Small business motivation
Entrepreneurs, small business owners and self employed folks often have a whole list of entrepreneurial qualities and characteristics in common, some that motivate us and others that, well, sometimes get us into trouble. Today, I’d like to focus on what really motivates us to stay consistently stimulated, enthusiastic and compelled to keep working towards our goals.
I’ve spoken before about how to use “intrinsic” rather than “extrinsic” factors to motivate staff. But these very same factors come into play when motivating ourselves as well.
Traditionally, when people think of motivators they think of external rewards such as money, status, recognition and power. But in recent years, we’ve come to understand that internal factors are far more compelling. These factors are the drivers that help business owners keep pushing, against all odds and for prolonged periods of time in order to achieve their goals.
In his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, author Daniel Pink explains: “Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.” He goes on to outline 3 elements which he feels are the basic “intrinsic” motivators: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Today, I’m just going to focus a bit on autonomy:
And what do we need autonomy over? According to Pink, “Task, Time, Technique and Team”, 4 factors which fall directly in line with the choices that we as small business owners have the opportunity to make. Author Seth Godin adds: “As an entrepreneur, I’m blessed with 100% autonomy over task, time, technique and team. Here’s the thing: If I maintain that autonomy, I fail. I fail to ship. I fail to excel. I fail to focus. I inevitably end up either with no product or a product the market rejects. The art of the art is picking your limits. That’s the autonomy I most cherish. The freedom to pick my boundaries.”
It is precisely these boundaries and the structure and or discipline that we develop in part by setting limits, which enable us to harness the power to make significant progress in our business.
More on intrinsic motivators in future posts.
Small business motivation: What motivates you? Join the conversation below:
I’m most productive early in the morning. Before I worked for myself, I had to conform to my bosses hours and by the time the afternoon came along I was toast. I really appreciate and am motivated by being able to make my own hours. Thanks for a great post!
My motivation for being my own boss is so that I can do my job the way I know it should be done.
As an employee of the NYC Dept of Ed, I found it impossible to properly educate my students: Limited resources, too many students, too many special needs students who were not receiving proper services, a lack of adequate student disciplinary measures, an administration that kept changing the rules and handing me “better” curriculum that I totally disagreed with… For fear of losing my job, I could not question or speak out against the things that I knew were wrong, nor could I properly advise parents on how to get their children the services that they were legally entitled to receive. I felt horrible every day.
As an entrepreneur, I teach the way I know how (my students are very appreciative), I advocate passionately for my students, I challenge teachers and principals to follow laws such as providing mandated special ed services, employing teachers who are properly certified, and teaching students in a way that is fair and accessible to different kinds of learners, and I advise parents so that each student receives the best-fit, and most appropriate educational services.
Doing the right thing feels good.
Comments on this entry are closed.