Work Motivation

If you listen to nothing else on performing at your highest level, listen to these ten articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you focus on what matters, manage your energy and attention, and achieve remarkable results. This book will inspire you to improve on your weaknesses, not just your strengths; rise above the pack; take care of your physical health for sustained mental performance; understand what motivates you; use short-term goals to achieve long-term aspirations; and inspire others.

Millions of people are afraid of work. The situations they fear may be different: public speaking (e.g., presentations and speeches), meetings, conference calls, new assignments, performance reviews, promotions or praise, client consultations, team projects, and so on. But the feeling is often the same: some combination of obsessive worry, fear of being noticeably nervous, clammy hands, racing thoughts, sweating, blushing, heart palpitations, trouble breathing, and more.

Virtually everything we think and do is influenced by the questions we ask ourselves - from "What should I wear?" to "What should I do with my life?" Our self-esteem, relationships, and careers are all profoundly affected by these questions. Dr. Marilee Adams introduces "QuestionThinking," an easy-to-use methodology for transforming thinking, action, and results through intentional and skillful question asking.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illnesses in the world. But in our workplaces, anxiety has been a hidden problem—there in plain sight but ignored. Until now. The Anxious Achiever is a book with a mission: to normalize anxiety and leadership. As leadership expert and self-proclaimed anxious achiever Morra Aarons-Mele argues, anxiety is built into the very nature of leadership. It can—and should—be harnessed into a force for good.

You've heard again and again that getting rich means working hard and being willing to put in long hours, often at the expense of everything else in your life. The 6-Minute Work Day is here to dispel that myth.

Ready to achieve what so many want, but so few have? Achieving 200 consecutive squats is an incredible show of strength that very few ever manage to accomplish.

For over two decades, Spencer Johnson has been inspiring and entertaining millions with his simple yet insightful stories of work and life that speak directly to the heart and soul. The Present will help you focus on what will make you happy and successful in your work and in your personal life.

Today, even as so many of us spend hours in front of screens and in the virtual world, there is a growing movement that recognizes the power in the personal, the imperfect, the handmade. Eric Gorges, a metal shaper, taps into that hunger to get back to what's "real" through visits with the fellow artisans he has profiled for his popular public television program. In this book, he tells their stories and shares the collective wisdom of calligraphers, potters, stone carvers, glassblowers, engravers, wood workers, and more while celebrating the culture they've created.

Peaks and Valleys is a story of a young man who lives unhappily in a valley until he meets an old man who lives on a peak, and it changes his work and life forever. Eventually, he comes to understand how he can use the old man's remarkable principles and practical tools in good and bad times and becomes more calm and successful himself.

We all wish we had more time to pause and reflect about small decisions and big goals - and everything in between. But since we live and work in a vortex of tasks, meetings, decisions, and serious responsibilities, we rarely get the chance to step back. In this practical guide, best-selling author and Harvard Business School Professor Joseph Badaracco argues that you don't need long periods of solitude and tranquility to reflect well.

There are only two paths in life: average and awesome. The average path is easy because all you have to do is nothing. The awesome path is more challenging, because things like fear only bother you when you do work that matters. The good news is Start gives listeners practical, actionable insights to be more awesome, more often.

Power is one of the most misunderstood - and therefore vilified - concepts in our society. Many assume power is predetermined by personality or wealth, or that it’s gained by strong-arming others. You might even write it off as “dirty” and want nothing to do with it. But by staying away from power, you give it up to someone else who may not have your best interest in mind. We must understand and use our power to have impact, and pioneering researchers Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro provide the playbook for doing so in Power, for All.

In The Best Place to Work, award-winning psychologist Ron Friedman, Ph.D. uses the latest research from the fields of motivation, creativity, behavioral economics, neuroscience, and management to reveal what really makes us successful at work. Combining powerful stories with cutting edge findings, Friedman shows leaders at every level how they can use scientifically-proven techniques to promote smarter thinking, greater innovation, and stronger performance.

This book offers practical wisdom on discovering your true purpose, professionally and in life in general, in the form of a business fable by Jon Gordon, the best-selling author of The Energy Bus and Soup. Nobody captures the deeper meaning of business like Jon Gordon, and The Seed is his most searching and significant book yet. Whatever your profession, take this insightful look at the purpose behind work, and plant the seed of inspiration in your life!

As a creature of habit, I love to work out everyday. But when my normal trainer was replaced by the gorgeously seductive Cara, I found that change could be so good. My second Dear Evie audiobook taught me to broaden my horizons and explore all new things.

In The Fred Factor, Mark Sanborn illuminates the simple steps each of us can take to transform our own lives from the ordinary into the extraordinary. Through stories about Fred and others like him, Sanborn reveals four basic "how to" principles that will help us bring fresh energy and creativity to our life and work.

You work hard. You put in the hours. Yet, you feel like you are constantly treading water with "good work" that keeps you going but never quite moves you ahead. Or worse, you are mired in "bad work" - endless meetings and energy-draining bureaucratic traps. Do More Great Work gets to the heart of the problem: Even the best performers are spending less than a fraction of their time doing "great work" - the kind of innovative work that pushes us forward, stretches our creativity, and truly satisfies us.

As a workplace strategist and business coach, Erica Keswin has spent over 20 years working with top business leaders and executives to build successful organizations that honor relationships. Featuring case studies from top brands such as, Lyft, Starbucks, Mogul, and SoulCycle, to name a few, Bring Your Human to Work distills the key practices of the most human companies into applicable advice that any business leader can use to build a “human workplace”.

We've long been told, "Put your head down, do good work, and eventually someone will notice you." But that limiting and diminishing advice doesn't hold up in the noise and pace of these transformative times. The reality is, no one cares about your future the way you do. If you want to achieve remarkable results, it's up to you to talk about your successes and accomplishments.

We've long been told our ability to succeed depends on our IQ, talent, education level, gender, job title, or when and where we were born. Great Work turns that conventional thinking on its head to reveal that innovation can come from anyone, anywhere.