Self compassion won't kill your motivation

Self compassion won’t kill your motivation.


There seems to be a belief that being gentle or kind to ourselves will lead to complacency.

For those of us in the business world, I like to use this organizational analogy to counter that belief.

There are a few things we generally accept to be true when it comes to employee motivation.

- It’s important for members of a thriving team to feel valued and accepted

- Creating a sense of psychological safety is critical (it’s ok to make mistakes)

- People respond better to reward vs punishment

And we know these things lead to better results in the context of teams and organizations.

Why would we look at our approach to motivating ourselves any differently?

Some questions worth pondering…

- Do you speak to yourself as though you are valued and accepted?

- What’s your go-to inner narrative when you experience failure?

- Are you using fear tactics or punishment to motivate yourself?

Self compassion can help you be the (self) leader you deserve.

Your motivation won’t die, but it WILL change.

Because you’ll no longer be driven by fear / shame.

You’ll be driven by trust in your own goodness and potential.

And that’s going to ripple into all your interactions and enhance your impact.