Small Wins, to Keeping Up the Spirit!!!
1 Apr, 2020Motivation isn’t a switch that you can turn on or off.
At the hospital you’ve probably found that motivation comes pretty easily when everything is doing well, and your efforts are rewarded with cured patients. When you have important issues, like the COVID-19 crisis we're having, however, it’s not always that easy. You might be expected to take on additional responsibilities and pull "extra - extra - extra" hours, but without the recognition and compensation that you would have received when the company wasn’t in crisis mode. It is true that society gives you daily applauses, but despite helping, it is not enough.
LOOK FOR MORE WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE
When you’re worried, taking on any extra work might be the last thing you want to do.
Offering help when you smell trouble is a great way to increase your motivation. Telling your medical team leader that you’re sensing some problematic signals, and that you’d love to help out in any way. By doing this, you’re focusing on solutions rather than ruminating on the problems. And when you feel like you’re making progress, even incrementally, motivation is easy to come.
GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR INTRINSIC, RATHER THAN EXTRINSIC VALUES
Motivation comes from wanting something. During tough times, it can be difficult to rely on extrinsic motivation like snagging that title change, or a recognition on the extra effort. Intrinsic motivation, however, is easier to tap into. When your “why” for your work is more than just the usual responsibilities you can derive happiness in doing the work itself.
We suggest asking yourself the following questions:
“I entered this job and hospital for a reason.
What were the values I saw here?
What are some things I do in this role that reflects those values?”
FIND AN ACTIVITY OUTSIDE OF WORK THAT GIVES YOU MEANING
If the crisis has forced you to take on very stressful activities, but life circumstances dictate that you need to stay in your hospital more than usual, find an activity outside of work that can give you intrinsic meaning. Or just do everything in your power to disconnect (maybe it's time to catch up on your favorite TV show). This way you'll come back with a small dose of reboot in your motivation.
FOCUS ON ONE SMALL SUCCESS A DAY
When it seems like a hospital’s situation presents a barrier to your long-term plans because you stop thinking about the regular patients who also need answers, it’s easy to focus on the things that you’re not accomplishing. But chances are, you’re probably still experiencing small successes every day, but you’re not seeing them as a “win” because you’re too focused on the “bigger” task of navigating the crisis.
Completing a small task is a win. “Small wins matter big. It’s that tinge of excitement that helps us move forward during that long, uphill battle.
Small wins signal to our brain that progress is happening, and big results are just around the corner.”
Now that’s motivation.
In this section you will find material not necessarily medical but motivational.
We can keep morale high Together!!!. We hope it will help you to disconnect.
If you want to send your video to motivate other health warriors at covid19@aischannel.com