Often times, we aren’t motivated because we don’t need to be. It’s very easy (especially in the United States) for one to become complacent because of the high standard of living over here. There are so many people around me that don’t really work that hard but have a pretty comfortable life. They drive nice cars, own a house and probably have a pretty relaxing life outside of work. They have no motivation to work much harder because there is not much of an incentive that would attract their attention.
If those people want to motivate themselves, they really need to find someone they want to beat. With a target person in mind, it’s much easier to be motivated because it will naturally bring out your competitive spirit. Everyone of us have the “I am better than you” attitude, and it will help drive the you to new levels.
I know this because it is happening at my work place. For years, one of my smart colleague never really worked that hard. She would get the job done, but never go above and beyond what she was asked to do. Recently, we hired another girl who is very motivated to succeed. She offered to go to our Taiwan office to help with office moving and is doing very well there. Since my smart colleague is in the same age group, she is all of a sudden is working much harder. Her competitiveness is driving her to show everyone that she is as capable as the new employee. As a result, she is much more efficient and valuable to the company than ever before, and it’s all because of another person’s results.
It’s really quite easy. Find someone who you think is quite similar to you, make that person the target and try to be better in every way. Once you can easily beat the other person in all the target areas, then find the next person. Repeat this process indefinitely and you will find that you will be quite successful (and rich)!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I actually thought that this tactic got us into the economic mess we’re in now. Everyone wanted better houses/cars/toys than the next person, so they just used credit to get them.
I think the word you’re looking for is “colleague,” not “college.”
Either way, this is a good idea. Some of my colleagues are better inspirations than others, however… and man, it’s hard to stay motivated when you’re going on vacation in two days!
This is a great idea. I tend to challenge myself to beat my husbands monthly earnings – but haven’t managed it yet. I am getting closer though and I cannot wait to be all gloating and smug when I do it!
While I think it may be wise to use this occasionally as a motivational tactic, it can be taken WAY too far. I agree with devil that this is a major cause for the credit crunch right now — everyone was trying to keep up with the Joneses and putting plasma TVs they couldn’t afford on credit cards. So I think it’s great to have someone to aspire to be successful as, but I think it’s important to not live above your means to achieve what they have. Maybe you should aspire to be more like them — more successful in their job, earning more promotions — rather than to aspire to their level of wealth and possessions as well.
Lise, I’m actually more motivated right before vacation because I want to get everything cleaned up and finished so I don’t have quite as big a pile pile of stuff waiting for me when I return.
This article is not about trying to make more money or have more toys than the next guy, it’s about doing a better job. It could be about anything you’d rather be better than.
I first noticed this when I was a secretary. A new co-worker was much faster at stuffing envelopes. It had never occurred to me to try to be fast at that sort of thing. Now I am fast at all boring repetitive crap. I figure out how to be as efficient as possible, and then I also move quickly.
In my personal life, I once met someone who was better than me at everything but embroidery. At first, I thought it was miraculous or genetic or talent. Then I saw him learning to folk dance, and although he learned quicker than I did, it was by no means instantaneous. At that point, I made up my mind that I, too, could learn to do lots of things, and since then I have learned to play the guitar, become adequate at volleyball and ultimate frisbee (a big improvement for me!), become above average at ballroom dancing, and run a 10K race in (barely) under an hour. Learning another language is taking me much longer, but it could happen.
When I need inspiration I just browse through some blogs of the big boys, who cash in huge amounts of money from Adsense each month, and I am all enthusiastic about reaching even 10% of their achievement.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it just fails royally. :-/