How to motivate yourself

COVID-19 has affected all of our lives—including

our careers. Whether you find yourself out of work
and needing to reskill, or you’re suddenly having to
adapt to new ways of working, being self-motivated is
essential.

Frequently, people think of motivation as something

you either have or don’t have. “I’m a self-starter, but
Ali isn’t.” Unfortunately, this makes it seem like you
can’t change your motivation level. Instead, it is better About the author
to ask: “What factors are motivating my behavior right Dan Belenky is Director of Learning
Science Research at Pearson. Prior
now?” With this lens, you don’t focus as much on to joining Pearson in 2014, he was a
whether or not you are motivated, but whether the Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Human-
motivation you are experiencing is appropriate for Computer Interaction Institute
at Carnegie Mellon University.
goals you are pursuing, and the environment. Dan earned his PhD in Cognitive
Psychology at the University of
This guide offers insights on how to stop thinking of Pittsburgh, where he studied how
motivation as “the fuel” of your behavior and start student motivation interacts with (and
is impacted by) innovative instructional
using it as a tool to effectively “steer and accelerate” methods. His current research projects
you towards your goals. explore how insights from cognitive
psychology and behavioral science can
be used to improve learner outcomes,
at scale.
Do you believe you can do it?

A growth mindset will help you if you

hit a bump in the road.
How can you develop a
We all hit bumps in the road—it’s inevitable. But what growth mindset?
happens next? Some people may feel demotivated, taking
the difficulties as a sign that they don’t have what it takes
Careful reflection on your own thoughts
to succeed. Others may see these difficulties as important
is a good first step, particularly when
parts of the journey—they feel driven to overcome these
you start to experience challenges or
challenges as a way to improve and develop one’s abilities
difficulties that show you are really
and skills.
starting to expand past what you’ve been
Academic research has explored these two different able to do before. If you catch yourself
perspectives people may hold, labeling the idea that you thinking, “I can’t do this,” try to add that
have a set amount of ability which can’t be increased you can’t do it YET, but you will. It can
a “fixed mindset” and the belief that your abilities can also help to remember other times in
develop as a “growth mindset.” In general, holding a your life when you’ve gotten better at
growth mindset is associated with more persistence, less something with time, effort, and practice,
anxiety, and better outcomes than holding a fixed mindset. like learning to play a musical instrument
A growth mindset helps people who get temporarily lost to or other hobbies.
reorient themselves back in a productive direction, rather
than just thinking, “Oh well! I’m a bit lost so I’ll head home!”

Base progress on your own improvements rather

than comparing yourself to others.
Setting goals at work and regularly reflecting on them contributes to increased focus and motivation. You will
likely be encouraged to set “performance goals”, which are job oriented and results focused, and “development
goals”, which focus on areas where you can learn and grow. You should strategically consider how you are
going to determine your progress against these goals, and what kinds of motivation will best help you achieve
them. Will you use self-referenced improvement as a barometer, (e.g., “How have I progressed from when
I started?”), or compare yourself to others as a way to gauge your own achievement? Generally speaking,
“development” goals benefit from a focusing on your own improvement and having a growth mindset, and
there are some cases where “performance” goals can benefit from checking in on how you are doing relative to
your peers. Take a look at the differences:

Basing progress on your Comparing yourself

own improvements to others

If the task requires a

Associated with lot of repetition to master, or
outcomes like improved interest is a routine task, comparing your
and achievement, particularly performance to others can help you
in more creative tasks. stay focused and improve output.

Related to more
positive emotions and Can lead to negative
less anxiety. emotions, like anxiety.

Associated
Associated with less
with more effective
effective learning strategies.
learning strategies.

So, if you are starting out on a new career journey, make sure to focus internally: “Where am I now and where am
I going?” Try to check in by observing how much you’ve progressed from where you started, and avoid making
comparisons to how others are doing.

pearson.com
How rewarding is it?
Help yourself see that it’s worth the effort.
We all do this—either subconsciously or explicitly. We ask ourselves, “How hard is it going to be,” and, “What do I
get out of it?” before deciding to do a task. If you have the knowledge and skills to succeed, and understand the
value of what you’re doing, you are more likely to be motivated.
What do I get out of it?
How hard is it going to be?
Known as “Value”
Known as “Expectancy”
How important is the task to me?
How good am I at these kinds of tasks?
What costs are associated with doing
How hard does this particular task look? it? (What do I have to give up? What will
happen if I can’t do it?)

