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Michelle from Brighton can't get started with, well, just about anything. "I want to leave my job but haven't done anything about it. Now I've had a couple of weeks off and I am having trouble getting back into work mode. Help!"

I imagine there are many people who are returning to work and struggling with their motivation but don't know what to do about it. Generally, we have no problem motivating ourselves to do things like eating, going to the bathroom, keeping warm and drinking.

However, this type of motivation is not sufficient to maintain a career and if we operate only on this level, we are unlikely to experience much in the way of career satisfaction. There are several types of motivation, the first of which involves avoiding punishment.

We produce work for fear of the consequences of missing the deadline, or we are nice to customers who are idiots because we fear being fired. Sometimes, this can be enough and sometimes, it can be necessary.

This type of motivation has saved many careers and can allow you some breathing time to work out what really does motivate you. Sometimes we are motivated by rewards. The idea of positive reinforcement through rewards for certain behaviour is the basis of nearly all management incentive and rewards schemes.

So we are told that if we meet our target, we'll get the reward. If we write an essay on this topic, we'll pass the course. But taking this approach runs the risk of narrowing our focus on to only those tasks that are rewarded.

I remember well the cynical advice when I started teaching at universities - that students are "assessment driven". In other words, do not expect them to learn or study anything that is not to be assessed.

Employers, then, face the problem that unless they capture and incentivise all desirable and relevant behaviour, some tasks are likely to be forfeited at the expense of behaviour/tasks that attract brownie points.

Another problem is that much work is team-based and is therefore contingent on the endeavours of other people within the organisation. Isolating personal performance or rewarding each person individually then becomes a highly complex task.

There is also the problem of time discounting: the tendency to place greater value on smaller rewards today than on larger rewards at the end of the year. If the reward is the annual bonus paid in December, it needs to be pretty significant to change how you behave in January.

But strange things happen when the reward bears little connection to the behaviour either in time or size. Sometimes rewards can be so large, people are encouraged to see their work in purely monetary terms and lose interest in what they are doing.

The final level of motivation is sometimes called purpose. This motivation - perhaps related to self-improvement, challenge or the mastery of something - comes from within and occurs when we are deeply committed and involved in what we are doing.

Generally, this happens when we immerse ourselves with all our hearts in something. It is half-heartedness that allows motivation to slip away. To do something wholeheartedly requires us to believe that what we are doing is meaningful and matters to us or others.

So to answer Michelle's question, try looking for things that you are passionate about and pursue them wholeheartedly. Identify those things by experimenting, gaining experience, being open to opportunities and being open to seeking the views of others who might be able to point you in some promising direction.


Jim Bright is professor of career education and development at ACU and a partner at Bright and Associates, a career management consultancy. Email brightside@jimbright.com. For more workplace advice, see mycareer.com.au/advice.