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What Motivates Me: Put Your Passions to Work
What Motivates Me will help readers align the work they do every day, for the rest of their lives, with what truly motivates them. It also includes a code to the Motivators Assessment. This is not a personality test, but a scientifically valid assessment that digs straight to the core of what motivates you at work. The book also features a set of thought-provoking exercises to help readers sculpt their jobs with 60 powerful strategies.
After analyzing the results of 850,000 interviews, the authors sought to discover why so many people are not as engaged and energized as they could be at work. They found those who are happiest and most successful are engaged in work that aligns with what motivates them. What Motivates Me offers an extensively tested method to help readers identify their core motivators and figure out the disconnects between their passions and their current work, and guides all those searching for joy and engagement by asking the important questions - “What motivates me?” and “What can I do about it?”
After analyzing the results of 850,000 interviews, the authors sought to discover why so many people are not as engaged and energized as they could be at work. They found those who are happiest and most successful are engaged in work that aligns with what motivates them. What Motivates Me offers an extensively tested method to help readers identify their core motivators and figure out the disconnects between their passions and their current work, and guides all those searching for joy and engagement by asking the important questions - “What motivates me?” and “What can I do about it?”
272 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 2014
46 people are currently reading
572 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
January 29, 2018
Loved how accurate the assessment is. I’ll definitely be referring back to this book over some time to stay on track at work. It feels good to put an identity to my work style and use its motivators to move off of
April 24, 2019
What Motivates Me is yet another inventory assessment of personality traits that is designed to get readers thinking outside the box about work and satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The book contains a code for the reader to take the assessment online. The assessment results in a finding of one or more categories of motivators, which are listed below in no particular order:
• Achievers
• Builders
• Caregivers
• Reward-driven
• Thinkers
What Motivates Me is novel in the sense that, rather than seeking to define the reader in terms of external stimuli and response, it focuses on our intrinsic self-worth and what propels us. Because of this, some readers may find themselves feeling more empowered than usual when doing inventory questionnaires and reviewing the results of the assessment. For me, I found little evidence for Gostick and Elton’s point of view, and thus found myself questioning the accuracy of the test and findings. I was also bothered that, though there are just 5 motivator categories, I was assigned 3 possible ranked categories. For some this is not be a narrow enough finding to be useful.
In What Motivates Me, Gostick and Elton tell the story of how they came to design the assessment. They started with chart paper and Sharpies, listing their own assumed motivations. They took it from this individualized perspective and brought in science to try to give it legitimacy. This is not how science works if one is looking for anything other than confirmation bias. They used studies they had previously undertaken for other purposes and tried to extrapolate it down to a workable diagnostic tool that could be applied over the internet or in a training session.
They then took the distilled subject matter to behavioral scientists at TalentSmart, another firm similar to the one Gostick and Elton own, which is called The Culture Works. Again, I had doubts reading this about the backwards approach to science. Rather than asking the hypothetical question of “what motivates people at work” they asked the question, “do these things we have identified motivate people at work?” Extrapolating this from their own personal experience and studies done for other purposes seemed to me to leave plenty of opportunity for questioning the result, especially since the result was so wide in scope. If there are only 5 umbrella-types of motivations, I need a narrower finding than 3 of the 5.
What Motivates Me also includes a series of journal-style activities to help people focus on something they called “job-sculpting.” Job-sculptings are slight to considerable changes one could request of a supervisor or manager to more align the person to their motivations in the work setting. These activities I felt were more useful, though perhaps they are the reason that I have so many questions and so much distrust with this diagnostic tool. Following these activities led me to believe that my actual motivator was the third of the ranked categories, not the first or second. In previous work assignments I was much more motivated by Caregiver tasks than by Achiever and Builder motivators, which were my first two findings respectively. Because my results from the activities differed so much from the diagnostic findings, I have doubts about whether their recommendations for job-sculpting would work. I found myself instead wondering if I am in the right role for me.
While I had questions, I would still recommend What Motivates Me and the diagnostic tool included with the book to others. I think that, like a lot of inventory-style assessments, some people will find their results revelatory. The book definitely gives options for what people can do with their results that will fit a wide group of needs. The books recommends everything from minor changes in routine tasks, to finding new roles overall. The stories in the book are also entertaining and pertinent enough to draw readers in. Whether or not you end up believing your results and taking the advice, there is something to be learned and plenty of material for self-introspection here.
