Staying motivated in un-motivating times

7 Sep

Let me start by saying – wherever you are in Australia, I hope you’re keeping safe and well in both body and mind. This #lockdownlife can feel as if someone has hit the pause button on your life and experiences, so it’s natural to feel pretty flat & unmotivated. I personally have struggled through feeling robbed of time with friends, family and the baseline of what makes me happy: which is what we work ourselves off for, right?

I felt myself moving backwards and procrastinating more than I ever have. The hamster wheel was never-ending and I knew I had to facilitate some changes and steps to ensure I could break up the autonomy, find joy in my work again and also my time off.

Below, I’ve unpacked some tips & tricks to keep your spark and productivity blooming on those groundhog-feeling days.

Embrace your emotions when you need to

No one is expecting you to feel motivated every hour and there will be multiple times where you feel overwhelmed and done for the day. Don’t berate yourself! Feel these feelings, give yourself that mental health break and explore those emotions rather than bury them. Allowing yourself time to heal from certain feelings will refresh your emotional state instead of creating further negativity and mental roadblocks in your day.

Create Some Goals

This is one of the simplest & effective ways to get that spark back! What is your why?

What would you like to achieve this year? What is your bucket list of travel destinations once we can explore again? A great way to manifest these into reality and one I personally love to do is to create vision boards of my goals. I scatter them throughout my home as it ensures I have laser focus on my dreams and any time I feel like quitting, they visually prompt me to get back on track. It’s also really therapeutic and motivating to actively see your goals in front of you constantly!

Upskill or just try something new!

With such unprecedented available time, it can be easy to feel bogged down at what you’re missing out on. But what about utilising this time to try something that you’ve been unable to before? Maybe it’s trying your hand at some cooking tutorials and becoming your own MasterChef at home; maybe it’s aiming to run a particular distance without stopping and working your way up to this every day. It could be learning a new language or introducing yourself to meditation. One of the positives in our community all being in this together is that there is an abundance of free resources available to you to help you through this, whatever you feel like exploring. I’ve included a few of my favourites linked at the bottom of this blog to help you emerge from lockdown with a sense of achievement.

Move your Body

Sounds very simple but never underestimate the power of exercise in your subconscious. The endorphins naturally produced by the body when exerting physical exercise actively assist in brain activity on top of emotional wellbeing. Moving your body will not only give you a break from what can feel like an autonomous working day but will supercharge your mood and assist in motivation! Aim for at least an hour per day: whether it’s simply stretching, walking, running or yoga to name a few. If you prefer a tougher cardio – order those weights and take advantage of the abundance of at-home streaming platforms. Stick to your guns, keep your body moving and I promise the motivation in your work will follow.

Create a routine

I’m not suggesting you create all-day rubric to follow your life by hour by hour. But I cannot recommend establishing even just a morning routine to start your day in a positive light enough. Sticking to it every day will trickle down the creative juices and ensure your motivation is sparked instead of allowing the wallow to set in early. Does this mean waking up 10 minutes earlier to mediate? Does this mean exercising first thing in the morning to get those endorphins pumping? It could be as simple as a morning shower, followed by a healthy breakfast before sitting down at your workspace to start your day. As tempting as it is to set that alarm 10 minutes before that first zoom of the day and roll into it *camera off* in bed, it will do absolutely nothing for your motivation and even send you backwards. Save those days for when you really need that mental break!

Give yourself a Break

And of course, this doesn’t only apply to lockdown! You will never work smarter if you don’t have rest from your work. Like every PT will explain the importance of rest-days in your training regime, spending periods of time not actively engaging in your work not only boosts your creative juices, but at rest – your brain is actively recovering and ensuring time spent on work is more efficient. Be kind to yourself and your experiences.

Separate your Workspace

This is an ever-present challenge with working from home – how can you ever switch off?? It’s tempting to keep your laptop on your dining table and be consecutively checking emails while also preparing dinner because – why not, right? Finding a dedicated workspace is invaluable when it comes to effectively working from home for two reasons.

It signals to your brain that you are in work mode, alike to when you used to enter your building at the start of the day.
You also require that cue to switch off as soon as you leave this space, again – alike to when you left your building for the day.

This ensures you have a healthy relationship and separation between your work life and home life. Even if you are unable to have a study or spare room set up as your workspace, create your ideal space that is away from home traffic and distractions to sustain that laser focus you need when working, and that separation for when you’re on off.

I hope these steps inspire you to look after yourself and your needs in this time to get your mojo back, no matter what your motivation is – we are all in this together! Let’s put in the work to emerge from lockdown bigger, better and more accomplished.