What makes you tick?

At the end of your work day, what motivates you to set up that extra experiment, type one more paragraph, or stay alert and active in that late-afternoon meeting?  If you are wired similarly to my husband, then it is probably the paycheck.  Salary, bonuses, and pay increases are means for him to provide for his family.  Because providing is his priority, monetary compensation is incentive for him to do his best.

For better or for worse, I am not wired in the same fashion.  Please do not get me wrong, I want to be compensated fairly for my work; however, the paycheck does not motivate me in the same way it motivates my husband.  It has taken me a while to figure out “what’s wrong with me.”  After all, how could anyone say that money is not a huge motivator? 

For me, the motivation comes from two places.  I like science and I like people, so knowing that I am conducting research that might benefit people is important to me.  Recently, I spent a week visiting my family in Missouri.  While there, I had frequent opportunities to converse with farmers, listen to their problems, tell them about my agriculture research, and get their feedback about what I am studying.  A couple of frustrated farmers even took time to give me a tour of a soybean field that had been overcome with a seeming forest of weeds, pests that will negatively impact the crop yield.  

Now I am back at work, rejuvenated, and honed in on the task at hand.  For me, the opportunities to meet up with the people that I am trying to help are very important in keeping me motivated.  So… …. …what makes you tick?  If you don’t know the answer, I’d encourage you to identify it.  That answer might better equip you to succeed regardless of your current line of work OR it may help you focus in on what types of jobs might enable you to have the most success.

Listening to the farmers:  These weeds were treated with 3.5 times the standard dose of a particular herbicide that should kill them; however the plants managed to survive and grow nearly as tall as the 6 foot 3 inch farmer in the photo.  Not only does the presence of weeds negatively impact the crop yield, but the farmer’s pay will also be docked when he goes to sell the soybean seed due to the weed seed contaminants that will be in the mix.