What Motivates You

You are sitting there and they ask that question. The one you wish you had given some thought to in your everyday life. The one we seem to take for granted, "what motivates you?" I'll be honest in saying I tend to take my own motivation for granted.

You may wonder why it matters, what reason is it that I should now. It matters because it tells others a lot about you. It also drives your success and failure in accomplishing most anything. In a job interview, the hiring manager can ask this question to gauge how well you may perform in a given situation. An article by Carole Martin on the Monster.com site provides an example of two different answers. Ms. Martin says, "writing out your thoughts will help you think about times when you felt energized by your work, times when you looked forward to going to work."

The question can be asked about several things in your life such as;

- What motivates you to exercise?
- What motivates you to volunteer time?
- What motivates you to attend church?
- What motivates you to raise your family?
- What motivates you to write a blog?

When you write down your visions and goals in life, you should ask yourself this question about motivation. But how do you find out what motivates your life? You can try the suggestions in an article by Rich Douglas. An important statement he makes is, "whether its at work or in your business, motivation skills are essential to reaching your optimum performance and gaining that winning edge."

Here are some of the motivitating factors from the Ohio State University Leadership Center.

· Power, people seeking authority in the workplace gain satisfaction from managing projects, influencing others, and maintaining control over difficult situations.

· Safety and Security, people who seek stability at work are motivated by a steady paycheck, good health-care coverage, and a safe work environment.

· Achievement, if you're roused by project and team successes, you most likely need to stay challenged to remain happy in your job.

· Autonomy, people seeking autonomy long for independence - freedom to set their own schedules, work pace, and work-related destiny. Yet, these desires don't necessarily make for a poor team player.

· Esteem, most likely, you are motivated by others singing your praises.

· Equity, you just want everyone to be treated in a fair and consistent manner.

· Affiliation, you are most likely energized by working closely with others.

And not every thing above will be your motivating factor in everything that you do. But many of us will find that we tend to fall under a few of these. When you find what motivates you in a particular area of your life, embrace it and see how much more successful you will be in that part of your life. "Everyone is motivated a little or a lot to do something or nothing. Motivation is the internalized drive toward the dominant thought of the moment. By definition, motivation is 'motive in action'." - Denis Waitley

Find what motivates you and harness the power of understanding that motivation. Strive to feed that motivation daily.