Motivation Uncovered: What Truly Drives You?

Are you motivated by fears or desires?

What’s the ideal level of stress, and where should it come from?

The Yerkes-Dodson Law presents the Inverted-U Theory below. Your goal is to be at the growth and learning zone, right above the comfort zone.

Credit: Oxford Research Encyclopedias

I know people who believe they have to beat themselves up to maximize performance. When a significant share of your time is spent feeling anxious, worried, and fearful of failures, you might have overstretched into the counter-productive "distress" zone. In future releases, I would love to dig deeper into this intricate balance!

What drives motivation at work?

So what factors are behind the fears and/or desires that influence performance?

I keep returning to this amazingly rich article on Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation. Herzberg argued that two categories of variables impact us at work.

Hygiene factors are those that, by themselves, don’t increase motivation but do lead to dissatisfaction if they’re lacking. Rigid and cumbersome company policy, poor supervision, uncomfortable working conditions, unfair salary, toxic relationships at work, or lack of job security will drive your discontent.

Yet, once these factors reach a basic, hygienic level, their improvement does not lead to your job contentment. Whether you feel fulfilled or satisfied depends on the set of “motivators” that relate to a sense of achievement, recognition, responsibility, growth and meaning of the work.

So it’s not unreasonable if you feel a deep sense of dissatisfaction even if you are having a so-called dream job - great security, benefits, team members, etc. The hygiene factors are simply not sufficient. But be cautious if pursuing intrinsic motivators might land you somewhere devoid of too many hygiene factors.

Also, while people might share the same set of “motivators”, each person will appreciate the motivator differently. For example, regarding accomplishment, some get excited by pursuing knowledge while others feel most energized when forging deep connection. It’s important to understand and embrace what matters to you.

When the Pull is Weak

Sometimes, even when you have found a robust, value-based drive, you struggle to fully commit. This can signal a deeper misalignment between the goal and your other core values. I know people who secretly hoped for job interviews to fail because they were wary of changes. Or moms who went through the process of applying, but didn’t really go hard for promotion as they wanted to protect their time with the kids.

When you identify and confront the misalignments, you might find that they are easier to harmonized than you think. You can be less technically strong but still respected by your star team members. You can be committed at work and a present parent. Untangling these concerns allows you to approach the opportunities with conviction. You can review this blog post for a more in-depth explanation and step-by-step guidance for reflection and resolution.

How can AI help?

However, regardless of how reflective you are, adopting a new way of thinking is not easy. To help you explore new perspectives, I created the following AI prompts that have helped my coachees explore themselves.

Copy and paste the prompts below, one at a time, to your favorite AI chat, and replace the text inside the [...] with your details.

1. I want to [your specific goal]. However, I find it hard to fully commit to it. What could be the reasons? (What this does: Asking GPT to explore possible reasons affecting your commitment)

2. What values might be at odds here? (This digs deeper to the underlying “values” that could be causing the struggle)

3. I resonate the most with [insert the most relevant conflicting value pair suggested by GPT]. Give me 3 anecdotes about how people experience this misalignment, including their background, personality, and character traits that contribute to it. (You might find out more about yourself by comparing your experience to others’.)

4. For anecdote # [the one that resonates most], how can they handle the misalignment? Give me 3 possible paths. (GPT will provide suggestions to address misalignments)

5. For each of the paths, condense it into 2 sentences? Clarify: 1. The values that are misaligned, and 2. The core idea on how to harmonize the misalignments. (Synthesize to insights)

Here is an example conversation on ChatGPT!

Can We Sometimes Be Aimless?

Absolutely!

Research shows that too much focus isn’t ideal. Some unstructured and playful time can help elevate your career (and happiness) in unexpected ways. Books like How Will You Measure Your Life by Clay Christensen and The Startup of You by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman strongly advocate leaving room for randomness.

However, too much aimlessness can drain resources, especially your self-confidence and others’ confidence in you. I suggested choosing 1 core focus where you spend at least 80% of resources, while allocating some space (~1-20%) to unstructured exploration. We should have some play, but only when we have a disciplined pursuit of 1 main direction. To avoid aimless and endless wandering, pair focus and play, deliberate with emergent strategy.

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If you enjoy this blog post, you can explore this article and subscribe to my newsletter for a deeper dive into the topic, including parallels with how businesses use emergent strategies to optimize growth in both the short and long term.