How to increase expectancies How to increase perceived value

(the belief you will succeed) (how important the task is to you)
Think about a time you’ve been successful before. A task can be seen as valuable because it is inherently
What happened then that you can apply now? pleasant (it is fun), because we can see how it will help
Look at one of your peers that is experiencing us do something we want to do (it is relevant), because
success. What strategies do they use? What can you it would increase our social standing (it looks good), it
learn from them? Could they mentor you? gives us some external reward (we get something else of
value when we do it), or many other reasons.
If you’re facing a big challenge, break it into smaller
chunks and celebrate the smaller achievements on Think about how the task in front of you links to the
the way to the bigger goal. Ask your line manager goals and priorities of the company. If you can’t see a
to think this way too. link, should you be working on this now? Discuss with
your manager.
Your belief about whether your effort will lead
to meaningful changes in ability can impact Think about how a task links to your personal career
expectancies, so think about using some of the goals. For example, will it allow you to get the project
strategies discussed earlier about growth mindset. management experience you want? Will it help you gain
Set appropriate, challenging goals, and if you catch visibility, which could raise your prospects of promotion?
yourself thinking, “I can’t do this,” try to add that you C
 onsider the people you will work with on the task. Will
can’t do it YET, but you will. you feel like a meaningful part of a group? What can you
learn from them? How can they expand your network?

Do I need external incentives?

External rewards can increase motivation, but
internal factors are better in the long run.
Another approach for increasing motivation relies on extrinsic (external) factors—rewards of various kinds, or the
avoidance of punishment—rather than internal factors.
Sometimes you don’t have a lot of control over your external rewards. But, where you do, they can be useful. For
example, you can set up a plan to reward yourself for achieving some sort of goal (e.g., “When I finish this online
course, I’m going to watch that new show I’ve been looking forward to!”). Positive feedback from our peers can also be
a powerful motivator (e.g., “I will get so many ‘likes’ on LinkedIn when I post about finishing this certificate!”). You can
contribute to the motivation of those around you by taking the initiative to recognize them. This can also have an
impact on your own wellbeing.
But while motivation can certainly increase when rewards are introduced, if you rely solely on extrinsic rewards,
you’re more likely to give up when things get hard, to lose interest, and to burn out. In addition, if you start
receiving extrinsic rewards for something you already enjoy doing, it could lead to an “overjustification effect,”
where the intrinsic motivation decreases over time.
So, make sure to focus more on the strategies covered earlier, which improve your internal motivation.

pearson.com
These different aspects of motivation all provide ways of increasing your engagement and perseverance. If
you are having a hard time sticking with activities, stop and reflect on what you are feeling.
Are you not sure if you are the kind of person who can succeed? Use growth mindset strategies and
increase your expectancies.
Worried that others are doing better than you? Orient your goals around the progress you’ve already made
and how much further you’d like to go.

If you want to dig deeper into understanding your motivational profile and what makes you tick, rigorous
psychological assessments can be useful (though you may be safer avoiding “personality quizzes” you find
online). Remember that if you experience struggles, it doesn’t mean you are not motivated, it just means
you need to find a way to better align your motivation so you can steer and accelerate towards your goals.

Here, two individuals share their stories about how they’ve taken charge of their
own motivation.

For me motivation has always been in levels, i.e. forcing yourself to stay in the moment as it
relates to that level. If you are doing a mundane task that seems like it has no impact on the
bigger picture always do it by starting with the end in mind, not your tasks end but rather
the end of the entire process, that allows for a small mundane task to teach you something
about your business. How does this task affect the end consumer. Focus on the process not
the next promotion.
An example in the food industry would be a person who buys ingredients for the product
might think it is a boring task, but those ingredients get processed to create the food we sell,
which gets distributed to stores, which get sold to customers and drive
the business if done right. Motivation in a company is key! You need
motivation to encourage team members to learn beyond just what
they are doing. It is key to success in careers because it helps you
see how each piece fits together to create company growth and
helps you perform at the high level in each role you take. Finally,
always seek to work for or with someone who has the heart of
a teacher! They will help you learn important life and career
lessons.
Jason Agnew, CalifourFoods

Growing up playing sports, competition played a huge factor into

how I learned to work through challenges. Being around other
competitive individuals motivated me to try things I would
have thought impossible had I not witnessed these individuals
complete them in front of my eyes.
After sports were over, I took a position managing several high
performing sales professionals. It was eye opening seeing the
different ways each individual found motivation to achieve their
goals. Some found motivation internally while others were inspired by
recognition in front of their peers. It opened my eyes and made me
realize not everyone sees the world through my lens, but can achieve a similar outcome
through different motivations.

Jake Skow Lhoist, Sales Manager

Are you using some of these strategies to motivate yourself? Tell us how. [email protected]

Cover illustration © Davide Bonnazi