Have you ever had those moments where you felt so productive and …well sorta like this:
But soon after the spark wears off and you are left feeling, well, exactly like this:
This is exactly how I felt today. Yesterday I was so energised and couldn’t wait to get cracking on my “to do” list. It helps that I was looking forward to the Weekly Pep Talk, it always puts me in a great mood.
But then today, completely different story. I’m ready to call it quits and it’s not even 5pm yet!
And this is a fact of life. No matter who you are or what job you have, there will be moments of flow and moments of resistance.
There’ll be times when it’ll feel easy to motivate yourself and times when the thought of motivation alone is enough to make you want to sleep for a whole week.
Unfortunately, when you are a game changer like me and have big plans, there is no time to let lack of motivation halt your success.
So – what’s a girl to do? Shake it off!
Here are my top 5 tips to getting productive!
- Take a break.
Go breathe some fresh air, drink a glass of water and physically move out of the room where you are working. Give yourself a bit of distance for a few minutes. Think of this like a pit stop. The race is still on, you are still on the clock so fuel up and then get back in there with a renewed sense of energy (and maybe 4 new tyres).
- Inject some fun into whatever it is you are doing.
Look at the pictures I’ve put in this blog post. It’s not what I normally do and, for the record, I love writing so I don’t normally need to psyche myself up for a blog post. But today I just needed to giggle and bring some light hearted humour so this blog post is brought to you by Memegenerator.net. You are welcome.
- Do 10 minutes on, 10 minutes off.
If the thought of sitting down and tackling a task for an hour seems overwhelming, then break it down. Approach it like a sprint – go hard out for 10 minutes then have a break (for equal or lesser time). After the break, go again. You might find that in a few rounds time, you find your momentum and reclaim your lost mojo.
- Turn off social media and other distractions.
There are a bazillion apps to help with this and so if you need that extra level of support, download one of them and put a freeze on facebook for a few hours. If you are a little bit more disciplined, simply log off your social media sites and make a vow to not return until you are done.
- Eat an apple and move your body for a few minutes.
I read somewhere that eating an apple is just as effective as drinking coffee in waking you up. Now, I can’t remember where I read that and I’m sure a quick google search could prove me wrong. BUT, I have found that eating an apple helps to perk me up a bit and, when combined with a dance break, I feel much more productive and in the zone than before. So give it a go and see if that works for you.
We all go through cycles of feeling productive and then feeling the complete opposite. Just remember that all of those emotions are temporary. We are in a constant state of change. If you are getting frustrated at your lack of motivation, just stop and tell yourself “this too shall pass”. The worst thing to do is kick yourself when you are down. Nothing is a bigger motivation killer than negative talk. So just don’t do it, ok?
So now over to you. What do you do when you feel yourself lacking motivation? How do you pump yourself up to get back on the job? And which of the above tips do you think you could implement today and see dramatic results?
If you know someone who needs some productivity hacks, then send them this article. And don’t forget to stop by my facebook page and sign up for my Weekly Pep Talk, I’ve heard it is a great tool for motivation.