WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?

How do you stay motivated when you are having tough or hard days? Motivation is what pushes you forward to keep going. It is that motivation that gives you purpose.

When that happens you must look back at what your purpose is in those times. You need to stay strong in the 5 aspects in the Pentagon of Peak Performance. 

We are currently doing a Purpose Series in the Overcome Army, using the book “How You Measure Your Life” as a reference point. The author of this book is a Harvard profession that wrote it from 3 different viewpoints: family, professional, and ethical. Based on this book, Jay challenges the group to think about:

Motivators versus Hygiene Factors

Motivators are something that will truly drive you to do something because they are more purpose-driven.

Hygiene factors can be better explained by these examples: 

  • the place you work – if you work in an area that is constantly in a messy, dirty state that plays a part in what drives you
  • money – more of an incentive that in most instances does not drive purpose, and is more a means to an end

I put together a list of 6 things that motivate people. These motivators are:

  1. money – some people, whether you like it or not, are motivated by money. If you think that money truly motivates you, think about this for one second, is money really motivating you or is it the freedom or things that come from money that motivates you
  2. freedom – the ability to go out and do what you want to do
  3. travel – being truly happy when you are traveling the world
  4. task completion – getting tremendous joy out of checking things off of your list or working to a more complicated task off of your list
  5. creativity – you really enjoy creating things, or there is an artistic or innovative side to you
  6. helping people – you are not happy unless you are helping someone
  7. faith/religion (got added by an Overcome Army member)

But, where the purpose is concerned, executing those thoughts and ideas is what is important. Whatever your motivator is, it will drive you to execute your purpose.

The big question that I want you to think about, is:

Would you do the current job that you are doing if you weren’t paid for it?

The way that you answer this question can tell you a lot about if you are fulfilling your purpose or not. Our purpose is what motivates us. 

The second part to this question:

Would you do the current job you are doing if all of your current bills were paid?

I am asking these questions to help you think about your purpose. You should never be ashamed of what motivates you because that is what makes you. 

To end this session of Overcome Army, I closed with 5 more questions:

  1. What skills, abilities, or gifts are you naturally good at and what do you like to do?
  2. What do people typically ask for your help in?
  3. If you had to teach something, what would you teach?
  4. What would you regret not fully doing, being, or having in your life?
  5. If you could get a message across to a large group of people, who would those people be and what would your message be?

In closing, I am asking everyone to rank the motivators from 1 to 6 in order of what motivates you the most to least. Also, what would you do if all of your bills were paid and money wasn’t an object. 

There are negative people around you that want to bring you down when you are making a difference in even a few people’s lives, ignore them and keep fulfilling your purpose.

The Overcome Army is discussing topics such as Purpose, Leadership, and Mindset. I am on a mission to help to help others be the best version of themselves. If you would like to take your life to the next level and have a group of like minded individuals help along the journey, then the Overcome Army might be the right fit for you. Click here to learn more about the Overcome Army.