How to keep employees motivated, however, can be somewhat of a challenge. Faced with such a task in the movie Office Space, managers could only think of stock options to satiate the need for an improvement in morale. While a viable option, not all businesses have stock to provide to employees.

Another common method is to up a benefits package or wages, or to pay a bonus to those employees who finish extra units. This has limited advantages, though, and commission-based pay is rarely a good way for a business to be structured. It may lead to the most sales at times, but few employees will be happy with their pay structure. Another problem with this is that not all businesses can afford to pay their employees extra money (either up-front or through benefits).

Because of all this, this article is about how to motivate employees without paying them.

What’s in it for me?

The first principle many marketers learn is to always answer one question with everything you do: “What’s in it for me?” The first thing you must do to keep employees productive is to satisfy this same question.

Answer me this: What do your employees get out of you shipping a few extra units, or selling another hundred dollars of merchandise? Will you actually be returning anything to them, or are you just in this for yourself?

The key to satisfying this is to be selfless, even if it is just for a moment.

Talk with them

After deciding what is in it for your employees, have a heart-to-heart. Share your concerns, your worries about what may happen if they perform poorly. Tell them you really need more productivity, because business is at stake. When you do this, you are no longer a pointy-haired boss, but rather have become a human being. Additionally, nobody wants to lose a job. If you think your business may be at risk of closing, tell your employees. They will appreciate the time they have to look for another job (should the need arise) and in turn will work harder to keep things afloat.

What are your ways for keeping employees motivated without money?

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By budgeting, people normally mean balancing spending so that there is as much or more money coming in than leaving. For this kind of budget, however, we are going to use a familiar denomination: percentages.

Take a moment now to write down any financial outcomes sought. They may include placing a substantial down-payment on a home, funding a semester of college for either oneself or a child, or saving up enough money to retire one year early.

Next, we will assign a value to each ending. My personal long-term savings goals are for my own and my partner’s retirement, buying my first home (with some furniture), and having a child (diapers are expensive, after all). My short-term savings goals are for an emergency fund of $1,000, a new pot and pan set, and a KitchenAid.

Anybody versed in personal finance knows about Dave Ramsey’s snowball method of debt repayment. We will use a similar method to gain momentum in meeting savings goals. Short-term goals will receive a hefty priority – say, 50% for me. The short-term goals are broken up as follows:

• Emergency fund – 50%
• New pots and pans – 30%
• KitchenAid – 20%

That means 25% of my total savings will be dedicated to building an emergency fund.

Long-term goals are broken down similarly:

• First home purchase – 80%
• My retirement – 5%
• Pete’s retirement – 10% (His retirement age is closer than mine)
• Children – 5%

The exact amounts may need to be tweaked if I decide something in particular is more important.

As for keeping track of everything, you may choose to go the difficult route and open up separate savings accounts for each individual budget, or you may choose the easy (and easy to screw up, if you’re not careful) method of using an Excel spreadsheet. I, personally, use the latter choice.

How do you budget your savings? Do you just have one account that you contribute to because you feel you should?

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My question for you today is that of where you find your motivation. How do you stay happy when things try to bring you down? How do you take a step toward your goals every day?

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Setting Goals

First, let us establish what is meant by setting goals. A goal is an aim; any time you want to accomplish something, that is a goal. Goals drive actions in meaningful directions and moderate tasks associated with going about one’s day. Setting goals is a process during which one sits down and thinks about every that must or should be accomplished in order to become happier. Goals are end-oriented, rather than being concerned with the path. As such, they can often end with frustration and little progress, unless one takes the necessary extra steps to lay out a chain of actions.

Setting priorities

Priorities are different from goals once the surface has been scratched. Priorities are any and all important things come to mind. If it is important, it is a priority. A goal would be to own a house by 2020. A priority would be providing a safe and stable environment for one’s family.

Another difference is the priorities are not end-oriented. Priorities have no ending, except for death or a change of heart. When one has a priority, it is an on-going task with which one keeps up – something maintained, kept afloat throughout life.

Priorities and goals both drive actions, but do so in different ways.

How to set priorities

First, get into a relaxed state and clear your mind of the day’s influences.

Next, think about what is important to you. Do you want a safe environment? Do you want to get to self-actualization on Maslow’s hierarchy? Write it down.

Finally, considering everything, decide an order of focus. What is the most important to you, and what is the least? Consider these categories: Physical, Mental, Financial, Spiritual, Emotional. Try to have only one highest priority in each, or you may become overwhelmed with the task at hand. Also, try to focus on one category while keeping all in somewhat close balance. Focus efforts, but never let the other weights drop.

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Any regular reader of the One-Year Tightrope and all who follow a lifestyle of planning know that reviewing is one of the most important activities involved in staying organized and productive. Reviews also have the ability to increase motivation both negatively (“I wish I would have…”) and positively (“I am so glad I…”). This is a how-to guide for performing an effective end-of-year review.

