I Have Zero Motivation. What Should I Do? 1 Strategy and 11 Actions.

This is the story of how a client of mine (let's call him Sten) got his motivation back.

Sten asked me recently in a coaching conversation: "I have zero motivation for my job. What should I do?"

I asked Sten my usual first question: "Which goal would you like to be motivated for?"

As you probably guessed, the answer included many details about how unsatisfactory work is but there was no hint of a clear goal.

The Case

A lack of motivation is not unusual in times when many employers fail to communicate their goals clearly. Do you know the goals of your company or at least the ones of your department? Do you know how you can contribute to reaching them? Do you have the agency (= ability + liberty) to contribute??

How do these companies expect their employees to be motivated if there are no clear goals which to be motivated for? The HR department of a major DAX 30 company recently changed their goals setting process to be completed by the end of Q1 – a huge mistake in my opinion. I would not like to have my people run around aimlessly for a quarter of a year, would you? It's no wonder that many successful departments finalized their target setting within the first weeks of January in spite of the new guideline.

We Will Explore These Three Key Questions

• What is motivation anyway?
• Why is it important?
• And how can we gain it back if we have lost it?

And of course, how Sten got his motivation back plus 1 strategy and 11 actions that you can apply.

What is Motivation, Anyway?

The Cambridge dictionary defines motivation as "the enthusiasm?for doing something". I look at it as the energy that allows us to create all the results that we want in our life, even extraordinary ones.

Why is Motivation Important?

Motivation is the driver of success and happiness. Being motivated allows you to get up with energy in the morning, enjoy your work and life and continue your efforts when all others have already stopped.?

More motivation = hope for the future, more focus, more fun, and more success in all areas of your life?

On the other hand:

No motivation = no hope for the future, boredom, complaining, no progress, no success in job, family, health, and hobbies.

Viktor Frankl, a Jewish psychologist, and survivor of the concentration camps, even observed that people deteriorated physically in the moment that they lost their hope for the future.?

I want more motivation, how do I get it (back)?

The formula for motivation is simple:

Motivation = A compelling goal + hope to reach that goal

Let's take this apart for a minute: There are two components:

(1) a compelling goal and

(2) hope to be able to reach that goal

When Sten and I talked about different areas of his life, I was able to see the passion in his eyes. True motivation appeared when Sten talked about his kids and how he was planning to build a tree house for them.

It's not Sten who's not motivated. It's the lack of clear and compelling goals and a better future in the work environment that killed all the motivation that he possesses naturally.

The second part of the equation is a hope to be able to reach that goal:

Snyder defines hope as?"the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself via agency thinking to use those pathways."

For organizations, this means that leadership needs to grant their people agency to reach that goal. In layman's terms: empower your people.

Through the discussion with Sten, it became clear that empowerment was clearly another issue within his company. While being unclear on exactly what the goal was, he was very clear on how he wanted that goal to be achieved, sometimes in front of the entire team.

"Why should I be motivated to do anything, if I will be humiliated publicly and have to re-do the entire work anyway?", Sten asked.

Again, it's not Sten who was not motivated but the environment and leadership that zapped all motivation from him. Clearly, a very honest feedback talk with his superior was obviously overdue. Would Sten take action to change his circumstances?

How a Personal Strategy Can Help You Get Your Motivation Back

The most motivated people I have ever seen, are on a mission. They have a clear goal, they know ways to attain it and they work hard and are motivated to get there. Think of Michael Jordan training for the playoffs.

"You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them." – Michael Jordan

A personal strategy gives you clear goals.

• What do you want to achieve in each area of your life? Until when?
• How is this reality better than your current one?
• What's your mission?

A personal strategy gives you pathways to get there.

• How will you reach those goals?
• What are you committed to doing?
• Do you believe you are able to do everything that is required?

By having clear pathways, you will have more motivation, since these pathways break down large goals into attainable steps.

Therefore:

Hope is not a strategy.

But a strategy gives you hope.?

Eleven Actions That Can Help You Get Your Motivation Back

Here is a list of eleven actions that can help you quickly to get your motivation back. However, there is a caveat: if you are lacking motivation on a deep level, there is no quick fix. Instead, deep inner work is required to define the vision of your future and the strategy that will get you there.

