What Motivates You to Work Hard?
What drives us to work hard? To answer this question, we’ve gathered insights from a diverse group of professionals, including bloggers and directors of content, among others. From hard work yielding results from a blogger’s journey to an unsettled drive in the quest for what’s next, here are fifteen unique perspectives on what motivates individuals to give their all.
- Hard Work Yields Results: A Blogger’s Journey
- Making a Positive Impact: A Real Estate Story
- Embracing Challenges: An Entrepreneur’s Tale
- Leaving a Legacy: Small Steps, Big Impact
- Self-Improvement: Persistence in Online Business
- Love and Charity: A Personal Motivation
- Helping Others: The Reward in Patient Care
- Living the Dream: Motivation Through Travel
- Inspiring Change: Creativity’s Transformative Power
- Guiding Clients: A Custody Attorney’s Dedication
- Joy in Achievement: The Pursuit of Certifications
- Promoting Equality: A Recruiter’s Motivation
- For a Child’s Future: A Parent’s Motivation
- Personal Growth: Surpassing Yesterday’s Self
- Unsettled Drive: The Quest for What’s Next
Hard Work Yields Results: A Blogger’s Journey
I want to work hard because I know it brings results. My blog is one great example: when I started it, I didn’t know if anything would come of it or if anyone would even read my posts. But I worked hard on it, anyway.
After a long day at work, I’d start writing a new blog post or work on my blog in some other way. I felt passionate about it already before I had seen any results. Now, a couple of years later, I’m happy to say that people do read my blog and I love working on it. Hard work does pay off!
Nina Joanna
Blogger, Goals Calling
Making a Positive Impact: A Real Estate Story
What motivates me to work hard as a real estate broker and business owner is the opportunity to make a positive impact on people’s lives. One specific example from my personal experience stands out:
Several years ago, I had the privilege of helping a young family find their dream home. They had been renting for years and were struggling to save enough for a down payment. I worked closely with them, helping them explore various financing options and guiding them through the home-buying process.
Finally, after much perseverance and hard work, we found the perfect home within their budget. I’ll never forget the day they received the keys to their new house. The smiles on their faces and the tears of joy in their eyes were incredibly rewarding.
Ritika Asrani
Owner and Head Broker, St Maarten Real Estate
Embracing Challenges: An Entrepreneur’s Tale
I love taking challenges, as they motivate me to go beyond the boundaries—choosing a challenging career that inspires me to make new efforts or change my behavior to work hard. This reason is why I decided to become an entrepreneur. It’s challenging, and we grow the most when challenged.
For me, challenges motivate me to work harder. As I am doing cross-border business, finishing daily business activities and progressing is challenging. For instance, when we set up our business, I faced many difficulties opening a warehouse in the USA. There was a lot of paperwork, and I had to arrange the human resources. I took it as a challenge and got over it.
Dhari Alabdulhadi
CTO and Founder, Ubuy Kuwait
Leaving a Legacy: Small Steps, Big Impact
What drives me is the idea of leaving a legacy and making a difference. I’m motivated by the belief that every task, no matter how small, is a step toward a larger purpose. A poignant example: early in my career, I led a small project which initially seemed inconsequential.
Yet, its success not only boosted our team’s morale but also opened doors to bigger opportunities for our department. It taught me that dedication to even the minutiae can ripple outwards, creating waves of positive change. That experience solidified my commitment to give my best to every endeavor, no matter its scale.
Matthew Sims
Personal Injury Lawyer, Rapoport Weisberg & Sims, P.C.
Self-Improvement: Persistence in Online Business
The thought of being an improved version of myself the next day, month, or year motivates me to keep going at it. Just like working out, you will not see the benefits of your hard work right away. Understanding that good things come with time is the best way to stay motivated and on track with personal goals.
One personal example is with my online businesses. It is easy to get unmotivated, especially when you hit a slow month in sales. When business is slow, I like to remind myself why I even started in the first place. It is to provide my passion as a service to help the world understand my passion as well!
Michael Chien
Small Business Owner, 101 Karaoke
Love and Charity: A Personal Motivation
My motivation to work so hard is my wife, Yanling, whom I met during my travels to China. I want her to have the most incredible life with me now that we’re united in Canada. I also use our website to promote a charity close to our heart, called Pencils of Promise, and it motivates me to keep growing our audience so that it will inspire more people to donate and help children around the world get an education.
Scott Sidders
Co-Founder, Scott & Yanling Media Inc.
Helping Others: The Reward in Patient Care
For me, one of the things that motivates me to work hard is my patients. I love helping people find the tools they need to cope with difficult situations. There is something incredibly rewarding about being in a helping profession. Making an impact on people’s lives is what helps me work hard.
Azmaira Maker, Ph.D.
Founding Director, Aspiring Families
Living the Dream: Motivation Through Travel
The motivation that drives me to work hard is the opportunity to live closer to the life I desire and indulge in the experiences I cherish. For instance, when I set a goal to travel to a dream destination, I work tirelessly to save up and plan for the trip. This dedication not only helps me finance my travels but also allows me to fully immerse myself in the local culture, savor unique cuisines, and create lasting memories.