Step 1: Preparation

Prepare for your review by going to a quiet place, turning off your phone and television, breathing deeply, and focusing on the task at hand. Clear your mind of all other thoughts and stresses as if you are going to meditate (You are going to meditate on the year, after all). Make sure you are at peace before you continue so that you will get an objective, positive review, rather than one that is negatively affected by bad thoughts. Get out a piece of paper or open a new file on your computer. You will be doing some writing.

Step 2: What were your major achievements?

Begin the review by writing out major achievements and how you completed them. For example, if you got a promotion in March and had worked on getting it since January 1, write down that detail. Try to come up with as many major achievements as possible.

Step 3: What were your minor achievements?

I am certain that while listing major achievements, you recognized many minor achievements. List all of these underneath the major achievements to which they apply, or separately if they are not relevant. Perhaps you finished reading five books or can do a few more crunches than before.

Step 4: What did you learn?

Growth is an achievement all on its own, so write “Growth” as its own setting and below it, write everything you learned and accomplished applicable to your journey in life. Some examples may be understanding a complicated concept in your industry or figuring out your parenting style.

Step 5: How did you fail?

A review is not impartial without listing some negatives. Write down how you managed to fail and what you could or should have done better.

Step 6: How is this good?

Turn your negatives into positives by asking yourself what you can take away from your failures. Did you learn something? Do you now have motivation to do something better next time, after seeing the consequences of your poor performance?

Step 7: What will you do the same?

Was there anything you did this year that was absolutely brilliant? Perhaps you learned a new, positive activity or began a hobby that relaxes you and keeps you sane day in day out.

Step 8: What will you do differently?

Do not “undo” your failures, but rather try to think of how you can live your life better for the next year. Perhaps you will exercise more or try to go to bed by a certain time every night, dedicating your evenings to relaxation and re-energizing your mind. This is similar to your New Year’s resolutions, only now you have a guide to building ones that matter.

Step 9: Put it away

Contrary to popular belief, a list of goals does not necessarily work best when it is seen constantly. If anything, it can be a painful reminder of how far behind schedule you are. Take one goal at a time and work on it gradually, breaking it into small steps on a to-do list. As you finish, check it off and find a new goal. Keep it findable and review it often, but do not focus only on it, or you will become stressed.

What is your advice for completing an end-of-year review? Have you done one before? What are you proud of? What does yours look like? What are your goals for the new year?

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In adopting a new lifestyle, we also shed old activities and adopt new ones. Taking from Stephen Covey’s self-help series, I am here to address the six habits of balanced people – what they do daily to strive for their goals and maintain a happy and healthy life.

They plan ahead

Balanced people know where they are going and where they have come from. They can tell you where they will be in twenty years with the strongest conviction you have ever seen. They have goals and everything they do is a step toward one or another.

They are motivated

They know where to find motivation and how important it is to their success. They never have writers’ block because they can write about anything and everything. They want to succeed and they do, because they have the skills and knowledge necessary to accomplish anything. Those they do not already possess they will learn.

They learn daily

They are constantly on a question for personal development and growth and every day, they accomplish or work on mastering something, even if it’s as small as plucking a few keys on the piano. They keep moving because they know idle hands are not productive. Even their down time means something to them, keeping busy by being laid back and calming down after a long working period.

They are patient

They know that good things come to those who work and wait. They strive for goals, but they know that instant gratification is only another way to become a glutton. You can throw any wait at them and there they will sit, perhaps accomplishing something or another in the mean time, perhaps meditating. Either way, they can and will wait for anything good to come.

They work while they wait

Whether waiting for a bus or waiting for an opportunity to open, they know there are things to be accomplished. They work on these things while they wait patiently for whatever it is they need to move along to the next step. Balanced, successful people are those you see reading books at bus stops, organizing the kitchen while they bake, and meditating when the electricity goes out.

They are organized

Not only are their homes simple and free of clutter, but their minds are, as well. They do everything with a purpose and ensure their steps are always in the right direction. Remember: reaching success is not about who takes the most steps, but rather who steps with the most accuracy.

While not everybody will reach a balanced lifestyle – few people will ever even try with reasonable effort – many can learn from those who set a positive example. It is possible to learn by observation, and that is what should be done in this situation. You do not have to seek out a Yogi, but do have a few positive examples in your life of how you want to live. Good luck, as always.

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This post is not long or informative. It is an announcement. I am embarking on a new journey to try to reclaim my motivation and encouragement from myself. I want to wake up one day excited and happy, just like I used to.

And when I find out how to do this, I will share it with all of you.

What do you do to get yourself motivated? How do you avoid getting discouraged?

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