Have you ever noticed how hard you can work when you are truly motivated?
Friends of mine have a small weekend farm outside of the city. They have apple, peach, and plum orchards, a few vegetables, and a fair few grapevines. A few times each year, we spend the better part of a day helping them prune trees, or pick fruit, or wash and sterilize wine bottles.
We ignore the heat or cold on those days at work in the fields. We don’t mind the sweat and sore muscles. Rather, we embrace it, and revel in it, and somehow, are proud of it. The more laborious and strenuous, the better, the prouder we are.
At the end of our labours on those laborious days, we usually watch the sunset over the hills and enjoy a potluck meal together. But this is not our motivation. It’s not what drives us to spend a good six hours in the hot sun, doing physical labor for someone else’s benefit.
Rather, it is because we are contributing to a cause, to something we believe in.
The same is true in the office. One of the biggest motivators in the workplace is the need to feel you are contributing – meaning that you have a shared goal, are making an impact, and are achieving something in which you believe.
Something to keep in mind when you are looking for motivators for you and your team…
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