay motivated you need to be truly passionate about what you do, and for me, I stay motivated at my job by understanding the impact I'm having on the people I work with and how that's impacting the company I work for.

Sometimes it's harder to stay motivated especially in school when you have to learn specific things that you don't necessarily want to, or that you think "why do I need to learn this if I will never use it?" Honestly, what got me through that was setting small goals for myself and then rewarding myself when I did great on a test or a paper. I also needed to constantly step back and look at the larger picture. I was not a person that loved school and for me, staying motivated while in school was extremely challenging. But I always looked at the bigger picture and asked myself questions like why am I doing this, what opportunities come from getting a HS diploma or even a college degree? And once I drilled into the fact that I needed an education to open up endless opportunities for myself, that kept me motivated. I also volunteered a lot throughout school and saw the impact that having no education can have on someone, that kept me motivated as well.

I also had mentors all throughout school and even still do to this day. Find that one person who helps to guide you through life when it comes to making difficult decisions, supporting you through something hard, or celebrating with you when you do something great. Sometimes, the perspective that an outsider can bring to your situation, can help you immensely.

When you love what you are doing, you'll stay motivated because you enjoy doing it so much. Think about what you enjoy learning about the most, what you enjoy doing in your spare time, what careers you find interesting. Then learn as much as you can on the Internet about that career. Try out volunteer programs or work after-school in the setting you like. When you are focused on what you like, the motivation and next steps will be clear.

I am a small business owner, so I've got to keep myself motivated at all times. To do this, I usually try to set BIG attractive goals for myself on a yearly, monthly, and weekly basis. Then I put the goals onto a calendar for myself and I hold myself accountable to achieving them. My goals could be things like learn how to speak Chinese (an annual goal), test a new variant on my core product (month goal), or read some new book I heard about (week goal).

Once I set my goals, then the big challenge is to stay on task. Don't let TV, games, or even sleep get in the way. Showing up to things on time and avoiding distractions that could get in the way of my goals are good habits, and it takes time to develop these habits. To make it easier for myself, I keep a personal calendar which I use to keep track of my time. If I know that I have to read a book this week, I pre-schedule in the time I'm going to be reading that book. (If I don't have time to read the book, it's impossible to read it!) If I know that this year I'm going to learn Chinese, then I establish a routine for studying and put it into my calendar. If you decide to try this out, take this suggestion: the rule is that once you put something on your calendar, you can MOVE it, but you can't REMOVE it. That means if something comes up and you can't do your daily Chinese lesson, then you can move it to the next day, but you have to do BOTH the next day. That takes discipline.

To stay motivated, stay focused on what success means for you.

Then watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsSC2vx7zFQ

The key to staying motivated in your job is to love what you do for work. Also you need to have respect for yourself and the people you work. If you respect these people you will not want to let them down and you will keep performing at a high and consistent level.

The best way to stay motivated is to be passionate about what you do. If you're passionate, you'll have a laser focus that can't be distracted by video games, TV, and other activities. You'll find yourself absorbed with your work, the people you work with, and the overall meaning/impact of your job. Be passionate, ambitious, stay hungry for success, and motivation will come your way.

Andrew

Keep setting short team and long term goals. I feel short term goals give you positive energy once you achieve you will get motivated to do further. What if you fail, don't worry there are lot to pass by. Look at why you have missed to achieve and take time to analyze what can improve better. Once you have above systematic approach you will achieve your long term goal.

Hello!

I'd say the best way to stay motivated at your job is to either have one of the following or ideally, a combination of both:

1) loving the work that you're doing
2) loving the mission/value of the company where you're working at

To stay motivated in your job, it's key to find a job you enjoy and key to really appreciate what you're doing. You should feel a passion for your company, what you do, and how you think it affects the world. For example, if you are truly passionate about building games to connect the world, you'll be motivated to continue doing such a thing. My personal example here is I stay motivated in recruiting for a company I believe in. LinkedIn is a company taking it a step at a time to try and create more economic opportunity for the global workforce. So when I help recruit for those passionate people to join our company, I keep in mind, I am helping hire the most talented individuals to help us on our mission. You'll be motivated in your job if you see that what you're doing is important to you and you have a strong personal feel towards it.

Enjoying what you do/feeling passionate about it is probably the most important thing.

What can help is setting small goals along the way, while keeping the big picture in mind, and working toward achieving them. That can give one a lot of satisfaction.

