Motivation
BusinessTips for staying motivated in your work, even when you’re not in the mood!
What Is Motivation? Motivation is the desire to act and move toward a goal. It’s the difference between waking up before dawn to pound the pavement and lazing around the house all day. It’s the crucial element in setting and attaining one’s objectives—and research shows that people can influence their own levels of motivation and self-control. Motivation is rather elusive, isn’t it? Some days you feel it, and other days you can’t grab a measly ounce of it no matter how hard you try. We’ve all been there, and today I’d like to give you some tips for digging up that lost motivation and getting a job not just done—but completed with a sense of passion!
-Feed your brain each day – READ!
Motivation starts upstairs. New ideas and new ways of looking at things will keep you fresh. Make sure you carve out time in your day to read. Read for at least one hour a day. If that’s too much, start with 20 minutes a day, and do it for one month to create the habit. Develop a belief that reading is the quickest way to success. It will make reading a breeze, and extremely fun and rewarding. The most successful people in the world attribute their success to reading a lot of books!
-Create realistic, small goals.
Of course, you should have a really big goal or as we say at Planet Beach, a BHAG (a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal). But make sure you break down that goal into bite-sized, consumable goals. This way you’ll feel like you’re making progress in your journey, and you’ll also feel a sense of accomplishment when you complete the smaller goals. Completing a large project is daunting when you don’t know where to begin. How can you finish if you don’t even know where you’re starting? So, rather than focusing on a large, scary goal, take one thing at a time, and break the big goal into ideas you can digest one at a time.
-Set a quit time and take breaks!
I tend to stray from the typical 8 to 5 workday, and global accessibility through emails and Skype makes it more than easy to have a 24-hour workday. But it’s important to recognize when enough is enough. Set a realistic quitting time for yourself, and stick to it most days of the week. Stop answering emails after 8 PM, or take weekends off. You’ll feel more refreshed and more productive when you allow yourself some down time. Also, short breaks to refresh your brain and even stretch your legs a bit will keep your mind and body in tone throughout a long work day! It’s unrealistic to feel energized all the time. You need to give yourself a rest, and if that means giving yourself a specified set time to unplug or turn away from the demands of your job, then do it. It’s likely to help you perform harder and smarter in the hours that you do a lot of work.
-Stay or get organized!
You don’t have time to be looking for “those papers” over and over again. Make life easier on yourself.
-Pull the trigger. Be action oriented.
Don’t just sit there; do something! You can correct mistakes. You can’t correct actions never taken. To get motivated to start doing something, from my own experience, the most effective trick for me is to just do it (sounds trite, but it works). As soon as you think something needs to be done, jump into it, doing it immediately (of course, provided the conditions are feasible). You must not think about anything else, suppressing all other thoughts, keeping your mind blank, acting like a robot. Yes, it sounds weird, but it does work! Otherwise, you will debate whether you should do it now or there were too many issues with doing it, or there are other more pleasurable and exciting things to do over this boring task. Instead of waiting around, willing yourself to feel motivated, what if you just went ahead and started doing the work you know you need to do? Dive into the project and trust that the focus will be what you need.
-Be just as serious & motivated about your time away from work.
You know what they say about “all work and no play.” Set aside time for yourself and your loved ones to travel, relax, and enjoy new experiences. As you’ve probably heard us say before at Planet Beach & HOTWORX, “Work hard! Play hard!”
Sources: www.psychologytoday.com,www.themuse.com, blogs.constantcontact.com
Written By: Paige Stuart, Planet Beach Brand Manager & Franchisee
