Motivating others to work hard

The major agency Hakuhodo in Japan researched in 2020 (full report here in Japanese link), and they concluded when men reached 43.24 years old, they are classified as "Ojisan" or "Uncle" Or "Old dude." Men in this group may experience mid-life crises. I passed this age threshold a few years ago, but I don't believe I am experiencing the mid-life crisis yet. Having said that, I do have the urge to ask myself a fundamental question: What motivates me to work hard every day?I searched around the internet for the answer, and I saw many suggestions on what managers should do to motivate the team. But I wanted to have a list of questions I could ask myself (and my team). I did see bits and pieces of the answers from different recruiter sites (like Indeed.com, Hays UK) and publication sites like Harvard Business Review. So I have put together a summary and hope this is useful for folks reading this.Before sharing the summary, I wanted to bring up what I have learned from the modern psychology course I have taken back in the university, the Freudian motivation theory. Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939) was an Australian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis. He believes the conscious and unconscious mind could influence human behavior. For example, a person buys the curtain bind because he wants to block the sunlight in the early morning when he is still in bed. But unconsciously, he worries about people seeing him naked after he gets out of the bathroom. So there is always a list of external factors and internal factors to influence our decision in life.

So here is the list of factors that motivates people to work hard.

External factors

Incentives/Compensation/Salary. It is obvious. We have bills to settle, family to feed, a mortgage to pay. We need to earn enough money to cover our lifestyles. But how much money do you want to earn before it's enough? It is a great question, and Anthony Robbins helps address it well in his book, Money Master the Game (link)
Career Path. You work hard, and you want recognization. The best reward is getting apromotion, having a better salary package, and getting a more senior title. The title is indeed important to a lot of people. But there are interesting observations shared by the ex-CEO of Redhat (now CEO of IBM), Jim Whitehurst, in his book The Open Organization. (link) In the book, Jim shared the culture in Redhat that title is not as essential but the acknowledged contributions and how the person can influence the others.
Learning and Growth. It relates to the career path. You work hard, and you want to take on extra challenges. You know this may take time away from your family and your personal passion. But you still want to do it as these new challenges expose you to new learning and growth. And you know the company will look after you.
Internal factors

Purpose. You believe your C-suite is doing is the right thing for the company and the community. You share the same goals and drive with them. You feel good to be part of the team, and you want to contribute to the success.
Friendship. Assume you work 8 hours, sleep 8 hours, and spend 8 hours a day doing everything else. The work takes up 1/3 of the workday, and you collaborate with your colleagues. You may like or dislike your coworkers. But if you like working with them, you have a better drive, and you don't want to disappoint them with what you promised.
Happiness. Fundamentally, you want to be happy, and if your work can make you feel good and confident about yourself, you will keep going with the job you are doing.
These are the takeaways I have from the research and experience I got. Everyone is different, however. Do talk to the people to understand their views, and I believe you can find a way to collaborate and influence others since you know what drives them.

Anthony Chan