
How some people stay motivated at work when they don’t love their jobs - rrherr
https://qz.com/999209/how-some-people-stay-motivated-and-energized-at-work-even-when-they-dont-love-their-jobs/
======
jasode
There's the well-known Simpson's image _" do it for her"_[1].

I'm confused as to who he's writing for as it seems very obvious that many
people get "motivated" for work they don't enjoy because they have to support
their family.

For example, every time the word _" passion"_ is thrown around on HN, it will
incite people to respond: _" fuck passion... I just want to work my 40 hours
and go home and spend time with my family."_

[1] [http://i.imgur.com/7MkgTGT.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/7MkgTGT.jpg)

episode wiki:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Maggie_Makes_Three](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Maggie_Makes_Three)

~~~
kevinSuttle
There is also the faction of people who resent having to take a job they
dislike and get nothing out of, simply as a means to provide for one's family.

~~~
draw_down
I used to be married and that was my mindset. I knew if we started a family my
resentment would be toxic, working a stressful job that you can't grow or
learn from is horrible. Having people who don't do their jobs well depending
on you all the time, then going home and having more people that depend on you
all the time. That's just too much for me, I would break down quickly.

It makes sense to me that people ignore all that and just focus on providing
for family, but I just don't know how to do that. If my job doesn't work for
me, it colors my whole life.

~~~
creepydata
It's an idealist mindset vs pragmatic one.

------
creepydata
I'm absolutely dumbfounded this is some sort of revelation to the author. It
must be a new thing? Perhaps a product of the "self esteem/entitled
generation?" Whenever I hear people (including job ads) talk about "passion"
at work I have to roll my eyes. I _never_ though of work as a means to some
sort of personal fulfillment, it's a job, it's purpose is to provide you
money. That is it! If you get personal satisfaction out of your work that's a
nice bonus. Those "passion" people are going to become very dissatisfied with
work and life - there's very, very few jobs that have the ability to provide
that. We should probably be looking at things in a more practical manner to
avoid this.

I always thought jobs advertising that they are looking for someone with
"passion" as a ploy to trick the bright eyed and naïve young into overworking
before they become disillusioned.

I've actually enjoyed most of the "menial" jobs I've worked. The only
unenjoyable job I worked was only unenjoyable due to piss poor management. Now
I enjoy working as a software engineer, I like what I do, but it's still just
a job, just a way to earn a living.

I'm reminded of Office Space on career advice: "[The question from a guidance
counselor of what you would do if you had a million dollars] is bullshit to
begin with. If everyone listened to her there would be no janitors because
because nobody would clean up shit if they had a million dollars."

~~~
test1235
The most fun job I ever had was at a shitty nightclub over summers in-between
uni.

The pay was crap, and hours were 9pm to 5am, but I loved the people I worked
with, and the physical/manual labour was more satisfying than cranking out
some requirements for an app noone cares about.

Back in my single days, I actually applied to do some warehouse work outside
of my 9-5 programming day job 'cos I found it so boring and unsatisfying.
(Turns out you're not allowed to work so many hours for health and safety
reasons)

I don't mind coding for a living - it's easy: I sit at a desk and browse the
internet for most part, but it's hardly the peak of job satisfaction. I think
if I was mad rich, I wouldn't mind doing something poorly paid but outdoorsy
and invigorating.

~~~
VLM
Aside from mad rich, how about basic income? Everyone has some employer in
their past they loved but having to borrow money from dad to fix my car was so
not cool. If I could feed my family and provide medical coverage using a basic
income maybe I'd go back to "cool employer" lifestyle.

My kids are moving out "soon" and I won't need the expensive house in the best
school district anymore, I wonder how many people would downgrade life a bit
with a basic income. I won't need the best school district for 4, I'll just
need somewhere safe for 2, probably much cheaper.

I get it that a BI means poor people get to eat, and thats very nice, but it
also means something to me too, which would probably be a purely fun job.

~~~
mch82
...or the open source projects developers might suddenly have time to support

------
goshx
This article resonates with me, although I loved my job.

To make a long story short, when I was 20 I had to fully support my mother and
my very young sister. This was the most important reason that led me to accept
conditions at work (work for a foreign company who I didn't know anyone in
person, for low salary, not enough vacation, work way more than 40 hours per
week, be on call 24/7 for years, etc) that I know for a fact people that were
not in the same situation would never take. At least the vast majority of my
friends and colleagues from college.

I still loved my job, but it was a balance between accepting shitty conditions
and being a very dedicated worker betting on a brighter future for my family.

It turned out very good for me, although it took a very long time to, in terms
of salary, be on par with a national median.

I never thought about it that way, but family indeed was the real motivator
for me.

------
WalterSear
I don't see how you can ask people to self report in a circumstance like this
and get anything but cognitively assonant responses.

