Spark the Energy: Motivating Yourself and the People Around You

Motivation is the most misunderstood thing at work.

Most people treat it like weather. Some weeks it shows up, some weeks it doesn't, and you just hope for sun. When it's missing, they wait. When it's missing for months, they start updating their resume.

Here's the reframe: motivation is mostly an output, not an input. It comes from progress, meaning and the people around you. All three are things you can build on purpose.

And energy is contagious. You've seen it. One person on a team who's genuinely into the work lifts the whole room. One person who's checked out drags it down. You're always one of those two people, whether you mean to be or not.

This module covers three levels: firing yourself up, lifting your team, and setting the tone as a leader. You don't need a title for any of them.

The short version

• Don't wait to feel motivated. Make visible progress, and motivation follows.
• Connect your daily work to something you actually care about. Meaning is fuel.
• Lift your team with specific recognition and a clear "why we're doing this."
• You set the temperature of every room you're in. Model the energy you want back.
• Protect your battery. You can't spark anyone from empty.

Level 1: Spark yourself

Start with you, because nothing else works if your own tank is empty.

Progress beats pep talks

The fastest way to feel motivated is to see yourself moving. That's why big, vague goals ("get better at my job") deflate you, and small, specific ones ("close three tickets before lunch") pull you forward.

Growing up in Calgary, I played a lot of sports. That's where I first learned goal-setting and perseverance. Nobody gets excited about "get fitter." You get excited about beating last week's time. Work is the same.

So break your week into wins you can see:

1. Set one meaningful goal for the week. Tie it to your career plan, not just your to-do list.
2. Break it into daily moves. Small enough that you can finish one before 10 a.m.
3. Keep a wins log. Two lines a day: what moved, and what you learned. On flat days, read it.

Find the meaning in the work you have

You won't love every task. But most roles have a part you care about: solving a puzzle, helping a customer, getting good at something hard, learning the business. Find that part and spend more of your attention there. Ask for more of it in your 1:1s.

And if you genuinely can't find any part you care about after a real look, that's useful information for your career plan, not a personal failing.

Protect the battery

Motivation runs on energy. Sleep, movement, people who recharge you, and time that is actually off. Rest isn't the reward for the work. It's part of the work. If you're running on empty, the fix isn't more willpower. It's refuelling.

Level 2: Lift your team

You don't need to manage anyone to motivate the people around you. Peers notice who brings energy and who drains it, and they remember.

1. Recognize specifically, and out loud. "Great job" is forgettable. "The way you rebuilt that schedule saved us two hours on Friday" gets remembered and repeated. Say it in the team channel, not just in DMs.

2. Connect the work to the why. People work harder when they know what it's for. If you know why a project matters (the customer it helps, the problem it fixes), share it. Most teams are starving for context.

3. Hand over ownership. When you lead even a small piece of work, give people a real decision to make, not just a task. Ownership is motivating. Being a pair of hands isn't.

4. Celebrate milestones, not just finish lines. Long projects die in the middle. Mark the halfway point. Mark the first customer. Momentum needs checkpoints.

5. Share what you're learning. Send the useful article, the shortcut you found, the lesson from a tough call. It signals "we're getting better together," which is one of the most motivating feelings on any team.

Level 3: Set the temperature as a leader

Whether you lead a team of ten or you're the newest person in the room, you're setting the temperature somewhere. People watch the person who seems most engaged and calibrate to them.

• Lead by example. If you want people prepared, be prepared. If you want curiosity, ask the first question.
• Be steady when things are hard. Energy isn't fake cheerfulness. It's calm, honest confidence: "This is tough. Here's what we'll do first."
• Support the person, not just the output. Ask how someone is doing, and actually listen. People bring energy to work for leaders who see them.
• Make it safe to try. Celebrate the experiment that didn't work and what it taught you. Fear kills energy faster than anything.

Key idea: You're always setting the temperature of the room. The only choice is whether you do it on purpose.

What it looks like in practice

A hypothetical example.

Jordan is a customer support rep, a year and a half in. The team is burnt out after a rough quarter, and team meetings have become a list of complaints.

Jordan can't fix the workload. So Jordan changes three small things.

First, a personal wins log. Two lines a day. Within a week, Jordan notices the days aren't as flat as they felt.

Second, at the start of each team meeting, Jordan shares one specific shout-out: "Aisha handled that angry escalation on Tuesday and the customer renewed." Two others start doing the same.

Third, Jordan asks their manager, "Can you share what the leadership team is trying to fix this quarter? I think it'd help us see why the ticket push matters." The manager does, the next week.

Nothing about the workload changed. The energy did. Three months later, when a team lead role opens, Jordan's manager says the deciding factor was "the way you lifted the team when it was hard."

Common traps

• Waiting to feel motivated before acting. It works the other way. Take one small action and let the feeling catch up.
• Generic praise. "Good job" teaches nothing and fades fast. Name the action and its impact.
• Faking enthusiasm. People can tell. Aim for steady and honest, not loud.
• Venting as bonding. Complaining together feels like connection, but it lowers everyone's energy. Bring one suggestion with every complaint.
• Running on empty. Burnout isn't a badge. Refuel before you try to lift anyone else.

Do this this week

1. Start a wins log today. Two lines each workday: what moved, what you learned.
2. Give three specific, public shout-outs to peers this week. Name the action and the impact.
3. In one meeting, be the person who sets the tone: arrive prepared, ask the first good question, and close with a clear next step.

Your tool

CopyWEEKLY ENERGY PLAN (15 minutes, Monday morning)

MY ONE MEANINGFUL GOAL THIS WEEK
____________________________________________________
Why it matters to me (career plan link):
____________________________________________________

DAILY MOVES (small enough to finish before 10 a.m.)
Mon: _______________   Tue: _______________
Wed: _______________   Thu: _______________
Fri: _______________

WINS LOG (two lines a day)
Day | What moved            | What I learned
----|-----------------------|-----------------------
Mon |                       |
Tue |                       |
Wed |                       |
Thu |                       |
Fri |                       |

BATTERY CHECK
What drained me most last week: ____________________
What recharged me most:         ____________________
One boundary I'll protect this week: _______________

LIFT THE TEAM
Shout-out 1 (who / action / impact): _______________
Shout-out 2: _______________________________________
Shout-out 3: _______________________________________
One "why" I can share with the team: _______________

FRIDAY REFLECTION
Energy this week (1-5): ___   Team energy (1-5): ___
What I'll repeat next week: ________________________

Talk about it

1. Who is the person on your team who lifts the room? What exactly do they do?
2. When was the last time you felt genuinely fired up at work? What was present that's missing now?
3. What's one "drain" habit you've slipped into, and what would you replace it with?

— Evan