Recently, I was a panelist at a boots-to-business workshop at the United States Air Force Academy. After I introduced myself and described what I do each week, one participant raised his hand and asked, “When do you sleep?” He was implying that I have a very busy schedule, which I do. As I was driving home, the comment resonated with me and got me thinking about the difference between being internally motivated vs. externally motivated.
I suspect that if employers stopped sending out paychecks, then their employees would stop going to work. That is because the employees are externally motivated. In contrast, I feel bad if I’m not actively engaged in some entrepreneurial pursuit. If I watch T.V., I feel guilty because I feel like I’m wasting my time. Even tending to household chores, such as yard work or cleaning the garage, creates a kind of internal angst in me since it keeps me from working on entrepreneurial activities which I love. Some people, including my own wife, may say I have a work-life balance issue. Yet, if you love what you do, it does not really work.
When your work is rewarding it becomes something to run to and not something to run away from. Periodically, I have to make a concerted effort to disengage from my entrepreneurial activities and “smell the roses” as they say. While most people work all week for the reward that is the weekend, the work itself is the reward for most entrepreneurs.
Are you internally motivated or externally motivated?
