The Key to Overcoming Doubt

What drives you when the going gets tough? In this episode of "Power Your Research," I reflect on tackling moments of doubt through the lens of intrinsic motivation. 

Follow Dr. Sheena Howards' socials:
@drsheenahoward | Power Your Research 

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:00

And in talking to him , you know , I get to ask him you know what keeps you motivated ?

Speaker 1 0:05

Why are you still ?

Speaker 1 0:06

You could just sit down , chill , kick your feet up with a Mai Tai on a beach somewhere every day , but he doesn't do that because the reason why he's doing it has nothing to do with money , because he's actually spending money doing all of these things , and so the thing that he said to me is like he still has more lives he wants to impact .

Speaker 1 0:22

He still has things that he wants to impact . He still has things that he wants to do , and it's not about the money , it's about the legacy that he wants to leave . I don't want my work to be stuck behind an academic paywall . I want to leave a legacy . I want to reach my potential and I want to change lives . This podcast , power your Research , is my attempt to help the smartest people in the world do that very thing . My hope is that you use the lessons I share to make more money than what your higher ed job can ever pay you . I've done it , my clients have done it , and so can you . My hope is that you'll apply what you learn here and one day join the Power your Research program where you can work with me one-on-one .

Speaker 1 1:23

I want to talk a little bit about staying motivated . I was on a call with a friend the other day and we were both talking about those moments that I think that we all have , where we're like what is the purpose of me working so hard ? You know , like does any of this even matter ? Why am I grinding it out and pushing myself to do all of these things ? And for the most part , I am just an intrinsically motivated person . It doesn't take me much to get up and do the work that I need to do . But , like everyone else , I have these moments where I'm like what is the point ? Like why am I running two businesses and I'm a full time professor and I'm trying to raise this kid and all of this , and the times that I feel like that I fall back on three things . That helps to keep me motivated , and I want to share those three things with you because I think that it will help someone out there . The first is I remind myself of the parts of the things that I do that I would do regardless of the money , right ? So showing up here to give information is something if I had millions of dollars and I didn't need any money at all . I still want to talk to people and give them advice and help them get to the level that I had reached .

Speaker 1 2:36

I would want to do that and it's interesting because I get to have a lot of conversations with DMC from Run DMC and he's a hip hop legend . He has all the money . He doesn't have to be out here doing all of these panels and starting new ventures , like his cookies and his graphic novel line and documentaries that he does , and talking to youth and foster kids . He doesn't have to do all that . And in talking to him I get . I get to ask him you know what keeps you motivated ? Why are you still ? You could just sit down , chill , kick your feet up with a Mai Tai on a beach somewhere every day , but he doesn't do that because the reason why he's doing it has nothing to do with money , because he's actually spending money doing all of these things . And so the thing that he said to me is like he still has more lives he wants to impact , he still has things that he wants to impact , he still has things that he wants to do , and it's not about the money , it's about the legacy that he wants to leave . It's about the lives that he knows he can still impact . And so what parts of the thing that you are doing would you do no-transcript Again for me ?

Speaker 1 3:48

I show up , I give information . I would do this even if I had all the money in the world , because I want to help people . I am a teacher at heart . I can't know something and not teach other people how to do it , because I wanna see other people be successful and win , right ? I don't wanna hoard information . So that's the first thing . I'd say hey everyone , real quick . I don't run any ads on this podcast , so I have to rely on word of mouth . If this podcast has helped you in any way , please share it with a friend and follow me , dr Sheena Howard , on LinkedIn , where I give more free content on building your brand as an academic . If you tell me you came to my LinkedIn from the podcast , I'll make sure I accept your request .

Speaker 1 4:33

The second thing is know your purpose and mission . What's your purpose and mission for doing this work right ? And this is going to be personal to you . This is why I spend so much time in my content and in the Power your Research program . The first thing I have people do is follow this exercise , write out your purpose statement , put it on the wall and make this the essence of why you do the things that you do . So , the days that you don't feel like showing up , you know why you're doing it , and that reason cannot solely be for money , because just getting money is not going to help you pull through the days that you do not feel motivated . The reason has to be deeper , bigger , more important , based on your values , and that's going to be personal to you .

Speaker 1 5:08

The third way to stay motivated on those days where you're questioning everything is to reward yourself . Today , before I started any work , I went and got a foot massage for 40 minutes . A lot of times when I have big things to accomplish , I'll say I'll work on this for five hours straight , and if I do that and accomplish the things that I want to accomplish in this five hour block , I'm going to reward myself with something , and I , I it's very important to me to reward myself , to reward myself with something healthy . You know , a foot massage , a full body massage , um juice that I like you know something that I wouldn't typically have , but that that is actually good for me . So I used to reward myself with things like ice cream or a Snickers bar , but as I get older , I'm understanding that rewarding myself with something that's going to actually be good for me is better . I'll reward myself with a one hour walk to just walk and think with my thoughts .

Speaker 1 6:04

I'll reward myself with a day off . I do this today . Tomorrow I'm just going to take the day off and just be free , and so I think that we all have these days where we're questioning why we're even doing it , and those are the three things that work for me every time . And also , just give yourself grace and don't be so hard on yourself , like you don't got to accomplish everything in one day or even one year . Sometimes we want things to happen in a year that really are supposed to take like 10 years to happen , and so just give yourself some grace in that regard . I hope this helps someone out there . If you have any questions or comments , leave them . I always circle back to answer your questions . You .