This is a guest blog by Gina Covarrubias
An unbalanced engineering career can materialize in several ways, and none of us are immune. Whether we experience too much overwhelm or not enough motivation, here are a few ways we can preserve more career balance.
Adjust Your Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivations
We have many motivations for working, which is a great thing! On a high level, we can categorize these motivations as extrinsic and intrinsic.
Extrinsic motivations are driven by things outside of yourself. For example, most of us are motivated to work for money and benefits. Sometimes we’re motivated by new titles or additional respect. These are examples of behaviors fueled by external paybacks or rewards.
It’s a wonderful system; we love getting paid to perform meaningful work that serves the world.
However, there is a danger of implementing too many extrinsic motivations. They can only carry a career so far because emphasis on external paybacks and rewards dismisses its complement—internal paybacks and rewards. How do we generate internal paybacks and rewards? By creating intrinsic motivations.
[Read more…] about Mastering Career Balance: A Blueprint for Engineers
After a decade-plus of leading and managing programs, there’s one thing I don’t recall ever saying – or hearing someone else say: “gee, I need to find balance in my projects.” I didn’t philosophically, or physically, sit down to figure out how to balance my time, my focus, and my energy between the various projects I was running.
