Whether in work or in your personal life, the feeling of listlessness and lack of motivation can spiral out of control. It can quickly turn into a "everything is meaningless" mentality and a pity party of one. Perhaps you are striving for goals or a promotion at work. Perhaps you hold each other accountable to live healthier or they are a constant reminder to look for ways to give back and have an outward focus. What motivates your decisions?
Competition With Others
Using friends and coworkers as a benchmark to continue pushing yourself to become better can be both good and bad. On one hand, you can constantly use each other to strive to make improvements, whether it's professionally or personally. However, there is a fine line when competition can quickly turn into jealousy. Perhaps in your mind, they have the perfect wardrobe, home, job and all around life in general. It's important to recognize that we all have our own strengths and just because someone else excels in one area, doesn't necessarily make them better.
Personal Goals/Competition With Yourself
Like a runner, you may work best competing against your personal bests and continue to raise the bar to continue improving. Typically this is a byproduct of incredible determination and inner drive. Setting your own goals allows you to work at your own pace depending on if you are a slow and steady person, or know that you are ready to kick it into high gear.
Paycheck
Never underestimate the power money and being able to pay rent has. Working solely for a paycheck will quickly lead to burnout. If you find yourself in a job that you feel doesn't make use of your talents and abilities, find a hobby or activity outside of work you truly enjoy.
Making a difference
For many, simply having a job is not enough. I am always drawn to companies that make social responsibility a part of their business plan. Becoming involved with a charity or organization is the best way to take a step back, gain perspective and to avoid becoming wrapped up involved in our own problems and struggles. Knowing that you helped make someone else's life just a little better brings fulfillment.
Summer from Coffee With Summer
A little about myself:
Hi there, I'm Summer and I blog over at Coffee With Summer! I'm a twenty-something INFP who loves God, people and coffee. I was brought up in Webster, Massachusetts but right now I'm currently residing in a town outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I am engaged to the most wonderful and loving man in the world, and we'll become husband and wife this June. One of my deepest passions is authenticity. Coffee With Summer is a lifestyle blog focused around living an authentic and transparent lifestyle, while encouraging others to join along.
Favorite ways to spend a snow day:
My favorite way to spend a snow day is to stay indoors and sip some fresh coffee made from my Chemex, while cuddling with my darling fiancé and catching up on our favorite shows. Snow days are also the perfect days to be productive and to buckle down and get things down, whether it be blogging, editing or for now, wedding planning. Even though I'm from New England, I am not a snow person one bit.
Have I read any good books recently:
To be honest, I am not a reader at all. I have never found much enjoyment from it, plus the pages always felt funny on my fingers (weird, I know). With that being said, I am more of an article/blog reader. Whereas someone could spend all day curled up with a book, I could spend all day reading articles and stretching myself that way. This past Christmas I received the book "365 Blog Topic Ideas: For the Lifestyle Blogger Who Has Nothing to Write About," by Dana Fox. This book has led me to some great ideas when I become crippled by writer's block. This book is a must for lifestyle bloggers!
Cleaning/decluttering tips:
This spring I want to clean out my closet and donate what I don't wear. Every time I go through my closet I end up keeping items that I think I'll wear someday and then I never actually wear it…ever. So, my advice to everyone is to clean out your closet FOR REAL this spring. Donate to a local homeless shelter, Goodwill or another thrift store in your area.
4 comments:
Love this! One of the reason I love working for my company is that we are all about making the world a better place. My company even has a plan to be completely off the grid in the U.S. in my lifetime; we don't have trash bins, we have waste-to-energy, recycling, and compost. No paper towels in the bathroom either, just different ways to conserve energy!
This is so true!
This is all so true! I find that competing with myself has always been a huge factor in my motivation. I always feel like I can do better. I also feel pretty motivated by making a difference -- whenever I hear something about the world I dislike, I just want to do something to change it. It's also helped me to remember that many things take time. I used to get pretty unmotivated when changes weren't happening overnight, but I've learned that gradually, and with constant effort, they will.
I am certainly a competitive person by nature. But I've always played team sports, so that has definitely translated into my professional & personal life. I hold onto my teams & want to succeed with them. I also know now that I am NOT motivated by intimidation or jealousy. both of those send me into shut down mode.
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