Do you love your job? (a serious question to be reviewed on the relaxing Friday)

Disregarding Gallup’s research showed that around 70% of employees are actively disengaged, do you love your own job? Working at a place, no matter office or shop, if you just don’t like what you are doing, I would say that is a waste of your life!

At today’s lunch break, I went to a retail shop picking up an equipment to be used at office. Firstly the store staff was very few. Secondly, I would say the store staff were working in a very sluggish mode (lazy to respond and when customers try to inquire product or ask for service, they were just so reluctant to respond proactively and tended to toss to others). As a result, I spent 45 minutes staying there for waiting for my little equipment.

I am not angry at all, instead feeling compassionate that they are spending more than 1/3 of their life in a day to stuck in an environment that they don’t enjoy. What’s wrong and how to change this situation?

How to let yourself love what you are doing?

Daniel Pink educated lots of business leaders that apart from the monetary motivator, which is full of limitation, to discover and embrace the intrinsic motivation would be far more effective to let staff members become passionate in their own job.

Those intrinsic motivation elements are Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose.

From business management’s perspective, I would say lots of company are not putting the right focus in letting people be motivated intrinsically, particularly when human resources is part of the paid cost in the whole commercial mechanics. Therefore, spending time to discover and build every single employees’ intrinsic motivational resources would be not efficient enough.

I am not saying that there is no good employer in the world, but if I were you, I would just not to wait for being motivated. Instead seeking for the right way to motivate myself, it is much more controllable as an individual.

Mastery

Always try something new and exceed your “comfort zone”. When you are able to go beyond it, of course fear, pressure follows, since you are entering to the “fear zone”. However, if you are able to grow through, you would be in the “learning zone” and discover a lot of new insight and perspective. Also the resiliency would be strengthened to let you tend to fail often (getting used to it) and fail forwards (learning from mistake). After all, beyond the “learning zone”, it would be a discovery of self actualisation. Remember, challenge yourself to do more, do faster, do in different ways. This is the self-mastery!

Autonomy

Think about a discretionary effort that you are able to offer. Some people think that autonomy is to be given by managers, but from my sense, autonomy is to be earned by yourself, if you are able to take extra mile to propose a new way. At workplace, I would suggest everyone to spend a little time to think how you are able to support further to your colleagues. If you are able to suggest a certain way to help not only about the job but also your colleagues, I don’t see there would be any reason management would say no and give no autonomy to you. Think further how you are able to strengthen your leadership disregarding your title. This is the self-autonomy!

Purpose

Purpose is not essentially to be abstract and blur, “IF” you are able to discover your value (i.e. thinking system determining what is the right thing to do from your perspective). Earning money or for more explicitly, earning big money seems to be a relevant purpose for lots of people at their work. However, I would challenge that this is not sustainable. Feel again (i.e. not just think again), what is the moment you are really got connected and excited to do thing, even you don’t mind to sacrifice your own priority. Why you are willing to do so? What drive you to put yourself not to be the top priority? What is exactly the thing that you would like to contribute, and in the bottom of your heart, what really drive you to be that fulfilled? If you can focus on the reason for others but not the benefit to yourself, you would simply be energised. This is the self-purpose discovery!

Don’t wait to be motivated! Be passionate and obsessed in making your own life to become happier and more fulfilled by loving your job!