Working hard doesn’t just fulfill my material aspirations; it enables me to invest in life’s most precious moments and adventures, which is the ultimate reward for my efforts. Once I am able to live a dream, my mind is on to the next one, and it continues to motivate me to work hard!
Danielle Hu
Founder and Online Business Coach, The Wanderlover
Inspiring Change: Creativity’s Transformative Power
What drives me is the transformative power of creativity. It’s the belief that through our work, we can inspire change, provoke thought, and touch hearts. My motivation stems from the impact our projects can have—not just in the world of business, but in the lives of individuals.
One specific instance that encapsulates this was our campaign for a non-profit dedicated to childhood literacy. We didn’t just see it as a marketing project; we saw it as a mission. Witnessing a child’s eyes light up as they turned the pages of a book we helped put in their hands—that was a profound moment. It reaffirmed the value of our work and its potential to make a tangible difference.
This experience solidified my belief that hard work, fueled by a purpose beyond profit, is the most fulfilling and impactful. It’s not just about the end product, but about the journey and the lives we touch along the way. That’s what gets me out of bed every morning, ready to tackle the challenges of the day.
Aaron Friedman
Founder, AMF Creative
Guiding Clients: A Custody Attorney’s Dedication
I am a divorce and child custody attorney. My clients motivate me to work hard. They are at a very vulnerable time in their lives.
Most people who hire me have never worked with an attorney before, and they are very emotional because of their circumstances. I need to be the logic behind their emotion. I know that they are trying to make decisions for their children’s future, and I need to lead them in making those decisions.
I had a client whose ex-wife wanted to move the children out of the state. His ex-wife married a man who had a lot of money, while my client was a blue-collar worker. I prepared a custody trial that showed the judge that the life my client could give his children by spending time with them was much more valuable than living a fancy lifestyle in a different state. The judge did not allow the ex-wife to move the children out of state. The reward was worth all the hard work that I put into it.
Carolyn Bellof
Managing Partner Attorney, Stallard & Bellof, PLLC
Joy in Achievement: The Pursuit of Certifications
There are many things that motivate me to work, such as responsibilities to my family and needing to pay bills.
While those are important, they aren’t as motivating as the internal drive to do my best with the task at hand.
I sometimes forget that time is short, and when I get into a task, the feeling of accomplishment when it is done is the biggest source of satisfaction.
I recently needed to earn several certifications for my professional work. For about two weeks, I forgot that time was slipping. However, when I decided to bear down and do the work, it was a joy. I was taking notes, thinking about applying the lessons to my job, and realizing that there was a lot more to learn.
Doing the work was just as enjoyable as seeing the passing grades.
Dan Ketterick
Growth Manager, FleetNow
Promoting Equality: A Recruiter’s Motivation
Finding the motivation to work hard can be difficult, especially when life is stressing you out.
However, keeping a strong connection to your morals and ethics helps.
For me, staying committed to my clients is part of a broader responsibility I feel towards diversifying the industrial sector. As the owner of a female-majority recruiting firm working in a male-dominated field, I know I’m able to provide a unique benefit to underrepresented segments. When I think about my work this way, every day feels like a massive step towards equality.
Seeing the industry become more inclusive is the push I need to work hard every day. So, I take a moment to enjoy the fruits of my labor regularly and stay up-to-date on trends and statistics in the industry. Seeing the workforce equalize keeps me motivated.
Linn Atiyeh
CEO, Bemana
For a Child’s Future: A Parent’s Motivation
My son is my main motivator. I want to work hard and make sacrifices to ensure he has a better future. My own tough upbringing has driven this motivation. I’m determined to protect him from similar challenges.
Providing him with a great education is a priority, and I also focus on offering emotional support. Spending quality time with him and creating a loving home is key. I understand that emotional well-being is as important as financial stability for his happiness and fulfillment. This motivation keeps me going every day.
Phoebe Mendez
Owner, Pinay Mama
Personal Growth: Surpassing Yesterday’s Self
In my life, I think I’ve grasped that motivation isn’t merely a fleeting moment under the grand stage’s bright lights. While some people chase after gold medals or standing ovations, I’ve found my fuel elsewhere. I was on a quest, not against others, but against my previous self.
This intrinsic drive, the passion to grow and evolve, has been my North Star. While external rewards have their place, the real satisfaction for me lies in knowing I’ve surpassed yesterday’s version of myself. It’s a silent, personal victory that keeps me pushing forward.
Burak Özdemir
Founder, ozdemirburak.com
Unsettled Drive: The Quest for What’s Next
The easy answer is my wife and five children, but my motivation goes beyond family. This is true, but what cultivates my motivation has been around for as long as I can remember.
Since my childhood, I’ve held a growth-mindset that forces me to look for “what’s next” in my professional and personal life. It’s the healthy amount of being unsettled that motivates me to go to the next level in my life.
Jason Vaught
Director of Content, SmashBrand
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