How to Stay Motivated When You’d Rather Stay in Bed
Have you ever found yourself with a mile-long to do list, deadlines looming, friends and family looking for your attention and all you want to do is curl up and hide? Is this a rhetorical question? Of course you have! We all have! Especially now with a global pandemic, a presidential election, social unrest, unemployment, layoffs, pay cuts, bonus checks evaporating. It’s enough to make you set the snooze button to the year 2021. It’s a nice thought, but we have to keep moving forward. But, how? It’s not easy, even for me who bills herself as a productivity expert! I do, however, have a few tricks up my sleeve for staying motivated.
The first step to building your motivation tactics is figuring out what motivates you. Is it money, power, recognition, helping others, giving back? When you understand which motivators resonate with you it’ll be easier to drum up ways to keep yourself motivated. Think about it, when you’re managing staff, Management Principles 101 will tell you to figure out what motivates each member of your team and lean into those things. We have to do that same exercise for ourselves.
Here are the ways that I stay motivated, hopefully they can help you too:
Music – Is there any easier way to get pumped up than by listening to your favorite song? The sports world has the use of music as a motivator down to a science. This is probably simplest trick and easiest to execute. Make a playlist of songs that make you feel good and dispense as needed!
Visual Prompts – I’m a big believer of visual cues as inspiration and, dare I say, vision. You don’t need to have a vision board but at least have a mental picture of people you admire, places you’d like to visit and things you’d like to achieve/buy/do.
Mandatory Downtime – Give yourself an hour, a day even, to be a slug. I know lots of business people who never seem to take a minute off. I admire their ability to always be moving, closing deals and growing their businesses. One thing they all have in common is they take time for their workouts or walks or meditation. They may always be physically moving, but mentally they’re giving themselves time to disconnect.
Objective Reviews – Feedback from others is a powerful motivator. We are all our own worst critics, so take some time to check in with a mentor or a friend and get their point of view on YOU. There have been many times when I thought I’ve sucked at something or I was failing miserably and then someone will tell me how I’ve helped them solve a problem or kept them calm during a chaotic work situation. These are powerful reminders that people see us in a way more positive light than we see ourselves.
Optimism – And speaking of positivity, skewing towards optimism is a surefire way to stay motivated. There are dozens of articles on how negative thinking affects the brain and how chronic negativity will ultimately reduce our ability to see things in a positive light. If optimism and positivity don’t come naturally for you, you must practice and make it a habit. Do those daily affirmations or write down one positive thing about your day. It’s impossible to completely banish negativity but these simple acts can shift you toward more positive thinking.
What tricks can you add to the list? Let’s discuss!