1. Set motivating, SMART goals for yourself, even if your (work) environment does not naturally work in this way.
2. Celebrate when you reach these goals with your loved ones (who can say no to more reasons to celebrate? Aperol Spritz anyone?)
3. Say no to the most unfulfilling tasks and concentrate on what motivates you. Chances are the most unfulfilling tasks leave zero impact anyway. By saying no you may actually do your company a favor.
4. Seek or form a group of other motivated people that thrive on success and achievement. Like it or not, if you surround yourself with the complainers, you will inevitably become one of them.
5. Identify your zone of excellence and genius: The zone of excellence is where time just flies by when working. You can leverage a large portion of your personal skills to create value for your company or your clients. This is where you are more valuable to others and are having more fun. What is that zone? If you have trouble identifying it, talk to your co-workers, superiors, or maybe even friends and spouse. Often, they can help to point it out for you. The Zone of Genius is the zone where your true genius shines through. Working in this zone results in the most satisfaction and value for others (which means long-term most income and happiness for you). Seek to maximize your time in your zone of genius by re-arranging your responsibilities and delegating to others to take over tasks in your zone of competence or even incompetence.
6. Be unrealistic, unreasonable, and stop listening to others: we are living in a society that values playing it safe and expects everyone to be reasonable and realistic (especially if you grow up as an engineer or economist in Germany). The truth is: nothing great was ever achieved without risk, whether in business or in sports, and people who stay "realistic" and "reasonable" all of the time also stay mediocre. The ones that care most about us are the ones that hold us back the most in pursuing our dreams. The pledge to play it safe and realistic, maybe due to their own (economic) interests, because they do not believe they themselves are able to pull it off, to protect you from disappointment, or because they are disappointed themselves because they have not achieved anything great in their lives. The reasons do not matter. Remind your loved ones that you count on their support, not on them holding you back, and that you would rather commit to your dreams and maybe be disappointed than never committing and be disappointed 100% guaranteed.
7. Seek a fulfilling side project: if your main job does not create the satisfaction that you want, work on a side project that does interest you. Google for example sets out 1 day per week to work on topics that are potentially useful for the company but not directly related to a person's job. Talk with your superior about how they can support you.
8. Charter your career path: what are the results that you need to create and the skills that you need to learn to be ready for the next level? What is the speed that you would like to be running at? Are you willing to move up and how will you balance the additional responsibility with family, health, and hobbies? Clarity on these questions allows you to hone in on your goal.
9. Change your job: for many of us, the years go by and we become trapped in a job that may not be the best fit or even of our interest. We may have followed the flow and opportunities and ended up fulfilling other people's goals and dreams instead of our own. If that is you, make a cut. Seek something new. Seek something that really interests and motivates you.
10. Measure the gain, not the gap: especially if you are ambitious, it's easy to get trapped into thinking about all the things that you have not achieved (yet) or things that have not worked out (yet). You constantly compare the current reality vs your great vision. The problem is that you land in the gap. The gap can drain all your motivation because you are focused on all the things that still need to be done instead of what you have already achieved. The remedy is a simple trick: when measuring success, always measure backward vs. where you started from. Measuring the gain makes you feel good and see the progress.?
11. Hire a coach: If you are ready to invest in your personal growth and do the deep inner work that is required for creating significant change, talk to a professional who can ask the right questions for your individual situation that will expand your thinking. Often, our minds run in circles and therefore we are not able to resolve our own issues that, therefore, tend to persist over months or years. Hire a coach that you trust. A coach that will challenge you. A coach that will bring out the best in you. A coach that will support you in reaching your next level of clarity, motivation, and success much faster than you could by yourself.

No matter what you do: take action now. The world changes for those who act, not those who procrastinate.

Exercise: Choose three of the actions that you will apply and start implementing them now.

What happened to Sten?

Sten resorted to talking to his superior and finally to the superior of his superior about the required change of behavior. Unfortunately, the superior's leadership style did not change in the long term. Therefore, Sten decided like many others in the team to leave the position and work in a more fulfilling, empowering, motivating setting. And he built the tree house.

A happy end? For Sten yes, for the corporation it's not. Although the business case for leadership training is an extremely good one, this corporate and many others failed to invest sufficiently in the leadership team.?

If you found this article insightful, comment, share or send me a personal message.

Sources:

• Cardone (2011) The 10X Rule. The only difference between success and failure.
• Hendricks (2009) The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the?Next Level.
• Snyder (2002), Hope Theory: Rainbows in the Mind, in: Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 13, No. 4 (2002) , pp. 249-275