• Achievers
• Builders
• Caregivers
• Reward-driven
• Thinkers
What Motivates Me is novel in the sense that, rather than seeking to define the reader in terms of external stimuli and response, it focuses on our intrinsic self-worth and what propels us. Because of this, some readers may find themselves feeling more empowered than usual when doing inventory questionnaires and reviewing the results of the assessment. For me, I found little evidence for Gostick and Elton’s point of view, and thus found myself questioning the accuracy of the test and findings. I was also bothered that, though there are just 5 motivator categories, I was assigned 3 possible ranked categories. For some this is not be a narrow enough finding to be useful.
In What Motivates Me, Gostick and Elton tell the story of how they came to design the assessment. They started with chart paper and Sharpies, listing their own assumed motivations. They took it from this individualized perspective and brought in science to try to give it legitimacy. This is not how science works if one is looking for anything other than confirmation bias. They used studies they had previously undertaken for other purposes and tried to extrapolate it down to a workable diagnostic tool that could be applied over the internet or in a training session.
They then took the distilled subject matter to behavioral scientists at TalentSmart, another firm similar to the one Gostick and Elton own, which is called The Culture Works. Again, I had doubts reading this about the backwards approach to science. Rather than asking the hypothetical question of “what motivates people at work” they asked the question, “do these things we have identified motivate people at work?” Extrapolating this from their own personal experience and studies done for other purposes seemed to me to leave plenty of opportunity for questioning the result, especially since the result was so wide in scope. If there are only 5 umbrella-types of motivations, I need a narrower finding than 3 of the 5.
What Motivates Me also includes a series of journal-style activities to help people focus on something they called “job-sculpting.” Job-sculptings are slight to considerable changes one could request of a supervisor or manager to more align the person to their motivations in the work setting. These activities I felt were more useful, though perhaps they are the reason that I have so many questions and so much distrust with this diagnostic tool. Following these activities led me to believe that my actual motivator was the third of the ranked categories, not the first or second. In previous work assignments I was much more motivated by Caregiver tasks than by Achiever and Builder motivators, which were my first two findings respectively. Because my results from the activities differed so much from the diagnostic findings, I have doubts about whether their recommendations for job-sculpting would work. I found myself instead wondering if I am in the right role for me.
While I had questions, I would still recommend What Motivates Me and the diagnostic tool included with the book to others. I think that, like a lot of inventory-style assessments, some people will find their results revelatory. The book definitely gives options for what people can do with their results that will fit a wide group of needs. The books recommends everything from minor changes in routine tasks, to finding new roles overall. The stories in the book are also entertaining and pertinent enough to draw readers in. Whether or not you end up believing your results and taking the advice, there is something to be learned and plenty of material for self-introspection here.
March 16, 2015
There is a difference between motivation and strengths. Just because we are good at something doesn't mean it will fulfill our deepest desires. Through an inventory and exercises, this book led me to some new insights about life and career.
February 1, 2018
As a member of the genre of self discovery books associated with a quiz, this book is quite good. The premise of this book is that what motivates a person may not be the same as what they are good at, so understanding motivation is just as important as understanding strengths.
Like most in this genre, the book itself is nothing spectacular: background about the assessment plus detailed descriptions of different motivators and the profiles that they are grouped into. This book does get some credit for going beyond that and including a short but vital section on how to follow-up and use the information to sculpt your job into one that motivates you more. The set of worksheets and examples is only a dozen pages in total, but they do a great job of helping answer the "now what" that self-assessments so often neglect.
The authors identify 23 motivators: autonomy, challenge, creativity, developing others, empathy, excelling, excitement, family, friendship, fun, impact, learning, money, ownership, pressure, prestige, problem solving, purpose, recognition, service, social responsibility, teamwork, variety. These are grouped by similarity and correlation in the research into 5 identities: Achiever, Builder, Caregiver, Reward-Driven, and Thinker.
