Has the cold winter weather been slowing you down? The other day one of my coaching clients was mentioning how he was feeling unmotivated. He talked about how winter can be a hard time for him to get moving. And the weather has been especially hard this year!
There can be many things in life that can contribute to loss of motivation, from bad weather to irritable co-workers to unexpected circumstances. However, we have a natural internal motivation inside of us that can cause us to rise above the external happenings around us.
Seven Motivators
Drs. Eduard Spranger and Gordon Allport dedicated their research to studying human value, motivation and drive. Their theories revealed seven dimensions of values and motivation that were then combined by Jay Niblick and his company Innermetrix to create a Values Index . The dimensions are:
- Aesthetic: A drive for balance, harmony and form
- Altruistic: A drive for humanitarian efforts or to help others altruistically
- Economic: A drive for economic or practical returns
- Individualistic: A drive to stand out as independent and unique
- Political: A drive to be in control or have influence
- Regulatory: A drive to establish order, routine and structure
- Theoretical: A drive for knowledge, learning and understanding
Do any of the above motivators resonate with you? If you are feeling unmotivated, I challenge you to think about what drives you. What are you passionate about? What gets your juices going? What motivates you? Look at your activities for your day, not just as tasks, but see the deeper reason behind why you are involved with those activities. Allow that passion to get you going (even when the weather is cold).
What are Your Motivators?
My client leads a not-for-profit company that helps a lot of people. He can reflect on his altruistic drive to motivate him to do his job well for the day because of the ultimate impact it will have on other’s lives being better. He can also use his political drive, which is a drive for leadership, to be motivated to influence people for change.
Many leaders that I know have an economic drive, which can be more than a drive for money. It is a drive for results. Taking time to reflect on their goals can get them motivated because they are driven to see results.
What Doesn’t Motivate You?
Also, be aware if any of the above values are de-motivators for you. If you are part of a project or activity and you struggle to find any drive to do it, ask yourself, “What is the motivator behind the project?” Just as certain of the above dimensions of value can be high motivators for you, others will be of low motivation. For example, maybe economic is a low value for you, and you are working on a project where the only motivation to do it is for economic gain. You will find it very difficult to be motivated for the project.
So, which motivators are high or low for you? Take the effort to know yourself and be aware of your values and motivators. It will help you to be more productive. On days when the weather is bad, you can use it to remind you of your passions. And, it can give insight to where you might be feeling stuck with a de-motivator.
If this is an area where you would like to grow more, please contact me. I have some tools that can help you better understand your motivators.