October 26, 2009 | Category: Business Advice | Tags: Small Business Tips

Being Your Own Boss: Five Ways to Motivate Your Most Important Employee

While there are many books focusing on how to motivate your employees, few discuss how to motivate the most important employee in your business: you. Unfortunately, even the best business owners sometimes feel discouraged and even lazy. Because you can’t afford to lose motivation even for a few hours, here are a few ways to keep your spirits and your work output high.

Be organized. There is nothing more demoralizing than having to sift through a pile of papers to find the one that you need, or even worse, being late to an important meeting because you didn’t leave enough time in your agenda. While it may sound difficult to be organized, you can begin by writing a schedule. Not only will this help you get where you need to be on time, it will give you tangible goals to reach throughout the day.

Be positive. Simply making the effort to put a smile on your face and thinking positive thoughts can go a long way toward keeping your motivation high. Make being positive an ongoing part of your day, for instance by posting inspiring quotes or by giving monthly awards for attitude. As a bonus, being positive yourself will encourage your employees to adopt the same attitude, making your day all the more pleasant.

Be realistic. Be realistic about what you can accomplish and the time interval needed to accomplish it. What could be more discouraging than an impossibly long project with no time in which to complete it? Prevent this by breaking large projects into smaller, more manageable chunks. This will keep your goals in an achievable range while allowing you the satisfaction of crossing items off your list.

Be firm. Be firm in cutting ties with people who are dragging you down. Whether it’s an employee who brings you down, a customer who is never pleased, or a family member who is less than supportive, any overly critical person in your life can rob your mojo and drain your motivation. Prevent this by cutting ties where it is necessary. No one is worth giving up your business and your future.

Reward good behavior. Just as you might reward an employee, don’t be afraid to reward your own good behavior. Have you completed a large project on-time and on-budget? Give yourself a prize, whether it’s a few minutes off, an item you’ve been wanting for months, or even a chocolate chip cookie. Although it seems overly simple, even adults will work better if they know that there’s a prize in store for all of the hard work.

Motivation doesn’t have to be the factor that breaks your business. It is very easy to keep a positive attitude and a solid work ethic if you show yourself the same care that you would give to an employee or a loved one. Learning to motivate yourself and get the job done even when it seems impossibly hard will pay off not just in business, but in life.