I found the results of the quiz to be useful. That my primary motivators fell largely into the Achiever identity was not surprising. As soon as I saw that it's attributes of problem solving, pressure, and ownership were on the list of motivators, I knew that was likely where I would fall. I'm generally most excited about my work when I can control the means and resources to solve an important problem that requires timely completion (which isn't the same as having an artificial deadline).
My second identity was more of a surprise. I don't think of myself as rewards driven. I don't really care about promotions or earning ever more. However, I do identify very strongly with aspects of that identity such as being motivated to maintain a good reputation and wanting to have others adopt my ideas (less charitably: wanting to win). Thus, while I am not strongly driven by material awards or by status markers, I am strongly driven by the reward of sincere esteem from others.
Some of the caveats that the authors note follow.
The identities are just an approximate grouping for the 23 motivators that they found in their research. Most people will identify with aspects of all the identities. For me, my number 1 motivator, learning, is an attribute of the thinker identity which neither the quiz nor my reading of the identities found to really fit well. It's important to go beyond the coarse labels.
This is not a strength assessment. It's an assessment of what gets you most excited for your work. You may be good at something which doesn't motivate you. For example, I'm very detailed oriented and do legitimately get excited by things like organizing tasks and bugs. However, I find writing specification documents to be about as exciting as watching paint dry.
All of the motivators are positive, and likely things you value. This can make it hard to see some of them ranked low. For example, my lowest ranked motivator is fun. I like having fun. I like having people around who make my work environment more fun. But fun is not what makes me excited to go into work each day. I do like that the authors make this clear by grouping the ordered list of motivators into strong, moderate, and neutral motivators. (As an aside, I like that they give you the full list without making you pay extra. I'm looking at you Strengths Finder.)
Motivators are not personality. They often change over time. What motivates someone can easily change as they age. Even though this particular generalization isn't as strong as conventional wisdom would make it seem, this is captured well in the idea that people are at their most creative out of college, materialistic in their middle years, and then purpose driven again in their golden years.
I think that this assessment could be useful for a team, but I probably would structure it as something do for themselves and then share with their manager and team at their discretion. Some of these motivators may be seen as more shallow than others, and it's important that people feel comfortable being honest. (I'll admit to a moment of shame when I first saw that Rewards-Driven was my second ranked identity.)
Overall, a worthwhile use of my time.
Like most in this genre, the book itself is nothing spectacular: background about the assessment plus detailed descriptions of different motivators and the profiles that they are grouped into. This book does get some credit for going beyond that and including a short but vital section on how to follow-up and use the information to sculpt your job into one that motivates you more. The set of worksheets and examples is only a dozen pages in total, but they do a great job of helping answer the "now what" that self-assessments so often neglect.
The authors identify 23 motivators: autonomy, challenge, creativity, developing others, empathy, excelling, excitement, family, friendship, fun, impact, learning, money, ownership, pressure, prestige, problem solving, purpose, recognition, service, social responsibility, teamwork, variety. These are grouped by similarity and correlation in the research into 5 identities: Achiever, Builder, Caregiver, Reward-Driven, and Thinker.
I found the results of the quiz to be useful. That my primary motivators fell largely into the Achiever identity was not surprising. As soon as I saw that it's attributes of problem solving, pressure, and ownership were on the list of motivators, I knew that was likely where I would fall. I'm generally most excited about my work when I can control the means and resources to solve an important problem that requires timely completion (which isn't the same as having an artificial deadline).
My second identity was more of a surprise. I don't think of myself as rewards driven. I don't really care about promotions or earning ever more. However, I do identify very strongly with aspects of that identity such as being motivated to maintain a good reputation and wanting to have others adopt my ideas (less charitably: wanting to win). Thus, while I am not strongly driven by material awards or by status markers, I am strongly driven by the reward of sincere esteem from others.
Some of the caveats that the authors note follow.
The identities are just an approximate grouping for the 23 motivators that they found in their research. Most people will identify with aspects of all the identities. For me, my number 1 motivator, learning, is an attribute of the thinker identity which neither the quiz nor my reading of the identities found to really fit well. It's important to go beyond the coarse labels.
This is not a strength assessment. It's an assessment of what gets you most excited for your work. You may be good at something which doesn't motivate you. For example, I'm very detailed oriented and do legitimately get excited by things like organizing tasks and bugs. However, I find writing specification documents to be about as exciting as watching paint dry.
