Your Attitude, Determines Your Altitude

What Is Motivation?

Motivation is a key point to productivity in any workplace. Motivation is the reason or reasons that you have for acting or behaving in a particular way. It is the general desire or willingness that helps you work towards achieving your goal. Some motivating factors or motivators are:

· Individual respect

· Financial security

· Opportunities for advancement

· Recognition from others

· Positive relationship with co-workers and customers/clients

Understanding Needs and Wants

When attempting to understand the different aspects of motivation, it is helpful to, first, understand what are needs and wants. Needs are your personal requirements. Wants are things or experiences that you desire to do or have. The difference between needs and wants are necessities (needs) vs. desires (wants). Usually, what an individual desires is far from what they, actually, need.Both needs and wants play a role in motivation. They are the forces that lead to the motivational factors that drive you to stay focused and accomplish your goals.

Elaine K. Harris, author of “Customer Service: A Practical Approach,” mentions in her book that what management may perceive as being the needs of its’ employees may in reality have little importance and may result in having little motivational effect. Many times, employers don’t realize that their employees need motivators to be more efficient and productive.

Using Reinforcements

Employers use reinforcement as a method of encouragement. They’re two types of reinforcement: positive reinforcement, behavior that is rewarded to encourage it, such as praise and recognition; and negative reinforcement, introduced outcome that would want to be avoided. In my experience, I have seen more practice of negative reinforcement then positive reinforcement. Fear is an example of negative reinforcement; you will probably carry out your job duties, in order to avoid losing your job. Positive reinforcement helps build commitment that can encourage productivity. When little or no positive reinforcement is implemented, you may get discouraged, and perform the minimums to avoid punishment.

Some things that employers can offer to implement positive reinforcements are:

· Public recognition

· Challenging work

· Job security

· Opportunity to express creativity

· Empowerment

· Listening to complaints and suggestions

· Unified work environment

· A promotion

· A bonus

· A raise

· Benefits

· Tuition reimbursements

· Incentives, such as a trip or tickets to a game

What Determines The Value of Your Motivation?

Your self-concept determines your value of motivation. Self-concept is the beliefs that you hold about yourself and how others view you. In other words the way that you see yourself, and how you think others see you. A positive self-concept enables you to work more productive with others. Though, not everyone has a positive self-concept; as society’s high-expectancies increases, it leads to disappointments for many people. Interacting with others in a positive fashion, when we see ourselves as less than what we see as ideal, or what is expected, is a challenge that many face, especially in the workplace. Negative people and thoughts can hurt our self-concept, which can lead to low motivation or no motivation, at all.

Is It Possible to Improve Your Self-Concept?

I think so. According to Harris, every individual has the ability to improve his or her own self-concept. Improving your self-concept begins within yourself. “Knowing yourself” can help you boosts your self-concept. “Knowing yourself” has to do with identifying your skills, interests, personality, goals, and values. To identify yourself, start by performing a self-assessment.

To begin performing a self-assessment, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What are my strengths? What do I receive compliments from others for having done well? What do I think that I am good at?

2. What are my weaknesses? What activities do I feel less confident in performing? Do I frequently make excuses or blame others for my failures? Do I finish what I start? Do I say yes too often?

3. What are my personality characteristics? How do I see myself? What do I like most about myself? What do I like least about myself? If I could change one thing about myself, what would it be?

4. What are my interests? What are my likes and dislikes? What kind of activities do I enjoy? Do I like to sit in one place as I work, or do I like to move around? What subject did I enjoy the most in school?

5. Do I have goals? If so, what are they? What have I done towards achieving my goals, or what are the steps that I can take? Do I take pride in successfully accomplishing a task? What do I see as being valuable to me?

Now, that you have identified yourself, draw conclusions. Has anything changed? Do you still feel the same about yourself? If not, what has changed? Does your strengths overweigh your weaknesses? If you didn’t have any previous goals, taking your strengths, weaknesses, and interests can you set any goals for yourself? Don’t you think that by recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, as well as your personality, it can help you overcome any fears or negative thoughts about yourself?

As you draw conclusions about yourself relate your self-assessment to your needs and wants. Evaluate what motivational factors work for you. In the long run, this will be much more productive, when it comes to achieving your goals.