About 70% of employees say they are unmotivated or disengaged at work. If you feel like you’re one of them, you can do a few things to stay motivated at work.
Whether you’re an employee at a big corporation or own a small business, you are still at risk of feeling unmotivated, which can lead to stress, exhaustion, or even burnout.
No one wants to feel like they’re stuck in a monotonous routine and doing the same things every day, so you need to start changing it up.
Please keep reading for our guide on staying motivated at work.
Look at the Bigger Picture
A great way to motivate yourself again is to look at the bigger picture and see who your job impacts. Knowing that your job is serving someone in a good way is a great way to motivate yourself. If you’re a small business owner with several clients that you know appreciate what you do, you can have a sense of accomplishment.
Sometimes we dwell too much on the little things of our jobs. Taking a step back and seeing how we function in the bigger picture is a great way to know what you do every day isn’t pointless. Your job as a whole could be changing the world, and realizing that can help to motivate you every day.
Set Yourself Some Goals
Setting personal goals for yourself is an awesome way to get some motivation. You may have goals that your boss has set but think about what goals you would like to achieve yourself.
Maybe your personal goals are small, like finishing a project before a certain time. You could also have larger goals like getting a raise or promotion.
You could come up with a prize to reward yourself for completing your goals. If you finish a project before a specific time, go home that night and take your family out to dinner. Thinking of a goal and prize to motivate yourself is a great way to do better at work and have something to look forward to at home.
Simplify Large Tasks
You may feel unmotivated because the tasks at your job may be too complex or too large for you to wrap your head around. A great way to tackle this is to try and simplify your large tasks. This could mean breaking it down into sections and deciding the most important part that you should accomplish first.
The best way to do this is to list everything that needs to be done. That way, once you finish a part of the big task, you can cross it off your list.
You will soon see that the large project you thought you would never get done is getting finished piece by piece. Using this method may make you complete the task better than if you were still looking at it as a whole.
Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
Getting into a comfort zone at work is easy and may seem like the right thing to do. But having the same routine and doing the same projects repeatedly could be a factor in why you’re not motivated. Try to find different ways to do things or suggest taking on a new part in a project.
Being a small business owner makes stepping out of your comfort zone easily. You can try to change the way that you run your business entirely.
Think of new ideas you wouldn’t normally try and see how they work. You could be doing something amazing for your business and help yourself get more motivated along the way.
If you’re an employee at a company, try and suggest something new for you and your team to tackle. Thinking and accomplishing something new will look great to the higher-ups, and you will feel good about yourself too.
Look for Feedback
Another way to motivate yourself is to look for feedback from coworkers, bosses, or customers. The feedback can be positive or negative, but it should drive you to do better.
If you receive negative feedback, then you should get motivated for what you can do better. Spend some time brainstorming ways to be better, and spend the next week working on that.
If you receive positive feedback, this should also drive you to do better. Your peers, supervisors, or clients have recognized something great that you can do, but now you have to figure out how you can do that even better. Striving always to be better and do better at your job is excellent to motivate yourself.
Make a Productive Workspace
Making your workspace a productive one is a great way to help bring back some motivation. Some people can work in complete silence while others need a bit of music to work. Try to make your workspace as productive as possible.
Having a productive workspace could mean removing distractions. If you feel like you’re distracted by your phone, put it on silent and hide it away on your desk. You want your desk to feel like a productive space, so only have things on it that will promote working and no distractions.
This could be a big tip if you’re a small business owner or freelancer who works from home. Setting aside specific office space in your home that is great for production will help to keep you motivated. Try only to use this space for work and not for fun.
Be Positive
One way to help motivate yourself and others around you is to be positive, even if that means you have to fake it. Don’t show up to work every day late with a scowl on your face. Try to get to work on time and greet your coworkers with a warm smile.
Sometimes faking a positive attitude is the best way to get a positive attitude, especially when it comes to your job. If you’re assigned a new task, then don’t look at it in a negative light.
Put a positive spin on it and take on the new challenge. Being positive at work is a great way to help yourself from burnout.
On the other hand, you may already have a positive attitude regarding your job and work. If you’re still feeling unmotivated, it could be your other coworkers dragging you down.
Do something nice for them to help brighten their day. This will make them feel good and could lead to you both having a better workday.
When you have good Mental Health, staying productive and motivated at work will become much easier.
Stop Complaining
You’re just dwelling on the negative when you complain at work, which isn’t helping anyone. We talked about being positive even if you have to fake it, but complaining can be a huge reason you feel unmotivated at work.
Complaining won’t do anything to help the situation. If the people in your office complain a lot, you should try to avoid them at all costs. Focusing on the negatives will only lead you to more dissatisfaction so try your best to prevent it.
Make a List
A great way to get yourself motivated at work is to write a list of everything you need to get done for the day. Writing in a planner can help you list everything you have coming up to know when to get them done. Listing your tasks is a great way to prioritize what should be done sooner rather than later.
When you make a list, you can also get the satisfaction of crossing things off your list when you complete them. While this is a small win, it can still help get you motivated to finish your assignments.
You can also use your planner to track your personal goals that we talked about earlier. You can jump ahead in your planner and write down things you want to accomplish by a specific date. Once that day comes, you can celebrate if you have completed the goal, or you can work a little harder to complete it.
Take a Break
There’s a reason most states require a certain amount of time allotted out of a workday for lunch breaks or even short breaks, so make sure you’re taking them. A break can help you refocus and get more motivated about the work in front of you.
If you’re feeling extremely unmotivated, that might mean it is time for a vacation. Taking a break is sometimes the best way to motivate yourself. Ensure you relax your mind and don’t dwell on what you are in store for once you get back.
Staying Motivated at Work
When it comes to staying motivated at work, it is all up to you to figure out what drives you. Try a mixture of the tips we talked about above and see what works for you.
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