It is important to have a set of strong values. For some, especially younger students and younger professionals, the values are a work in progress. Values can be thought of as a personal moral compass: it sets direction for who you are. Once these are identified, most of your activities (including, but not limited to your full-time job) and relationships should be built to help support your values. During this journey (i.e. finding activities/relationships that support your values) you develop a drive to work towards, and that is motivation. Hope that helps!

Enjoying what you do helps keep you motivated but when you need to do some less-enjoyable task or job, staying engaged with your hobbies and learning helps a lot.

All great advice, here are a couple other ideas. Don't think in terms of that big huge project you have to do, try to think in terms of stepping stones. Like when you're running a long race don't think about the long race, focus on getting to that tree way up ahead. When you accomplish your goal, reward yourself and give yourself praise. Lots of people forget to do that. Then on to the next challenge.

Being willing to ask for help is a HUGE positive step by the way! :-)

Hello there Ravi, Motivation is something that develops throughout life. Find things that make you happy and that you enjoy doing in general. Also find a company to work for that you truly believe in. For example, I love to meet people and I love to talk. I have been blessed with the opportunity to be a Recruiter for LinkedIn where I meet wonderful intelligent people every day and it is my job to talk to them! LinkedIn's culture is filled with working hard, having fun, and helping others. I have no other choice but to be motivated. : )) Best of luck to you!!

I stay motivated because I love what I do. Find something you are really passionate about and do it. The way to do this is to try many different things, and see how you like them. If you don't love what you do, you should do something else.

Hello! I asked that same exact question during my high school and college times. I listed a few things that helped me:

1. Finding what excited me. For example, Sports, cars, seeing other people happy, technology, desserts...the list goes one


2. Finding how I can contribute and share what makes me happy and excited. For example, the company I work for helps everyone with their carrier, which then can contribute to empowering everyone to be successful in their career, while eating dessert!


3. Setting target dates. Trying my best to reach a goal is always fulfilling and satisfying for the soul

To be motivated, you need a goal. Think and list of short term goals. Determine how you want to achieve it and then execution. This has been keeping me on track and allow me to juggle a little more task at the same time.

Hope this helps

Don't worry that it's hard for you to stay motivated. Motivation doesn't just come from your job, or finding some dream job. It's a whole-life thing... Work-life balance, hobbies/interests, down time, friends, art/music, and whatever inspires you personally - it all factors into it. Not every job you have will inspire you in these other parts of your life, but if you are fulfilled in areas other than your job, it will definitely motivate you to do well at work. Make sense? Best of luck, Aaron

How I stay motivated:

Have a big picture of where you want to go in your career, then understand how your job is helping you to get there.
Establish a good relationship with your co-workers and clients.
Make friends at work.
Lastly, listen to motivational speech, I really enjoy speeches from Will Smith.

To remain focused I got into a role where everyday is different for me. In my role I have to help people figure out solutions to their problems and everyday is a different problem. I'm also fortunate enough that this role allows me to learn more as I try to help more and more people.

The best way to stay motivated is find what you really love to do in life, pursue this with courage and you will always be motivated.

You can stay motivated in your job if you enjoy what you are doing. If you continuously explore and keep learning something new on your job everyday your motivation will stay up and you will have good focus.

Hello,

Staying Motivated at work is something many people struggle with everyday. I would first say that you must work for a company that you believe in and specifically believe in the product. Set goals for yourself each day and hold yourself accountable, by settings goals you will stay motivated to reach them. This holds true not just in work but in your own life.

Notice a pattern in the answers here? ;-)

One of the last things I go over with candidates I'm interviewing is a challenge to them: Evaluate the role, the team, the company and themselves in a brutally honest way. If they can say with 100% (or near that) certainty that it's the right fit, they'll have more fun than they can ever imagine. If they are kidding themselves or not realistic, it will be the most miserable experience of their lives possibly.

Find what you love to do, find a place where you can do it with joy and then go do it. You won't need more than that for motivation.

Good luck!

I agree with everyone else that you need to follow your passion and work in an area you truly enjoy. On a more detailed level: That does not mean that you will enjoy every little task you have to perform. If you feel un-motivated try to break larger tasks into small pieces and set yourself a "reward" at the end. (Reward can be anything from taking a walk, watching your favorite TV show or a trip).