Work Motivation

Work motivation? I tell the news right at the start: it is not about money only.

Of course money can play a big part in work motivation (we all need to pay our bills, after all), but the pay check alone just isn´t enough to carry you to that magical good feeling place about your job. If I remember correctly, a study I read said money motivates you for six months only in the workplace.

I can speak from my own experience: I worked in sales for many years. It is quite common for salespeople to change jobs when they are promised a bigger salary. I did that too - and ended up in less than unpleasant work environments as a result.

Some of those experiences were very unpleasant, despite the higher salary, but on hindsight I learned to search for motivation in the workplace in the most difficult of situations. And I also found it - though it sure wasn´t always easy. Even though I eventually left those jobs, learning to find motivation was a great gift. And for that I shall always be grateful. I realized there were only two options: either I would give in and continue working feeling miserable and hating my life - or I could try to find my own inner strength.

Also I learned quite a remarkable thing: changing jobs isn´t a magical way to happiness - because I take myself with me where ever I go. If problems were caused by my own behaviour, similar situations arose in the new workplace as well - and made me understand where I should look at to find answers: within my own mind.

I decided to do that and what I found, I shall try to put in the form of short inspirational stories. At least for me stories take the message "home" better than plain theory.

I hope these inspirational short stories will give you some encouragement when you search for motivation in your work.

Tom Sawyer's Fence

I love this old story by Mark Twain. What could a boy do when he does not want to paint that big fence all alone...? Well, motivate others to do it for him! And boy did he do it well.


Of course the story is humorous, but there is a grain of truth there. A boring job could be seen as something really interesting as well. Work motivation is all about the attitude...!

A short story about a king, a queen and their two gardeners.

A bet the young man couldn´t win...

It was a bad day - a big deal was cancelled. But then a cleaning lady told a story about her father.

What do negative attitude and a bundle of sticks have to with each other? Click here to read.

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If you are more interested in the subject of self motivation, you might find www.self-esteem-enhances-life.com an interesting place to visit. There is a lot on interesting information there so do take a cup of coffee or tea and take your time.

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