Practical tips to be consistently motivated and productive at work
We all need a job to earn money and provide for our family. To get out of bed and to start with the tasks we need motivation. It doesn’t matter if you are working from home, nine to five or you are CEO, we all need to stay motivated at work.
But how to do that if you are not relaxed at home, and you can’t be relaxed at home if you are stressed at work.
So how to achieve motivation day by day and come back home relaxed to spend some quality time with your family?
Some tips can help you to raise your motivation level from 0 to 100 if you decide to practice and commit to them.
How To Stay Motivated At Work
- 1. Do the hardest job first
- 2. Create personal goals
- 3. Create a schedule
- 4. Read Daily
- 5. Stay active
- 6. Start celebrating wins
- 7. Reframe your mental attitude
- 8. Take a lunch break
- 9. Put everything in order
- 10. Keep an eye on your hydration
Do The Hardest Job First
Pick your hardest or biggest task for the day and do it! I was a procrastinator and all the hard tasks I was leaving for later, always. But when I realized that in the morning I am more focused and can do more for less time, I’ve changed my way of doing things.
I’ve tried to do the hardest tasks first and leave the easy ones for the rest of the day. When you finish with that ugly job, the rest of your day will be a breeze. After that, you will feel great and motivated at work for the rest of the day.
Create Personal Goals
We need to be inspired and motivated to do something. Just ask yourself what motivates you to get up from bed and go to work. If that is just money, you’ve created a wrong mindset. Goals!!!
Goals are those who give us meaning and at work they give us directions. We need the vision to be inspired and without you can’t achieve your dream life.
If you wait for someone to motivate you it is not going to happen. Work on yourself, try some self-motivation.
Set a vision for you and your work, create some goals. They don’t need to be big ones, start with something small.
If you have goals and you make progress on those goals you will be happier and more motivated to go on the next level.
Create a Schedule
If you want to get something done or don’t want to forget – write it down! Try to make a list of things that are must be finished by the end of the workday. After you finish a task tick it from the checklist.
You will create a sense of fulfillment and be motivated to do other tasks that are left.
Just imagine if your to-do list is half done and you have more than half of the work time. You will have a chance for a break, coffee, or lunch, and get back to finish everything more motivated than ever.
Remember that you should put the hardest tasks on the first and second positions on your to-do list.
Read Daily
Daily reading habit is one thing that all successful people (Elon Musk, Warren Buffet..) recommend. These people know the value of continual reading and learning.
You don’t need to read something related to work it can be anything that you are interested in like: health, science, business, finance, etc. You will be surprised at what you can take from one area to another.
Read for at least one hour a day, or if it is too much for you start with 20 min. a day. Try to do that for one month so it will become a habit.
You will ask now, how is reading going to help me to be motivated at work? Well, developing a reading habit will have a long-lasting impact on your thought process, and also helps to turn away your thoughts from daily work tasks and home problems.
Stay Active
Oh no, again the same thing exercise, exercise… Why?
If you didn’t know (and you should) exercise releases produce hormones (serotonin and dopamine) that give you a rush of happiness along with other benefits.
Fun fact: Dopamine is also called the “reward“ chemical that motivates us to take action towards goals and desires. When serotonin is absent, depression and loneliness appear.
The best thing is that you don’t need to go to a gym and spend hours in there. It is enough to go for a walk in your lunch break, or do just 15 min. an exercise in the morning. There are plenty of YouTube videos that will help you with this.
Make this a habit in your morning routine and you will be surprised how motivated and energized you will be throughout the day.
Start Celebrating Wins
How many times have you been unsatisfied with yourself when doing something small was not perfect? Do you think that things like signing up with new clients, being on time, giving new ideas for the company are just things that happened by themselves? NO?
You are the one that achieved all that, why not celebrate that?
You need more wins in life, that will encourage, motivate, and help you see how brilliant you are. Little wins are those who keep us motivated and pushing up through the goal. You can’t just wait for big things to happen to be happy.
I’m sure that you’ve done something today that you should be proud of. Just stop for a minute and think. Those kinds of wins will keep you motivated at work and in your life.
Re-frame Your Mental Attitude
Have you ever noticed when you say “Oh, no I’m so exhausted”, you feel more tired? Or, “I can’t do anything today, I can’t focus”, you become unmotivated to do anything, not just your work tasks.
What will happen if you reframe these thoughts? Instead of saying negative things for yourself, try to change them a little.
Try, “My energy levels are low but I have the strength to do this”, or ” I’m focusing on this thing, so I can get it done”.
These simple changes will make the mentality shift in your thoughts. Your thoughts are the ones who lead you through life.
“What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.”
Buddha
This type of thinking is not just to change your mindset and help you to motivate at work, you can use it in the other areas of your life. Practice it and you will see the difference.
You Deserve a Lunch Break
We’ve all been in a situation where we use our lunch break to eat in front of our computer or on our desk. That is terrible. Why?
If you are still doing this you are telling your brain that lunchtime is work time, and work time is all the time. Stop doing this!
If you think that this will help you to do more things, you are wrong. Get away from your desk during lunchtime, it will help you to turn off the “work mode“.
When you go outside or in the kitchen you are switching off the “work mode” and your brain will relax and calm down. After that, you will be more focused and motivated to work.
Another bad thing about eating in front of a computer is that you lose the sense of how much you eat. Just think about how many candies or chips you can eat while you are working, writing something, or dealing with some online problems.
This is a bad habit and you should try to stop. Not only it will affect your productivity it also will affect your weight.
Put Everything in Order
When you finish your workday use another 5 min. to leave everything organized. Clean your desk, make your to-do list for tomorrow, file your papers, and keep everything prepared for tomorrow.
I was leaving everything in mess and going away in a minute when my work time ends. The other day when I came back to work, my desk was in a mess, I was looking for papers, where is this or that…
So frustrating to start a workday. It only takes 5 min. before you leave to clean and organize your desk. You will be thankful tomorrow for doing that.
Keep an Eye On Your Hydratation
To maintain peak levels of productivity, the body needs to be fully hydrated. It is scientifically proven that a 3% drop in hydration can lead to a 50% drop in productivity.
When your brain feels foggy and you are tired or have a little headache you are officially dehydrated. This usually happens in the afternoon if you don’t care about water intake.
If you are wondering how this is important to stay motivated, think about what headache and exhaustion will do to your motivation and productivity.
Hydratation same as food keeps you from feeling sluggish and helps circulate your blood to keep your mind active and alert.
How to Stay Motivated At Work Final Thoughts:
Work is not always going to be exciting. There always be problems with clients, colleagues and so much more. But it is up to you and your mindset how you deal with these things.
To stay motivated at work and get things done try adopting these tips mentioned above. It doesn’t mean that you should do all of these things, but to start taking the first step towards motivation is crucial.
We gathered these steps as most efficient for work motivation, if you have any other suggestions let us know!