No matter if it’s leaving school to do an apprenticeship, leaving college, or graduating from university; joining the world of work can be a tough transition. One thing that can help you along this path is working out what your motivations are. This could be in terms of work, everyday life, or looking back at what has motivated you in the past. In this article, we will look at different forms of motivation, and some of the jobs that go with them.
Firstly, one of the most obvious motivations is money. For many people, the paycheck at the end of the month is the sole reason they work. There’s nothing wrong with this type of motivation. However, it is important to know its limitations. Anything that comes with a large paycheck, such as in finance, or technological development; will be asking a lot from you in terms of hours, stress, quality of end result etc. This all seems pretty obvious, the point though is that in these sort of jobs, if money is motivating you, how are you going to react to that motivation when you have a tough day at work?
Of course, it’s not just high paying roles that come with a lot of stress, look at something such as community care jobs, nursing, recovery worker roles, etc. These jobs can be tricky hours, not the best pay, and be constantly putting you in high stress situations. So why do people do these jobs? The answer is a different form of motivation, one that comes from wanting to help others. This, for many, is a larger call to action than money ever could be. This motivation is probably going to be the stronger of the two discussed so far when you have a stressful day at work.
Finally, another form of motivation is wanting to make a difference. This can seem similar to the last point. However, I’d like to distinguish this one as a way in which you might not be directly helping people as much. For example, working as part of the environment agency, or as part of a large bureaucratic system of some kind that wants to bring about positive change. This motivation comes from wanting work towards something bigger than yourself. It can also be an understanding of your own limitations, if you wish to help, but cannot see yourself being able to deal with the stresses linked to some of the more directly helping jobs.
