Here’s what’s really important if you want to develop and maintain consistent motivation at work and when running a business in spite of everything that may be going on at work or in your personal circumstances… You have to a focus on purpose.
What this means is that there are big goals that you and the organisation need to be working towards – the mission and vision and values. And if you don’t have these, then you’re not focused on purpose.
Otherwise both you, and the business, are just living from day to day.
Unfortunately, a lot of people struggle with motivation largely because they’ve lost sight of the big purpose in their lives and in business. And to be truly motivated, you have to have that big purpose, and take responsibility for it.
And here’s the good news… If you work on purpose and not get side-tracked into thinking that the big challenges don’t seem that important and just focus on what’s immediate and in front of you, then instead of having no purpose, we can turn things around and have a reason to strive for something worthwhile.
And so be careful about not having a purpose and feeling stuck by just focusing on the next problem or crisis that you have to solve, or telling yourself that you’ll be happy once you get through the next challenge. And don’t get caught up thinking that each time you reach a certain goal, the goalposts keep getting moved. Because, if you’re just using ‘happiness’ as your primary frame of reference, you’ll never reach it.
Instead, if you’re living your work life or running a company based on purpose where you’re focusing primarily on why you do things instead of what to do …you’ll have a different experience. Because purpose actually defines you at work, it reflects your character, your personal values, and reflects how you’re driving the business forward, even in tough times.
Now purpose can seem a big word for most people, but unless you get your mindset around purpose, until you focus on the big things in business, then it’s going to be very hard to get motivated and remain in this positive state of mind.
It’s the complete opposite to seeing everything as just the empty details of work and life constantly getting the better of you and getting you confused. Then you start to waver. And you start thinking about what’s the big deal.
When you do that, you’re not living and working on a purpose-focused life. And you’re definitely not working or running a business according to your terms …you’re settling for the minutia and the squabbles that get you down. And before you realise it, you end up letting the mundane and the routine cloud your mission and vision and values.
And make no mistake about this point …when you focus on your purpose, you’ll be able to clarify the mundane, break out of the routine, get a sense of urgency and get excited. Which means you’ll won’t feel like you’re getting constantly distracted and just going through the motions and wasting your time.
All it takes is to laser-focus in on your purpose. Not some sort of vague destination, but a strong compelling focus that you have a powerful purpose to work on.
One of the main reasons why people struggle with getting motivated by a sense of purpose is that it doesn’t seem real enough for them. It’s just going through the motions and writing down some grand schemes that they produce for their business. The issue then becomes whether these statements are urgent and real enough for you, the business and importantly, your customers, to have their intended effect. And that effect is …motivation.
Business motivation is a statement of mission and vision and values for the actual existence of your business. That’s the big challenge at work and for running a business. To understand that the ultimate goal is not to focus on the boring stuff and the endless duties, responsibilities, and obligations. Sure, sometimes these have to be dealt with, but the onus should be to move you towards the drive and the urgency to overcome the business challenges and the sense of fulfilment for delivering on purpose.
And to help you achieve staying on purpose, here is an brief overview of how you can apply your mission, vision and values to achieve the goals for your business…
Mission: This is the reason why your company exists. It is the visible and tangible effect you want your company to create for your customers, your staff and suppliers and the world.
Vision: This is what future success looks like for your company. It is what your company aspires to be in the future. It is how the world will look like once you’ve accomplished your mission.
Values: These are the important guiding principles, ethics and ways of working that will influence actions to fulfil your company’s mission and vision.
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