If you are hemmed in by poverty, location, and financial obligations, you are
going to convince yourself that your circumstances are acceptable to you,
whether or not that is actually the case, or you won't survive in it, and be
around to make a self-report.

~~~
creepydata
That's like telling religious people "you aren't REALLY happy being religious,
you are just afraid of going to hell."

------
preavy
“Listen. You don’t live there. You live here. With your people. Go to work.
Get your money. And come on home.”

[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/05/the-work-you-
do...](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/05/the-work-you-do-the-
person-you-are)

------
ranprieur
Supporting your family is not a third kind of motivation. It's totally
extrinsic, because you get more money for doing the job than not doing the
job.

------
csours
Some people on this discussion have mentioned the motivation of "they pay me".

For me personally "they pay me" is enough to get me in the door and sitting at
my desk for a certain amount of time each day.

I think it's actually this way for a lot of people.

My previous job doing DevOps-y stuff was completely different. In that job, if
I didn't show up and do my work, other people wouldn't be able to work either.
Doing that job felt like I was supporting my work family.

My current job (software QA) is very disconnected from eventual users and it
just feels like a very repetitive slog every day.

Anyway this should maybe have been a throwaway, but whatever.

------
likelynew
This is my story for the internship I am doing. Though I like the main aim of
what I am doing, but I couldn't write a single line that involve any thought.
And it's not I don't like programming. I contribute to open source at least
once almost every week. It's just I don't feel like reporting to someone who
knows less than me(no kidding), and I resort to trickery that I done
something, which in reality I don't spend half an hour a day. And, I can not
leave the internship because of the fear of what I will tell my friends and
family.

------
rubicon33
There's a huge difference between the quality and quantity of work one does
when intrinsically motivated, v.s. externally motivated. Yes, fear of losing
your job and the inability to support your family that comes with it can and
does motivate people to perform. That said, intrinsically motivated people are
on a league of their own, driven to pursue their craft for the enjoyment of
it.

------
tetraodonpuffer
isn't this "third motivation" simply fear that if they don't perform they will
be fired and their family would suffer from it?

~~~
jhou2
That may be the case for some, but for some others I've met in similar
situations in developing countries, they were happy and felt proud to be
supporting their families. I didn't feel like their primary motivation was
fear. Not everyone is so complex or pessimistic.

~~~
goshx
Yes. To me it was about the challenge itself and the "I can do it" motivator.

------
ForRealsies
[https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/06/05/jordan_pe...](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/06/05/jordan_peterson_why_you_have_to_fight_postmodernism.html)

"I can tell you, because I received many letters of this sort ... young people
are absolutely starving for someone to provide them with a sense of
responsibility, and say look here, here's something worth living for, man.

You can find meaning in life with freedom, but freedom. Freedom is a chaotic
sort of meaning, right, and freedom isn't sort of thing makes people happy. It
is the sort of thing people troublesome -- troubled. Because freedom expands
your series of choices, and that makes you nervous and uncertain... not to say
that that's a bad thing. It's a good thing but it requires that you shoulder
the responsibility of the freedom, but responsibility per se is what gives
your life meaning, genuine meaning in the face of suffering." -Jordan Peterson

------
ikarous_lost
I read this article hoping that it would provide some meaningful insight into
my own situation, but unfortunately, it only raised more questions. What about
those of us who don't have families to support? What about those of us who
are, in essence, unneeded? What each person needs in his or her life, whether
it is provided by work or by something else, is a sense of meaning. Without
this, vigor suffers. How this is not commonly known is beyond my
comprehension.

Viktor Frankl wrote a whole book about this innate need for meaning, aptly
titled "Man's Search for Meaning." In the book, Frankl observes that those who
best survived the horrors of concentration camps were precisely those who were
able to give some sort of meaning to their suffering, which in many cases came
in the form of a family or loved one that waited for them to emerge from
captivity.

This article is not very useful, and its lack of insight leaves me feeling
surprised that it was written by a psychologist (who ostensibly should know
better).

------
SirLJ
"another day, another dollar" is a good motivation for a lot of people...

------
thetruthseeker1
Presumably for this author, when he came of age to work, he didnt need to
support his parents or his brothers, so he had the luxury to look for true
meaning in his work and had enough balance in his checking account that
quitting wasn't an unreasonable choice when he didnt find what he was looking
for. I would think he is not alone, and many people around the world who come
from upper middle class families are in the same boat if they dont have
anybody else depending on them and if they can't find meaning in their job.

------
asah
People are also strongly motivated by being part of a team and "winning" e.g.
achieving a common goal or beating an enemy.

------
ensiferum
Bollocks to this. Just show me the money!

------
tpeo
Funny how the first thing that appears when you open the article is some guy
pouring a drink.

Turns out it's not for him (I think) nor did the guys at QZ intend to suggest
it was, but I just interpreted the picture in a whole different way.

------
timwaagh
this is interesting. i thought i was a bit silly for working to essentially
please my mom. maybe its still a bit silly. but sometimes people are silly and
act in irrational ways. at least i'm not alone in this.

------
mathiasben
The author is mistaken, it's not motivation he's attempting to describe; it's
coercion.

------
notadoc
Money, mostly.

------
bryanrasmussen
I like money.

------
taytus
I'm not going to ask why this BS is on the front page of HN. But it would be
nice to know how many people upvoted it.

~~~
sidlls
Work motivation is a big topic in the software industry. See the comments
regarding "passion" that pop up in these discussions for example. Studies
about and discussions of what motivates people to work are therefore very
perinent to HN.

~~~
ciacci1234
I wouldn't necessarily call this article "bs", but at the same time, I don't
see how people working for their family is really HN-newsworthy...But perhaps
people in the software industry need reminding of this?

~~~
sidlls
I believe there is a definite movement to partially replace remuneration with
intangible "passion" in this industry, so yes the industry does need reminding
of this.

