No matter the job, even if you love what you do, you will have days of decreased motivation. You are human, and this is natural. However, adopting a few tips to stay motivated can give you the boost you need to get going and work harder.
The following are seven things to try to help motivate yourself to work more:
#1: Lower Your Expectations
Don’t put too much work on your schedule for the day. Be realistic about what you can handle and produce. Remember, just because you are busy or do a lot in one day does not mean you are productive – the quality is important too.
#2: Create Healthy Incentives
Instead of focusing on the work, look forward to the reward. Visualize what it will feel like and look like as you embrace your reward for finally getting more work done. If there is no real benefit for you to get the work done faster or produce more work, you are unlikely to achieve it.
#3: Determine Your Productive Hours
Work during the hours you work the best. You can’t expect yourself to do well all day long. Test out different times throughout your day to see which hours work the best. For example, if you rise early naturally, get to work right away. Don’t waste your good hours.
#4: Learn to Push Through Anyways
There will be days where you won’t feel like it. But unfortunately, this will always be a part of the life journey. Sometimes, getting to work even when you don’t want to can make all the difference. It takes just a few minutes of being uncomfortable or pushing through it to get comfortable and get the momentum going.
#5: Spread It Out
Don’t work all day long. Instead, break it up into ninety-minute sessions or pair it up with activities you enjoy. For example, work for an hour and a half in the morning and then take a break to go on a nice walk. Motivation will not happen if your day is only busy with the things you don’t want to do.
#5: Maximize Your Workspace
Be sure your workspace is optimized for work and only work. Don’t allow distractions or things to get in your way. Make sure it is organized and easy to get to so the transition from personal life to work is smooth and relaxed.
#6: Start with What Interests You the Most
Dive into the part you enjoy or find the easiest to complete. Doing what you enjoy most will make any task or day feel less overwhelming and start you off in the right direction. Of course, the hardest part is just getting started, but you also won’t want to stop once you get going.
#7: Highlight Your Consequences
Finally, use fear to your advantage. If you don’t get to work or start producing more, what will be the outcome? Missed promotion or increased business revenue? Either of these choices is not something you want to miss.
Motivation is something you have to find, and it’s personal to you. Give each of these strategies a try for increased motivation and success.
