Expert tips on how to how to find and maintain your motivation at work

Autumn is one of the busiest seasons. To manage the pressure, follow our experts’ advice on how to boost your motivation and get ahead

September is a turning point in the year. As memories of the summer holidays fade, it’s time to knuckle down to work again. However, with the final quarter of the year being busy in many workplaces, it can be difficult to muster up the motivation needed to take on its challenges. Three experts share their top tips on how to find and maintain motivation at work.

“Periods of transition are hard,” says chartered work and organisational psychologist Jennifer Dowling. “We’re mourning the loss of summer and ramping up to a busy period leading up to Christmas.”

Dowling advises us to reflect on harnessing what she calls the “fresh start effect of September”.

“Set goals for the next few months,” she says. “Having clear goals is the first step to boosting motivation.”

The second step is taking time to understand why these goals matter to us. Dowling believes that this insight helps to sustain our motivation over the long term.

Breaking larger goals down into more manageable tasks helps, too. “If a goal is big or a deadline is far in the future, it can seem overwhelming,” she says. Separating it into smaller milestones makes it seem more achievable.”

The process of completing each of these milestones should further enhance our motivation levels. That’s because achieving objectives makes us feel good, according to Dowling. “The sense of satisfaction that comes from success motivates us to continue,” she says.

Task timing

Dr Deirdre O’Shea. Picture: Liam Burke/Press 22

Dr Deirdre O’Shea is a work and organisational psychology professor at the University of Limerick. When it comes to setting goals, she thinks it fosters motivation if people move a step beyond writing to-do lists.

“A to-do list tells us what we have to do but not how we’re going to do it,” she says. “Be more specific by assigning a time to each task and factoring in how long each is likely to take. And while we’re at it, we should rank tasks in order of importance. That will help us manage our time so that more urgent tasks get done when we have the energy and motivation to do them.”

O’Shea adds that goal-setting theory stipulates that tasks should be challenging and specific. This is because stretching and testing our abilities can drive our motivation.

This theory runs into trouble when tasks are tedious. The solution? “Setting our own challenge,” says O’Shea. “For example, we can give ourselves a tighter timeframe to get the task completed. Working against the clock can add to our motivation.”

Motivational speaker and business coach Breda McCague believes her unusual employment history gives her unique insight into what motivates people.

“I spent 22 years in banking, reaching leadership level,” she says. “But in the evenings and at weekends, I was a member of the reserve defence forces and became the first female lieutenant of my unit. Both taught me how people operate.”

For her, motivation is all about mindset. “We might wish we were still on our sun loungers and we might be dreading facing into the busy part of the year but instead of saying to ourselves that we ‘have to’ do something, I suggest saying that we ‘get to do’ something,” she says.

That simple shift in focus can be transformative. Most of us may have no choice but to work but we can decide what energy we bring into our workplaces. “That energy impacts on our motivation and the motivation of those around us,” says McCague. 

Energy is contagious.

It might sound counterintuitive, but research carried out by Microsoft in 2021 found that taking regular breaks is crucial to staying motivated. It showed significant differences in psychological stress levels between people who took breaks and people who pushed themselves to get things done. Those who took the breaks were better able to sustain their energy over the long term.

O’Shea points out that the timing of breaks matters. “If we’re in flow, that’s not the time to take a break,” she says. “On the other hand, when we’re doing something effortful, regular breaks are vital to prevent us from getting too tired.”

What you do during your breaks has an effect too. Dowling explains that it needs to be something that restores our energy, like going outdoors or chatting with colleagues. “It’s very unlikely to be checking emails,” she says.”

Kettle dancing

Motivational speaker and business coach Breda McCague shares ways to boost our motivation. Picture: Moya Nolan

McCague’s favourite way of breaking up her day when working from home is dancing to one of her favourite tunes while the kettle boils for a cup of tea. “I recommend it to everyone,” she says. “It really kickstarts those endorphins.”

Another way to boost our motivation is to work with our natural daily pattern of energy peaks and troughs. For example, if we know that we are most energetic and focused in the morning, we can take advantage of this by doing our highest priority work then.

“It’s all about being aware of our energy and scheduling our work to suit as much as possible,” says Dowling.

Rewarding ourselves for consistent motivation can train our brains to become even more motivated. Dowling argues that this is because our brain learns to associate focusing its attention for sustained periods with pleasant consequences.

It doesn’t have to be a big reward. “It can be something as simple as a nice cup of coffee or going for a walk after a couple of hours of work,” she says.

Negative emotions like stress and anxiety have a role to play in maintaining motivation too. O’Shea believes that they can serve a positive purpose.

“If we’re worried about an upcoming deadline, it could be our brain’s way of telling us we haven’t done enough to prepare for it,” she says. 

Negative emotions can spur us to tackle the outstanding items on our to-do list.

Simple things we can do to stay motivated include maintaining regular work hours, getting adequate rest and sleep, eating well and staying hydrated.

But there are bigger factors at play too. One of which is understanding how our work contributes to our organisation.

“Feeling as if all we are is a cog in a machine can kill motivation,” says O’Shea. “But believing our job has a positive impact enhances it.”

She refers to research carried out at UL in 2016 in which caregivers were asked to reflect on something they did that positively impacted their working day over the course of two weeks. “For those two weeks and a further two weeks afterwards, they reported decreased fatigue and emotional exhaustion, which had a positive effect on their overall motivation,” she says.

O’Shea believes the biggest secret to bolstering motivation is enjoying our work. “An interesting job that allows us to use our skills and makes the most of our strengths makes us feel good, and that will keep us motivated for a lot longer than putting ourselves under pressure to meet a goal,” she says.

“That said, we must remember that we all have moments when we don’t feel motivated. It’s natural to have ebbs and flows in our motivation to carry out our work tasks. We just need to know how best to go about boosting our motivation when that happens.”