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It is impossible for most of us to be motivated if we don’t have a need. We never think about exercising until we become fat; we become frugal because we cannot otherwise pay our bills, and we buy our spouses something nice because we got them upset. If we want to motivate ourselves, maybe we need to create a need to work harder first.

At work, there isn’t much of a push to motivate ourselves. Although we all know that generally the motivated ones end up being more successful (and thus earn more money) in the long run, there’s never a need for us to push ourselves harder. Day in and day out, we naturally let ourselves become lazier and more comfortable with the status quo. We keep trying to convince ourselves that being complacent is okay because the motivated colleague isn’t getting ahead at this time. When the motivated colleague gets promoted, all we do is come up with an excuse that he/she just got lucky.

If the above scenario sounds familiar, it’s probably because you don’t have a need to motivate yourself. It doesn’t matter if the reason is because the money you make is more than enough to pay for your bills, or because you never bother to spend the time to think about this. If there is a need, it will drive you.

Much of the reason why people work is because they have to. It drives us out of bed in the morning, make that long trip to work and also communicate with people we don’t really like. If this is you, having a need to motivate you will work.

So go create a need. It could be as simple as telling your kids that you will get promoted in a year and let your pride as a parent drive you, or it could be as extreme as asking your boss to give you a raise or fire you based on your performance in 6 months. Whatever it is, each need will help motivate you, I guarantee.

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