Teachers' motivation and the conditions that support their resilience to sustain motivation in the profession impact on their decision-making and outcomes for students. Yet a less commonly explored issue in educational research is the interdependence of the contextual influences on being a teacher and those teachers' thoughts and behaviours. This research deployed a qualitative inquiry approach to investigate how teachers' causal attributions about their perceived experiences indicate varying levels of external and internal motivation. The data extracts from semi-structured interviews with six Australian teachers provided insight into how they appraised the complexities, challenges and contradictions that were inherent in the work that they performed in their profession. Thematic analysis was used to deconstruct and interpret the teachers' narratives that reflected their inward feelings about how they practised emotional regulation, developed an open approach to change, recognised the pressures inherent in different stages in a teaching career and facilitated a work-life balance to manage the external and personal demands. The conceptually framed and exploratory discussion proposes that how teachers attribute causes in response to multifaceted, potentially difficult and at times competing events and issues in the workplace can be interpreted along a motivational continuum to identify resilient strengths and required support.