Warwick Life Strategies

I'd like to welcome back PJ Sanglang (a previous blogger on the site) to share some of his thoughts on drive and motivation....read on!!

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Erin-Brie’s most recent blogs give fair warning: for a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle, one should really watch one’s hours at work. Life overall really is about finding a balance with everything, not the least of which is balancing work and life. As the old adage goes, “no one lies on their deathbed wishing they could have spent more time at the office.” Additionally, as one of my previous blogs intimated, you can’t just be go-go-go all the time: doing nothing—that is, relaxing, taking the time to reflect and appreciating the little things—is a necessary counterbalance to a busy lifestyle.

That is, of course, not to take it the complete opposite way and have a little too much fun, with a little bit too little work. What I want to do today is to open up a discussion—if even just for yourself—as to what motivates you at work.

The business that I’m involved in has certain peaks and valleys in terms of workflow. For a few weeks or months, work can be steady like a stream, if not light, like sporadic droplets in a bucket; either way, very much manageable. At other times of the year, work comes fast and fierce; a raging river threatening to overwhelm. As I’m currently in the latter stage, I often find myself spending plenty of time at work, teetering between the roles of simply being a support man during a busy period and that unleashing that certain w-word within me (from this point forward, ‘workaholic’ and ‘workaholism’ will simply be dubbed the w-word in my write-ups).

As I reflected upon this during my busy days—and remember, nothing wrong with taking the time to do nothing—the question dawned on me: what keeps me motivated here? More specific to our recent blog topics, what is it that pushes me toward work?

As one who has been a student of, and has been fascinated with motivation, I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of motivation being divided into two perspectives—the internal locus of control and external locus of control, as outlined by psychologist Julian Rotter in the 1950s and 1960s. According to Rotter, the construct locus of control describes whether an individual believes that he or she is motivated by internal forces, or external forces. For instance, am I motivated by doing work because I (internal locus of control) sincerely want to help contribute to reducing the work or because everyone else (external locus of control) is helping as well?

Does it come down to wanting to do a good job, wanting to prove I can contribute and wanting to help others? Does it come to other factors, such as money or perception of others?

As with many questions that one may ask, it’s never really just one answer. And just as important—there’s no one common, or even correct, answer. Everyone has different motivations for different situations, and maybe taking some time to reflect on it, you can determine yours.

I’ll have more in the future regarding motivation, in other facets of life, as I personally find it to be a robust, fascinating topic, and I hope you agree. Until then, here’s hoping you stay motivated looking out for your own well-being.