Your brain works best when it’s intrinsically motivated.

But most recruiting tasks are extrinsically forced upon you.

Either you’re mustering your own external motivation (I have to recruit to stay in business), or others in your organization are providing the motivation (My boss is telling me I have to recruit).

According to Harvard researchers, this puts you in a tough spot.

At our jobs, we will inevitably face activities that don’t naturally interest us or that we perceive as boring, irrelevant, uncomfortable, or too difficult.

If we don’t figure out how to turn these activities into interesting and challenging problems to solve, we’ll struggle to complete tasks in a timely and reliable manner, sabotaging our own success and growth at work.

How do you convert your recruiting responsibilities into tasks you feel internally motivated to accomplish?

Here are three mindset hacks to help you feel more intrinsically motivated when recruiting:

Reconnect to the bigger picture.  I’m guessing you’re intrinsically motivated to succeed in your current role.   When you start a recruiting time block, remind yourself of the contribution recruiting makes to that success.

Perform easy tasks right away. Collect some easy wins in your recruiting time block.  When you check items off your to-do lists, feel-good hormones are released in your brain. This makes you feel accomplished, which makes the task more interesting and rewarding, which in turn, makes your more motivated to do it.

Avoid too much repetition.   Make a few calls then switch tactics and send a few texts.  Prospect for a while, then reach out to your agents or influencers asking for referrals. By switching tasks frequently, your tasks will feel more interesting.

Of course, there also be times when you just need to muscle through the tasks.

But that can’t be your only tactic if you want to win in the long run.

Intrinsic motivation is powerful, and it’s worth tapping into.