by Lenka Davis

While the tips on how to stay motivated and keep any business running are common among most businesses, being a startup founder has its own unique challenges. In this article we cover topics related to motivation.

1. Types of motivation

2. Motivation tips for Business owners

3. Motivation and Startup Founders

4. Thoughts on Motivation

Types of Motivation

A Harvard Business Review study,  The Power of Small Wins, found that employees who were intrinsically motivated (themselves being curious or wanting to master something) were three times more engaged in their work than those who were extrinsically motivated (motivated by reward or being told to do it). Creating a work environment that fosters intrinsic motivation, such as by providing opportunities for personal growth, autonomy, and meaningful work is important to keeping your team motivated and happy.

Motivation Tips for Business Owners

Remember Your Why

The purpose of your business was very clear when you thought of your business idea. You were trying to solve a problem and had a solution for that problem that people wanted. Keep this top of mind when you are moving your business forward. A song, a photo or image on your desktop that shows or explains your “why”, for example, can remind you of your mission and purpose. This will help remind and direct you when extra motivation is needed.

Setting Realistic Goals

Setting realistic goals not only helps you see where you are going and what needs to be done but also your team understands the same goals. Teams stay focused on the end goal and can contribute effectively and efficiently to that goal. Realistic goals help set up timelines and deadlines that can be achieved.

If you have strategic goals or those that have long multi year schedules then breaking goals down into smaller tasks helps people stay motivated. Celebrating those small wins along the way gives a great boost to everyone involved. It provides a nice positive reimbursement. Completing those smaller tasks allows team members to take mental or physical breaks. 

Stay Organized

With so much to do on a daily basis, staying organized gives you peace of mind that you have things under control and focused. Lately there is a lot of advice on how to achieve this with not just calendars, but new apps, platforms and planners, etc. 

Motivation and Startup Founders

The good news is that startup founders may have a stronger sense of motivation to succeed for several reasons. A lot of what they do is based on some personal intent or motivation. Personally they are involved because they are contributing to the business either financially or with passion.

The vision and the mission are usually a personal one based on something they feel passionate about. They feel they know how to make an improvement or change to the industry or improve a service. 

Also, the challenge of taking on new risks, overcoming obstacles, and solving a problem along with creative and innovative thinking can be great motivators. These are traits that generally startup founders have and so they use it to keep motivated.

Personally

Personally, I find that the following mindset helps motivation.

Think of what you are doing as a marathon rather than a sprint. This gives you patience and understanding that this is a long term task.

If you want to see progress, logging it is one of the best ways to do that. If you are doing a lot each day you might not remember all that you did at the end of the week or the month.

If tasks or initiatives seem overwhelming, take Anne Lamont’s advice and tackle it bird by bird. This concept means to break it down into small doable steps and do them one at a time. Anne Lamont wrote about this in her book, Bird by Bird.

Look at other similar tasks and notice how many steps it actually takes is another way to understand the effort an initiative might take.

Also, having someone to work with and a community for support helps you have support for when you need it. It also can be a source of motivation and creative problem solving.

Reading or hearing quotes from people that have done the journey you are also on. Find some that help you smile or feel understood. Or just those that make sense. Follow those that are positive, for example, Sara Blakely is famous for posting inspirational quotes printed on coffee mugs on occasional Mondays. #MondayMotivation

Lastly, and most importantly make sure you take care of yourself to re-energize and keep your creative juices or momentum flowing. 

Fun Fact

People’s motivation can be contagious. Based on a study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “The motivational effects of social contagion on exercise participation in young female adults” suggested that exercising with or around intrinsically motivated individuals may have beneficial outcomes.