All of the motivators are positive, and likely things you value. This can make it hard to see some of them ranked low. For example, my lowest ranked motivator is fun. I like having fun. I like having people around who make my work environment more fun. But fun is not what makes me excited to go into work each day. I do like that the authors make this clear by grouping the ordered list of motivators into strong, moderate, and neutral motivators. (As an aside, I like that they give you the full list without making you pay extra. I'm looking at you Strengths Finder.)
Motivators are not personality. They often change over time. What motivates someone can easily change as they age. Even though this particular generalization isn't as strong as conventional wisdom would make it seem, this is captured well in the idea that people are at their most creative out of college, materialistic in their middle years, and then purpose driven again in their golden years.
I think that this assessment could be useful for a team, but I probably would structure it as something do for themselves and then share with their manager and team at their discretion. Some of these motivators may be seen as more shallow than others, and it's important that people feel comfortable being honest. (I'll admit to a moment of shame when I first saw that Rewards-Driven was my second ranked identity.)
Overall, a worthwhile use of my time.
December 2, 2020
I got this as part of a manager training offered through the place where I work. So the content was delivered in seminar format. However, I did take the time to read through this book afterwards so I could use the information better with my employees to help them.
The approach here was quite different from others that I've read or been trained on. It focuses mainly on how passion can help us drive up our work performance.
I learned a few new things about my own experiences and values and desires and how those were playing against the work I was doing and the joy I was feeling (or not) in my job. So, I was able to have a platform to talk with my manager about for goals and for how my boss could best help me feel motivated. Likewise, I was able to talk with my employees about it as well and to help them look at their own motivations.
The approach here was quite different from others that I've read or been trained on. It focuses mainly on how passion can help us drive up our work performance.
I learned a few new things about my own experiences and values and desires and how those were playing against the work I was doing and the joy I was feeling (or not) in my job. So, I was able to have a platform to talk with my manager about for goals and for how my boss could best help me feel motivated. Likewise, I was able to talk with my employees about it as well and to help them look at their own motivations.
December 3, 2017
A great read on motivation including research and categorical types we identify with. The book includes a self assessment that ranks the 23 workplace motivators and 5 motivator identities. The book then dives into describing the 23 workplace motivators and 5 identities providing a workbook section to sculpt your behavior. One of my favorite quotes from the book is, "Many of the happiest people we've spoken with didn't find their bliss down a new path; they made course corrections on the path they were already on." What Motivates Me will empower you to make the course corrections.
July 4, 2017
Recommended by a friend. It's similar to many other books in this field, which are helpful but rarely groundbreaking. That being said, I did find a few of the distinctions between similar motivators really helpful in determining and clarifying what makes me thrive in different work environments.
August 27, 2020
This book comes with great tools to help you find your motivation and use the knowledge to change your life.
Read
August 8, 2021to-read
October 15, 2022
Hit me right on target! Great personal resource!
May 30, 2017
Interesting read and great assessment tool included. I was able to read this book and learned about motivators rather than just flip through to what my assessment revealed. I would love to drop this with my team!
March 14, 2015
How did I come to read it..
Came across this wonderful book called 'What Motivates Me - put your passions to work' from Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. It was suggested by my mentor for a read as he thought its in the same line with what he is telling me. Purchase it from Amazon or I can rent this to you..
Why should you read it..
We are motivated by different things. We shine through our work when we are spending our time with what motivates us. Unfortunately people spend time on not what that motivates them but on things which the social conditioning has got them to. This is an effect not listening to your call in life and needlessly going through the drudgery called work. The book is a result of two decade worth of work over 85,000 interviews. It come the authors of book - The Carrot Principle & All In
What the book tells you...
Can people turn themselves to what motivates them. The authors have given a method of identifying our motivations which apparently is tested and gathered over 85,000 interviews held through the life of the authors work. The frameworks lays out 5 personality types - Thinkers, Achievers, Builders, Care Givers & Reward Driven. These 5 types are collected from 23 motivations..
Thats not about the book though. Its about making sensible changes to your work life with your mentor or supervisor to align with what motivates you from heart which is named aptly as Job Sculpting. There are hundreds of anecdotal examples which is what the book what it is. Some of them I thought are quiet powerful..
