Is motivation as simple as an inspirational post-it note, or is there more to it than that?
My home work-out log surprise
Last summer, I did a thing. Like a lot of people during lockdown, I started a home work-out routine. In the past, I’ve had some success using tech to keep track of how many days in a row I did ab exercises or hit certain step counts. This time, I went old-school and on a piece of paper, along with the date, I found myself writing a single sentence – “I worked out today because… I want to be strong if I get sick.” The next day, I worked out and went to the log, and wrote… “I want the endurance for long hikes with friends.”
As the days went on I didn’t overthink it, I just wrote whatever flowed out.
- I want to explore the world.
- I want a strong voice to come from a strong body.
- I like the grounding of a routine.
- I like chocolate.
- I have coupons for donuts.
When I had filled the whole page I realized – how much I like chocolate donuts – and how complicated motivation is! No wonder a single inspirational post-it note doesn’t work. Literally on any given day, I had a different primary motivation – could have been externally or internally driven, super-serious or super-silly, long term or very near term. I was amazed at the range of my motivations.
What about at work?
So then thinking about work, I’ve generally known that colleagues aren’t necessarily motivated by the same things as I am. But now I could better see it isn’t about cracking the code for the perfect statement to spark a colleague. And it isn’t about blindly repeating something that worked before. We have to be open to a range of options to motivate each other.
An exercise for your Motivation muscle
Here’s the exercise for strengthening your motivation muscle:
- Identify a new habit that you are trying to develop. (Maybe it’s related to exercise, sleep, or reading, or networking, writing, or public speaking)
- For a week, every time you do the thing, write down a reason. (It can be externally or internally driven, serious or cheeky; long or short term.)
- After a week,
- You can glance through the list to see what variety is starting to appear
- But I want you to notice the strength of your connection to the habit.
- Keep up the log for a few more weeks, so you can really see a broad range of motivation.
