5 tips for staying motivated – even if you are really not feeling like it!
Celebrate and reward your successes, even the smallest ones!
Nothing is more demotivating, than the constant feeling of failure and not being good enough. If you constantly hold back on rewarding yourself, waiting for the arrival of some exceptional, enormous and totally unexpected success, then this waiting, first of all may never end, and secondly, even when it finally arrives, you may still find a way to diminish it. Not every day will be good, there are always seem to be obstacles on our way, so it is the joy and celebration of small successes that will help us to continue to pursue our goals and maintain a positive and motivated attitude towards work.
Set a time limit for feeling down.
Experiencing a low mood and feeling down happen to everyone and keeping these emotions inside is not good for your mental health. However, it is rarely mentioned that prolonging and remaining in a bad mood for longer than you really need is also not healthy for you. You should try to find a way to reset and let go of negative emotions. It could be by listening to music, playing sports or talking to a friend, telling them all about your worries to blow off steam. While it is right to give yourself time to cope with your negative emotions, it is also very important to know how to end this state of being without coming back to it. Then you can start working again with the new energy and feeling inspired again.
Do not worry twice!
Most of us make the mistake of starting being worried and stressed about something that hasn’t even happened to us yet. And although it is a natural human reaction, it is really worth trying to distance yourself from these thoughts. Worrying about a situation before it has even happened doesn’t benefit you in any way at all. If you do not have any power over it, just waiting for the results of some decision, try to let go of experiencing all these negative emotions in advance. Because if something negative does happen in the end, then you will still be absolutely capable of worrying about it, won’t you? It is simply unnecessary to experience these emotions twice! Especially during the times when you have a lot on your plate, in the end the state of constant worry may leave you feeling hopeless and utterly exhausted.
Create a very detailed to-do list!
Even if you have a lot of tasks to finish that day and you don’t even know if you will manage to do it all, writing down all the tasks, or actually crossing them out from the list, can definitely improve your motivation. Because, if the only task on the list is the biggest and the most difficult one and you will still not be able to solve it, the day would seem like a total failure. But when the list includes even the smallest tasks, such as removing an unnecessary folder from your computer or printing a document, the feeling of crossing those tasks off the list can help you feel a lot more productive. It also gives you a sense of control over your day and avoid feeling overwhelmed too easily.
Keep track of your progress and set accurate timelines!
When trying to stay motivated, it is important to closely follow your progress or achievements and compare them against the previously set time frame. Knowing this is crucial to know whether certain activities absorb too much of your time, to the point where it becomes unprofitable to continue doing them. While working on a big project, you can easily lose the sense of how much time is spent on certain processes and finally end up with no chance to meet the deadline. That could for example mean enduring financial losses or losing the trust of your customers. Many different paid and completely free of charge tools are now available to help you measure the time spent on tasks, from simple Microsoft Excel sheets, Sticky Notes to more advanced tools such as BillTime.io. BillTime.io is a free software, which allows you to accurately measure the time spent on each task, as well as create reports that will help you make your work even more efficient, helping you stay as motivated as ever in the future!