How to Keep Working When You’re Just Not Feeling It

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all well. It’s the Holiday Season and I am usually more inclined to blog about shopping, gifts ideas, and everything in between… But this year, I found myself wanting to focus a little more on self-development thus the reason I blog more about topics that are related to that. I figured that maybe those articles will bring you new perspectives going into the new year with more confidence and motivation. Talking about Motivation, motivating yourself is hard. In fact, I often compare it to one of the exploits of the fictional German hero Baron Munchausen: Trying to sustain your drive through a task, a project, or even a career can sometimes feel like pulling yourself out of a swamp by your own hair. We seem to have a natural aversion to the persistent effort that no amount of caffeine or inspirational posters can fix.

But effective self-motivation is one of the main things that distinguishes high-achieving professionals from everyone else. So how can you keep pushing onward, even when you don’t feel like it? Today, I am sharing some simple tips that you can start practicing right away that will make an immediate impact on your mood.

Self-motivation is one of the hardest skills to learn, but it’s critical to your success.

Consider your work in context.

Even dream jobs come with their share of frustrations, as well as the occasional assignment that, while less than glamorous, can’t be ignored. In such moments, it can be helpful to remember that it took some effort to get where you are – plus, if you have other ambitions down the road, crushing your current objectives might help your path forward.

Break overwhelming tasks up into smaller pieces.

This approach works with many daunting undertakings; the sooner you replace the impossibly vast project in your mind with a list of discrete pieces you and your team can handle, the sooner you can start crossing items off and making headway.

Set deadlines, even if they’re arbitrary.

Beyond the tried-and-true axiom that work expands to fill the time allotted for it, this one is especially helpful when you’re part of a team and need one person’s work to finish before a colleague can incorporate it into their next step. Feeling like part of a well-oiled machine can inspire your coworkers, and it helps to bypass the grating hurry-up-and-wait feeling that saps motivation.

Exude good vibes.

Sometimes you have to fake it until you make it, particularly when you’re trying to up your team’s enthusiasm. By adopting a let’s-make-this-happen attitude and not just brusquely urging folks to work faster, you can energize the people around you—and perhaps find yourself energized in kind.

Reward yourself—and your colleagues.

Give yourself something to look forward to. Depending on what you’re trying to get motivated to do, the rewards can range from smaller treats, like a trip to the breakroom for a fresh cup of coffee as soon as you finish grinding through emails, to larger indulgences, like finally buying yourself that fancy pair of shoes you’ve been coveting just as soon as you ship your current project. This also applies to others. When your coworker turns around outstanding revisions in record time, buy them lunch or send flowers. In fact, when you’re trying to inspire the people around you, we have one bonus item

Say thank you.

Those two words have tremendous power to do good. Whether someone helped rid your presentation of an awkward malaprop or kindly offered a needed referral, it’s worth showing your gratitude. Just hearing someone say “Hey, you’re doing a good job” can go a long way to hearten people. 

Be open to criticism.

Whatever you’re working on, you want to deliver it on time and without much hassle—but more than that, when you feel driven or want to help drive others, you’re interested in how the process could run better next time. Google CEO Sundar Pichai recommends taking this as a learning opportunity: “At some point in your life, you have to work with people where you feel a bit insecure. That’s essential because that means you’re working with people who are better than you and who are pushing you. If you actually feel very secure in what you do, that means you’re doing something comfortable and you’re not pushing yourself.”

Step outside your comfort zone.

Sometimes a lack of motivation stems from feeling underutilized. Finding ways to try new things could be the trick to breaking out of your funk—and the same goes for colleagues who might appreciate a new challenge. That is how you grow.

As usual, comments and feedback are welcome. I always enjoy reading them and I can’t wait to know more about how you stay motivated at work. What are the tips that have worked for you and why do you think they work? It may help me and some other readers by bringing new ideas to explore.

Thanks for stopping by.

XoXo