You’re always playing hide-and-seek with self-motivation. It’s a game that you hate playing when you’re the loser, but you love playing it when you’re the winner. You know it’s somewhere in there (you generated that motivation all on your own, remember?), but when you really don’t want to do something, it flees from your sight before you can even process it. The next time you’re faced with something that you’re dreading, try out one (or all) of these tips to get that self-motivation back up.
1) Reframe the Way You Look at it
If you view it as hard work or something you utterly despise doing, you’ll hate every second of doing it. What if, instead, you look at this task as a step along the path of your big-picture goals?
2) Make Sure it Matters
You’re sewing a blanket of big dreams, and you get wrapped up in a thread of something that doesn’t matter anymore…What do you do? You take a step back and look at everything from a birds-eye view. If you’re focusing time and energy on a task that doesn’t matter anymore (even if it did at one point), you should put it on the backburner. If it matters down the road, come back around to it.
3) Break Your Goals into Small, Do-able Steps
People tend to get caught up in the magnitude of their responsibilities, and it feels nearly impossible. To digest what’s really important, break down your tasks and prioritize them. After you attack them in order, you’ll be significantly farther along in your process than if you tried to take on one behemoth of a task.
4) Take Breaks and Know When to Stop
If you’ve been staring at the computer and typing so fast that your fingers are numb, you’ve reached a new level of red flags. Everyone needs breaks every now and then – you’re not a failure for taking time to regroup. In fact, you’re ensuring that you’ll perform better in the long run. While you’re monitoring when to take a break, make sure you stay in tune with yourself about when you need to quit for the day. Your work will still be there in the morning, so don’t worry about that. You need to go home, rest, and regroup so that you are rejuvenated for the next day.
5) Celebrate When You Accomplish Something
No matter how big or small your “win” may be, celebrate it! It’s hard to keep generating self-motivation when you feel like you’re not accomplishing anything. Acknowledge your hard work and reward yourself accordingly.
The next time you’re in a grueling game of hide-and-seek with your motivation, remember that it’s always right around the corner. It may take more work to find it but sticking to these positive guidelines will improve your overall work ethic and ensure that you capture your “opponent.” It’s a win-win!
