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When we become used to the daily grind, we end up losing ourselves along the way. It is only when we approach work with the mindset of providing value that we gain a sense of achievement.

Ask yourself why you have this job. Does it involve work you are passionate about? Is there something you particularly enjoy about this work?

Our future may be more exciting than our current situation. You can leverage that to your advantage by using it as motivation to work harder.

Use each job you hold as a stepping stone towards your goal. Your current position serves a purpose, whether it is to build your resume, teach you skills, or help you save money to look for a new job.

To keep you highly motivated, set a deadline, and break your goals down into smaller, achievable tasks.

Whatever it is, be clear about what you’re going after and tie it to concrete actions. You can’t think your way to becoming mentally tough, you prove it to yourself by doing something in real life.

Mental toughness needs to be worked to grow and develop. If you haven’t pushed yourself in thousands of small ways, you’ll wilt when things get difficult.

Extreme situations test our courage, perseverance, and mental toughness, but so do everyday circumstances. Challenge yourself whenever you can, consistently do what you know you’re supposed to and don’t let your brain’s laziness control you.

Money as a tool for motivation is limiting at best, and the 'carrot and stick' approach many managers use to motivate employees is will actually achieve the opposite effect of what was intended.

‘If, then’ rewards or conditional rewards are when we promise to give something to an individual when they complete a certain task.

These rewards can have a negative impact on motivation as the employees lose the will to work on that task for the sake of working.

In a fundamental sense, workplace happiness comes when:

• We enjoy doing the tasks assigned to us
• We feel right about the people we are working with
• We are happy with the financial benefits we get from the job
• We have the scope of improving our existing skills
• We feel respected and acknowledged at work

Happy employees are compulsory for a growing business.

A study on organizational success revealed that employees who feel happy in the workplace are 65% more energetic than employees who don’t. They are two times more productive and are more likely to sustain their jobs over a long period of time.

• People sometimes lie to themselves or others out of a need to see themselves positively. 
• People often experience greater positive emotions when exaggerating their intelligence or skill to themselves or others.
• Liars driven by the desire to see themselves positively can forget that their dishonesty contributed to their success. Consequently, they may make misguided bets about their future performance. 

Find out what characteristics or ways of behaving makes you feel good. Answer the following questions:

• What's important to you in life?
• If you could have any career, without worrying about money or other practical constraints, what would you do?
• When you’re reading news stories, what sort of story or behaviour tends to inspire you?
• What type of story or behaviour makes you angry?
• What do you want to change about the world or about yourself?
• What are you most proud of?
• When were you the happiest?

Once you’ve come up with a list, it's important to prioritise your values.

It can help you get even closer to defining what’s important to you. Prioritising helps you to ensure that you’re spending them on the most important things that'll have the biggest payoff in your life.

The things that give us deep happiness are inherently things that take longer and have a big element of meaning in them.

And if the task you have to do doesn’t seem meaningful, try reframing your experience. You might not be able to change what you have to do but you can change how you see it.

When we feel connected to what we’re doing, when we make something our own, we’re much more motivated.

To turn some task you’re handed at the office into something you feel ownership of, make small tweaks that customize what you have to do, that allow you to do it your way.

We find motivation when something is meaningful. Meaning is much bigger than the enjoyment of a moment. It can include something we don't like. Soldiers risk being killed every day to serve their country. New parents handle poop daily for years.

Meaningful things give us purpose. This means doing something that serves a larger cause than yourself or, at least, making a contribution in your own world.

When a task you have to do doesn't seem meaningful, reframe your experience. You may not always be able to change what you have to do but you can change how you view it. When you look at it in light of how it helps others, you'll often find motivation.

You're not "filling out boring paperwork, you're helping people get the insurance that could save their life. You're not slaving over a hot stove, you're showing your family how much you love them.

• Joyous exploration: I view challenging situations as an opportunity to grow and learn.
• Deprivation sensitivity: I like to try to solve problems that puzzle me.
• Stress tolerance: The smallest doubt can stop me from seeking out new experiences.
• Social curiosity: Social curiosity: I like to learn about the habits of others. I like finding out why people behave the way they do.
• Thrill-seeking: The anxiety of doing something new makes me feel excited and alive. Risk-taking is exciting to me.

1. The Fascinated – they score high on all dimensions of curiosity, particularly joyous exploration.
2. Problem Solvers – score high on deprivation sensitivity, and are midrange for other dimensions.
3. Empathizers – score high on social curiosity, midrange on other dimensions and much lower on stress tolerance and thrill-seeking.
4. Avoiders – score low on all dimensions, particularly stress tolerance.

A 2016 McKinsey report laid out that only 40% of women and 56% of men desired to become a top executive in a company. It could be because the climb is exhausting since the range of expertise and skills has expanded. It means that today's leaders need to meet an almost impossible set of requirements.

We are requiring today’s leaders to be the best player on the team, the coach, general manager, and CEO. Instead of attracting people who want to lead, we attract the narcissists that are motivated by money, power, and status.

If we want more diversity, we need to change our assumptions that being ranked higher in a company should be the overall target. Being promoted is not always the best way to unlock potential and innovation.

We need more companies that want to let their best performers stay on the field and create paths for the leaders to inspire those stars.