For example the introductory chapter talks about very simple formula for understanding what motivates - Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.. if you think we want to be ourselves, we want to be building our expertise in a craft that we can experience the sense of fulfillment and deep satisfaction which comes with it, and we dont want to do it in an isolated field but where it makes a contribution to society and get a reward in some form from the community. Thats really it. We go around circles and circles to get this. ie Autonomy, Mastery & Purpose.
And as we go into detailed assessment chapter of the book the idea takes a more deeper root - Creativity to integrity, owning our work to having a voice, achieving big things to giving back to others, from doing work that makes a difference to being respected and having our contributions cheered for. You can say it in many ways..
You will have an opportunity to do a motivator assessment online, its about 20 min to complete and you will get a report right on your screen. From that point you will start your journey on Job sculpting with 3 chapters - Who am I?, Where di I want to go?, How will I get there?..
Finally some case examples, summary of the book and a guide to each of the personality types.. its a complete book in just over 200 pages and you possibly dont need to read it over in one go.. you get the idea.. exercises anecdotes, cases..
Its not heavy reading at the same time very inspiring and empowering to start an assessment of where you are in life and where you want to go..
Came across this wonderful book called 'What Motivates Me - put your passions to work' from Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. It was suggested by my mentor for a read as he thought its in the same line with what he is telling me. Purchase it from Amazon or I can rent this to you..
Why should you read it..
We are motivated by different things. We shine through our work when we are spending our time with what motivates us. Unfortunately people spend time on not what that motivates them but on things which the social conditioning has got them to. This is an effect not listening to your call in life and needlessly going through the drudgery called work. The book is a result of two decade worth of work over 85,000 interviews. It come the authors of book - The Carrot Principle & All In
What the book tells you...
Can people turn themselves to what motivates them. The authors have given a method of identifying our motivations which apparently is tested and gathered over 85,000 interviews held through the life of the authors work. The frameworks lays out 5 personality types - Thinkers, Achievers, Builders, Care Givers & Reward Driven. These 5 types are collected from 23 motivations..
Thats not about the book though. Its about making sensible changes to your work life with your mentor or supervisor to align with what motivates you from heart which is named aptly as Job Sculpting. There are hundreds of anecdotal examples which is what the book what it is. Some of them I thought are quiet powerful..
For example the introductory chapter talks about very simple formula for understanding what motivates - Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.. if you think we want to be ourselves, we want to be building our expertise in a craft that we can experience the sense of fulfillment and deep satisfaction which comes with it, and we dont want to do it in an isolated field but where it makes a contribution to society and get a reward in some form from the community. Thats really it. We go around circles and circles to get this. ie Autonomy, Mastery & Purpose.
And as we go into detailed assessment chapter of the book the idea takes a more deeper root - Creativity to integrity, owning our work to having a voice, achieving big things to giving back to others, from doing work that makes a difference to being respected and having our contributions cheered for. You can say it in many ways..
You will have an opportunity to do a motivator assessment online, its about 20 min to complete and you will get a report right on your screen. From that point you will start your journey on Job sculpting with 3 chapters - Who am I?, Where di I want to go?, How will I get there?..
Finally some case examples, summary of the book and a guide to each of the personality types.. its a complete book in just over 200 pages and you possibly dont need to read it over in one go.. you get the idea.. exercises anecdotes, cases..
Its not heavy reading at the same time very inspiring and empowering to start an assessment of where you are in life and where you want to go..
November 25, 2015
The book and the assessment which is included are valuable not simply because they are related to work, but because they are related to our ability to value and feel motivated by our work. In a world where often our employers may tend to view fiscal benefits such as raises as the best way to motivate employees, this book and assessment readily illustrates that for many people, money is not a primary motivator. Further, by organizing people into broad categories such as achievers, caregivers, etc. etc. the book readily does something few professional books that claim to be self-help driven can do - it legitimately empowers an employee and makes them more engaged, sufficient, and grants them a feeling of involvement and strength in their own work. The book offers sixty strategies to allow the reader to "enhance your value and accomplish more" as well as to "address blind spots and potential conflicts" within work and its link to motivation, but the assessment which it includes and which informs the reader how best to even approach the book is of such value that the book, an engaging, direct, and nice enough read becomes laser focused by the application and completion of the assessment - it becomes of high value.
