Keeping motivated through tough times (Week 1-2)
Your focus area for weeks 1 and 2 is making sure that you really know what motivates you.
Spend 30-40 minutes creating your plan now, then follow it for the next 2 weeks.
Simple.
Understand what motivates you
What to do
Understand what motivates and drives you. Get to grips with the key things that are really important to you and that help you feel most motivated at work. Build a ‘motivation profile’ that you’ll be using through the rest of the plan.
Why do it
People are motivated by different things. Knowing what keeps your motivation high is really important so that you can invest time and energy in that stuff first. It’s a tactic that all great performers use. They make sure they’re focused on doing the things that fuel their motivation the most. Understanding what motivates you helps you:
- Know what to do to keep your motivation high
- Be ready for challenging conditions
- Focus your energy for maximum motivation return
- Build a “motivation routine” that you’ll always use
How to do it
There are 3 steps to take with this. Read these through, look at the example and then create your own plan.
1) Prepare the ground!
First, remind yourself of what’s behind your motivation – the 3C’s of Confidence, Control and Connectedness. Read the Get to grips with motivation guide in the Get motivated kitbag to help here. Then get your diary out. You’ll be doing motivation check-ins every second day over the next 2 weeks. Schedule those in, making sure they’re at the start of the day. You’ll also be completing a motivation profile at the end of the 2 weeks, so schedule that in too.
2) Check in on your motivation
Over the next 2 weeks, do these scheduled motivation check-ins. You’ll be giving yourself ratings for how motivated you feel, and then for your levels of confidence, sense of control and connectedness. On each occasion you’ll also be making some notes about how you feel.
3) Complete your motivation profile.
Complete your profile at the end of the two weeks. You’ll review your scores and notes from your check-ins. You’ll be able to see some patterns emerging and identify what things are most important for keeping your motivation high. That’s great information to then take in to the rest of the training plan as you learn how to maximise those 3C’s.
Example plan
You’re nearly ready to start to really understand what motivates you. But to help you along the way, we’ve completed an example, keeping your motivation high through restructure and change. Read through it, get some ideas from it and then create and complete your own plan.
1. Prepare the ground!
| Read through the Get to grips with motivation guide. Jot down any notes you want.
Useful reminder. I can already see how my 3Cs is linked to my motivation.
My motivation check-ins over the next 2 weeks will be: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 8.30am. In the diary!
I’ll complete my motivation profile on: Friday 23rd September, 4.30pm |
2. Check in on your motivation
| Check-in | Motivation (0-10) |
Confidence (0-10) |
Control (0-10) |
Connectedness (0-10) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 12th | 9 | 9 | 10 | 7 | Feeling good after the weekend. Know what I’ve got to do this week. Have organised my time to be able to do it – that feels good. Haven’t talked to some team members for a bit – but that’s ok. |
| Wed 14th | 7 | 9 | 5 | 7 | More lack of clarity over the details of the restructure. Not certain about my role in the future or what I should be prioritizing over the next 3 weeks. |
| Fri 16th | 9 | 8 | 9 | 7 | Good meeting with my boss yesterday – much clearer on my role and how to take forward the project. Have completed 90% of my goals this week which feels good. |
| Mon 19th | 9 | 7 | 9 | 6 | Feel in control of my workload and also have good clarity on what my role is likely to be. Must connect with some key people this week – Gary and Paul in particular. |
| Wed 21st | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | Feel a bit tired from 2 long days which might be affecting how I feel. Also sounds like there’s more changes coming which may complicate things. Overall ok. |
| Fri 23rd | 7 | 8 | 6 | 8 | End of a long week. Felt at times like there was too much to do and wasn’t sure where to start. |
3. Complete your motivation profile
| Date (this is the end of week two): Friday 23rd September
The “C” that appears to most affect my motivation is: Control – I’ve realised that feeling in control of my role, workload and sense of priorities is really important to me. When I’m low in control, I feel stressed, unclear and like I can’t cope. When I feel in control, I have clear direction, energy and focus. I’m feel like I’m set up to do a good day and I’m motivated to perform! The “C” that appears to least affect my motivation is: Connectedness – I’ve noticed that my connectedness score can be low but I still feel motivated. Thinking about this, I know that I can work well on my own and that I don’t always need to communicate a lot with others or even feel supported by others. It’s probably the least important C for me. What I can focus on that will have the biggest impact on my motivation:
|
Coaching tips
For most people, there’s one C that is most important and one that’s least important – but not for everyone! If you’ve really reflected on this through the check ins over the last week, and you’ve concluded that all 3 are important, don’t worry. Through the rest of the training plan you’ll be working on each C and by the end of your plan you one might emerge as most important!