It has been said that there is a fine line between success and failure. When talking about success, I'm not just talking about the so called rich and famous, but about people in all walks of life who have managed to find purpose and meaning in the work that they do. While there is no one recipe that leads to success and work satisfaction, there are qualities that all successful people seem to have an abundance of, and one of those is motivation.

When you think about the word 'motivation', what comes to mind? For me, it's anything that creates desire, and motivates someone to take action, whether it be the desire to own your own business, be the best in some sports competition or maybe attracting that special someone. If one were to ask you to name several highly motivated individuals, who would you name? While your list is likely to be much different from mine or anyone else's, one trait that they all share is a passion for what they do that provides all the motivation they require.

What do you love to do? I mean what really gives you a charge, something that you have a passion for? One of my pleasures is playing guitar. When I sit down and proceed to make music, I become so enmeshed in the process that I tend to forget about time and my surroundings. When you have a passion for something, it's easy to be motivated. But what about the day to day things that we all must do, such as working at a job that doesn't always provide a lot of inspiration other than paying the bills. Are there things that we can do to help us create a greater sense of work satisfaction while experiencing an increase in motivation?

One of the things that successful people do is they are able to look beyond the tasks that they perform, and are motivated to find or create meaning and purpose in the work that they do. When I was younger, I worked my share of tedious jobs such as landscaping, driving, factory work, etc. In the beginning, I found myself becoming bored quickly, and would leave a job as soon as I became tired of it. It wasn't until I discovered ways to make a job more interesting that I actually was able to enjoy them.

For instance, I once worked for a medical lab, running routes and picking up specimens from Dialysis units. Going in and out of the units, I would see people with all sorts of health problems, in many cases people who are often at the last stage of their life. After a while, I started having conversations with some of the patients, and I found that I looked forward to seeing my regulars. I came to realize that they looked forward to our brief moments together as much as I did, and knowing that I was bringing just a slight bit of joy into their days gave me a sense of satisfaction and purpose that transcended the job that I performed.

What about you? Is there some aspect of your job that you could use to create a greater sense of purpose and thus satisfaction? Are there things that you could do to make yourself more productive? If you get in the habit of looking for ways to improve things around you, you'll not only experience greater work satisfaction, but you will be looked upon as a positive, motivated individual that is an asset to any business or organization.

When it comes to motivation, some will say that you either have it or you don't. While it's not always easy to feel motivated about many things in our life, the reality is that there are things that we can do to help create motivation. One of the most important things that we can do is just changing out attitude. Look for greater meaning or purpose in whatever it is that you are doing. As an unknown writer once said, "motivation comes from within." What motivates you?