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Are you finding it more difficult than usual to get motivated? If so, you can blame it on the pandemic. We’re all experiencing higher stress levels, facing greater uncertainty, and dealing with fleeting motivation. Here’s how you can get you motivation back.
Set goals.
Without something tangible to work towards, it can be hard to stay focused and on track. Setting goals is an easy way to both boost motivation and maintain it.
The key to setting goals is to make them ambitious but achievable. If you set a goal that’s too lofty, you’ll end up frustrated if you aren’t making timely progress towards completing it.
Aim for a goal that pushes you to work hard every day to accomplish it, and that you can take clear steps towards achieving. Break down your large goal into smaller chunks that you can use as milestones. Each time you reach a milestone, that will provide a boost to your motivation.
Do your most annoying or challenging task first thing each day.
Getting the most annoying or challenging task done at the beginning of the day serves two purposes. First, it’s nice to get it out of the way. Second, by doing it early it won’t be weighing on your mind the entire day. Once you’ve accomplished a task of this magnitude, you’ll be more motivated to keep working on other tasks as they’ll feel much easier or simpler in comparison.
Virtually co-work.
Working from home can be lonely, and that can actually put a damper on your motivation. What’s really missing in remote work is the camaraderie of an office – the impromptu breakroom chats, food truck lunches, or drinks after a stressful day. The good news is that it’s possible to replicate some of that camaraderie virtually.
How? By virtual co-working. It’s not quite the same as being together in the office, but it really is nice to work alongside another person. You can work with one other person or make it a group chat, for a couple of hours or the whole day. Simply open up Zoom and work together. Don’t forget to schedule time for coffee breaks and chat like you would if you were all together in the office.
Change up your routine.
If you’re going through every day on autopilot, it’s easy to lose motivation as each day feels the same and they all eventually blend together. With far fewer options to break up our daily routines due to pandemic restrictions, it’s important to create change for yourself.
To get started, aim to change one thing each day. Go for a walk in the morning instead of meditating or try exercising at a different time of day. It doesn’t have to be a huge change, the act of change is what really makes a difference. Then go one step further and adapt your routine so that each day doesn’t have the exact same schedule.
Your motivation probably won’t come rushing back all at once, but if you focus on incorporating each of these four actions every day, you’ll be on the right path to finding motivation again.