How to Get Motivated to Work Hard

Photo by Sarah Cervantes on Unsplash

Try an Organic Approach

When I see a question such as . . .

How do you motivate yourself to work harder?

My first thought is — this is a person suffering from burnout or simply a lack of interest and they believe more willpower and hard work will let them achieve their objectives.

Artificially generated or brute force motivation won’t last long.

Look for motivation that is more organic.

Start a journal and answer these questions.

1. Who I Am?
2. What I Do?
3. How I Do It?
4. Why?
5. My Ultimate Goal?
6. My Immediate Milestones

If you take this seriously it can reveal how you see yourself, your role and your place in society.

Here’s an example of a George, a father, and financial analyst.

1. Who I Am: I am a husband and father responsible to provide for my family.
2. What I Do: I work as a salaried employee at a fortune 500 company that has a stable history of employment.
3. How I Do It: I graduated with a degree in Finance and my job profile is a financial analyst.
4. Why I Do It: I do this because it’s a stable job, pays well and it allows me to meet my responsibilities.
5. My Goal: Stay employed, get promotions, eventually retire.
6. My Milestones: Continue to get experience and look for the next promotion opportunity.

That example is very old-school, but still true for many people.

The work George does is a means to an end.

Other people define themselves more closely with their work.

There’s no single correct answer.

Sometimes the answer changes over time.

Going through this exercise works even if you're a student, an entrepreneur, an artist, an author, chef, freelancer, or a stay-at-home parent.

It reminds you who you are, who you want to become and why you do whatever it is you do.

If you’re having trouble answering the questions, the exercise is probably overdue.

You may not be living the life you’re meant to live.

Your Who You Are isn’t matching What You Do.

Motivating yourself to do work that’s inconsistent with who you are, or at least moving you in that direction, is going to be a shortlived motivation.

It’s time to get the answers to these questions in alignment.

You can’t get there in a day. But, you can create a plan and start taking baby steps.

And, that should be motivating.