Maintaining Your Motivation

Before you or someone on your staff becomes another victim of job burn-out, learn how to keep your motivation level high in the midst of any career challenge. Strategies include reassessing your motives, taking time for yourself, reflecting on success, reworking your schedule to accommodate strengths and weaknesses, and taking responsibility for your own motivation. Once implemented, these tips will keep your outlook positive and your motivation intact in any health care setting.

Most people entering a health care field state do so because they want to help people. Their motivation stems from their desire to make a difference in the world. Unfortunately, some lose this initial motivation. Over the years, their focus shifts from truly wanting to help others to yearning for the adrenaline rush of a 911 call, attempting to compensate for some past guilt or perceived personal flaw, or, in extreme cases, needing to perpetuate the belief that being in health care makes them better than other people. Evaluate why you're currently in the field. What excites you about your job? Does your current motivation mirror your initial motivation? If not, think of ways you can recapture the feelings you had when you first entered the profession. Many health care workers not only take care of their patients, they also may have the responsibility of caring for children, aging parents and other family members. Additionally, they often go out of their way to help their colleagues. Very often, health care professionals spend their days giving so much to others that they barely have time for themselves. This kind of altruism puts a serious strain on motivation. When your body is exhausted from being overworked, it's almost impossible to keep a positive outlook on life - or do your job effectively. If you want to be able to give your best efforts, realize that it's okay to say no to extra demands others place on you. Evaluate what's important to you and devote your time to those activities. Instead of reflecting on all the good we've done, people tend to focus on those things we never achieved. We beat ourselves up and rob ourselves of motivation. The more we do this to ourselves, the harder it is to feel excited about our job. To stop this vicious cycle, make a list of all the successes you've accomplished - large or small. Refer to this list whenever you feel down or unmotivated. By doing so, you're paving the way for future successes. Identify your strengths and weaknesses and rework your schedule to accommodate them. The more you focus your energy toward tasks you dislike, the less motivated you'll be to complete them (and then you'll end up in a rut). Your enthusiasm for your work - something that's vital for a satisfying career - will be gone. Going through life this way is hardly a life at all. Identify those tasks you enjoy and those you dislike, then rework your schedule and assignments to allow yourself more time to function in those roles you enjoy. When you're excited about your job duties, you'll be motivated to complete them. Take responsibility for your own motivation. Very often we want to point fingers at an event or another person for making us feel depressed, "burned out" or unmotivated. Health care workers tend to blame everything from staff shortages to managed care cutbacks to ornery patients for their less-than-positive mindset. In reality, the only thing that has control over your feelings and motivation level is you. The person who cuts you off in traffic, the boss who berates you in front of co-workers, and the patient who won't cooperate is not what makes you feel unmotivated; you experience the situation and then decide whether or not to be upset, angry or depressed about it. Fortunately, you also can decide not to let events affect you negatively. Whether you enjoy your job or not is up to you - it is not up to your boss, your colleagues or your patients. Make a conscious choice to enjoy your day and watch your motivation level rise. As the health care industry continues to experience labor shortages and government reform, those who work in the field undoubtedly will feel more pressure and become more prone to job-related burn-out. When practitioners take the steps necessary to keep themselves motivated and productive, they not only contribute to their patients' quality of care, they increase their own quality of life as well. Mike Foster, an emergency rescue worker, is a frequent lecturer and speaker. He can be reached at (805) 481-0327; via e-mail at: Tesparza@chickensoup.com; or online at: www.souperspeakers.com.