I have several students, many struggling to find their own motivation within academic focus, let alone careers, to which I am going to readily recommend this book. Finally, we have a career centered book that does not try to simply force a square peg into a round hole, but rather values the strength that the square peg itself can bring to the organization.
I have several students, many struggling to find their own motivation within academic focus, let alone careers, to which I am going to readily recommend this book. Finally, we have a career centered book that does not try to simply force a square peg into a round hole, but rather values the strength that the square peg itself can bring to the organization.
April 19, 2019
I was very disappointed by this book. My primary complaint is that there is 1 code to take the Motivators test (the test the entire book is based on). I got this out of the library, so I could not use the code to take the test, nor can any other patrons hoping to use this book to help them in their careers. In addition, if you did buy this book, you still can't use it with your team, they would each have to buy their own copy! It just seems a little money hungry to me. Why not include a free version of the test in the book, and then a more detailed analysis for purchase online? That way everyone can benefit. I did read the entire book, which provides information on using your Motivation profile to better shape your work. I liked that there was information on what the blind spots were for various types, and how to address them (but again, useless information if you aren't sure what your motivation is). It is a very short read overall, with appox. 1/3 of the book spent on the various motivator attributes and motivator profiles. A few exercises are included as well.
February 7, 2016
For anyone who is loves the Strengthsfinders books, I highly recommend this book. With the on-line assessment, you not only find out individual motivators,but how your individual motivators form an identity. The book assists in you "job sculpting" - figuring out what kinds of activities motivate a person, and offers insights and suggestions on how to increase the amount of activities and jobs that you find professionally motivating.
I found this book highly interesting, and its offered me additional insight as to what kind of work and conditions motivate my professional bests.
What Motivates Me: Put Your Passions to Work
I found this book highly interesting, and its offered me additional insight as to what kind of work and conditions motivate my professional bests.
What Motivates Me: Put Your Passions to Work
August 9, 2015
I would go with 3.5 if that was an option, giving it the benefit of the doubt for now, will try some of the suggestions and then possibly update this review. This book is probably more beneficial to a person who hasn't done much work with self-awareness. Since I had (already knew I'm an ENFP and enneagram type 2-the Giver and have done a strengths finder assessment) there wasn't a whole lot of new news here for me other than the idea of job sculpting rather than finding a different job.
January 16, 2016
This is the baby of The Desire Map and the StrengthsFinder test. I found it interesting, though I wish there was a free version of the test online since I checked this out from the library and the code had already been used. I would be curious to have my employees to take it because I think it would be helpful to know as a supervisor/coach. It was also helpful to realize how much the motivator "friendship" plays into my strengths and weaknesses and frustrations at work.
December 15, 2016
Sadly, I felt like this one was a waste of my time: a book that could have been expressed in poster format. The test included was somewhat useful (and why the book is getting two stars instead of one), and while it didn't really give me any new information about myself, it did make some things clear. Read this one as a requirement for an MBA class.
November 11, 2014
Insightful. Included test to determine what motivates you at work. Very accurate. I got learning :) Gives you suggested steps to achieve more of what you need to be motivated and engaged at work.
September 13, 2015
This book helped me better understand some of my personal work traits
April 3, 2017
Really made me think about what I should be doing
December 27, 2016
I read a good chunk of it for a college class but, what we needed the book for was the code inside.
March 10, 2021
read it on a flight in the summer of 2016. Good read.
November 22, 2023
This reminded me of the StrengthsQuest at work thinking. Good for managers and employees to reevaluate what they are doing at work.
December 9, 2014
I found this book helpful and thought provoking, but not mind blowing.
April 8, 2017
Actually helped me understand myself in a better way. Done DISC-tests before, but this one looked at me inside-out.
April 17, 2017
I like it for the test to discover my motivators. You could spend $40 and do the test and get the results online but the book was less expensive Also, the examples of people who have applied changes to their work/jobs were useful. I'm glad to know what motivates me and how I am receiving the satisfaction I need and also what to look for in a new job.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews