I'm pretty sure we've all been asked this one in a job interview and that we've all got a pre-prepared answer ready to impress a potential employer, but what is the honest answer?

I've recently been asked this by a manager and automatically spouted out the job interview line, but it got me thinking about what actually does motivate me to do a good job, other than the desire to get paid...

It's pretty easy to see the external things that motivate us. Being praised, bonuses, pay rises and promotions are all rewards that drive many of us to work harder, but these are really only short term motivators - i.e. once the reward is achieved, the motivation tends to wain as the extra effort was only in order to receive the reward.

Intrinsic or internal motivators are a bit harder to pinpoint. If you are intrinsically motivated you work hard because you want to; because it's challenging or satisfying to do so. This form of motivation is usually far more successful and more likely to make you jump out of bed in the morning raring to go.

I think over the last few years I've become distracted with external motivators (although if my boss is reading this pay rises, bonuses and tickets to the races are always appreciated), and lost touch with what really motivated me to keep coming to work - I genuinely do find it challenging and satisfying to be a great 'right hand woman'.

So what motivates you at work - is it power, prestige, recognition, achievement, security, money or something else entirely?