It’s just awful to be running on empty. From your gas tank, to your stomach, empty is unpleasant and ultimately ends poorly if you don’t do something about it. You’ve learned this truth and are attentive to schedule your fill ups.

The same applies to filling up your motivation tank. Expecting to be motivated without paying any attention to it is silly. It’s a daily effort that has multiplying effects. So why do you become lax? Why do you let days go by, ignoring your motivational emptiness? Make the time and effort to activate your motivational drivers.

First you have to know what your drivers are. They are specific to you and they are internal. Yours may be a desire to contribute to something greater than yourself. It may be a cause to which you are committed. It could be the simple enjoyment of what you do: the challenge itself or the employment of your knowledge and skill to solve problems. Or a sense of connection you feel with whom you work—making a difference together. The ultimate test is that you receive a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment when you engage them. Whichever is yours, it should become a mission for you. Identify your drivers!

Then you have to regularly (spelled d-a-i-l-y) connect what drives you with what you do. How does what you do matter, in light of your drivers? When you remember the “why” to what you do, your drive sustains itself through the difficult and weary times. How do you remind yourself that your life and work are important, beyond your paycheck?

Make sure you take time away from your work and direct yourself to other interests, people and experiences. These diversions focus attention away from the intensity for a time and allows your drivers to cool down and rejuvenate themselves.

Finally, pause to remember the good things you’ve done and the people for whom you have made life better. They become trophies and memories that simply reinforce and reactivate your drivers into a powerful, reinforcing cycle.

Take responsibility for your own motivation. You will be unstoppable if you do.