When there are so many online distractions sometimes it can be difficult to motivate ourselves to be productive and get work done because let’s face it watching the latest season of Dancing With The Stars is way more fun than showing up for your business. We all have those days when we aren’t feeling our best and don’t really want to do anything except take a nap or watch television but sometimes we can’t do that and need to get stuff done. There is nothing wrong with having a lazy day because it happens to us all and it only becomes a problem when it becomes a habit and you can’t come out of it. As a content creator, it can be especially challenging to motivate ourselves because most of us make little to no money from our blog so it’s easy to put off tasks we know need to get done. I love what I do and don’t struggle all that much with motivating myself to do it but I am human and there are days when I am tired and want to do anything except blog. In this post, I talk about how I motivated myself to get stuff done when I am just not in the mood to do anything.
Recognize you have a problem- If you have been missing deadlines because you have been watching too much Netflix and are distracted you may have a problem! The first step to figuring out a solution to your problem is to recognize that you have a problem you’d like to resolve. I know a lot of people who say they want to reach all these goals but refuse to recognize that their current habits are the problem and is what needs to change. If you are in denial that you have everything under control you will never resolve anything because you have convinced yourself that you have it all under control and nothing needs to change. We all have different things that we struggle with and there is no shame in asking for help because we can’t always know it all and sometimes we just need a little bit of guidance to achieve great things. Recognizing you have a problem is the first step to doing that because the longer you are in denial that you don’t need help the longer you will struggle with getting motivated.
Come up with an action plan- The next step after you have recognized you have a problem is to have an action plan on how you are going to resolve it. I see a lot of people have all these incredible goals but not a real action plan on how they are going to reach their goals. Be specific with your goals and write down what your goals are and how you are going to reach them. Don’t just say I want to reach five hundred followers in the next six months because although that is a great goal it’s not very specific and doesn’t show the steps you need to reach that goal. If it’s just an idea in the back of your head that you think would be cool if you met it that’s just a wish because it can be easily be forgotten and your not really that serious about it until you can tell me what you’re doing to make that dream a reality!
Have to want to change- I know tons of people who will say that they want to reach all these goals but when they find out what it takes to reach that goal they are like “I don’t want to do that”. People that you see crushing their goals want to change and will do whatever it takes to get there even if it’s a slight inconvenience to their life. They aren’t looking for shortcuts because we know that if you put in half the work to expect half of the results. If you want to make a change in your life you need to want it and I mean really want it because if it’s just something that would be cool to have you won’t be motivated to do anything different. There are too many people that just want the end result but don’t care to put in the work to get there and these are the people that don’t really want to change! You have to want to change and enjoy the process it takes to get there or it’s never going to work.
Fuel your body- Sometimes when I am struggling to motivate myself to get stuff done it’s because I haven’t eaten in a few hours and my body has no energy to get important tasks done.. You may be able to work several hours without eating but you won’t be performing at your best because your body needs the energy from food to do so. Sometimes I work long hours on a post and don’t eat as much as should because I don’t want to take a break and forget something important that I am writing. I am more tired, less motivated, and sometimes even trigger some headaches when I am not feeding my body well because your body needs fuel to function which is especially important for migraineurs who want to prevent attacks. . If you are struggling to get motivated ask yourself when was the last time I ate or drank some water? Motivating yourself sometimes can be as simple as eating a meal or drinking some water because without the energy from your foods you would never have drive to do anything!
Get some sleep- Sleep deprivation can play a huge role in how motivated you are because when you are tired you are not going to want to do anything except take a nap or watch Netflix. When you have chronic pain sleeping can be a challenge because as much as you may try to get the recommended eight hours pain can prevent you from doing that. You have no control over whether or not your pain will let you sleep but you do have control over how late you stay up. If you know you have a busy day ahead or need to be up early try not to stay up super late bingeing your favorite shows! There is nothing wrong with watching your favorite shows after work and occasionally staying up late and comprising sleep but if it’s regular it can become a problem! Prioritize your sleep because the more tired you are the less motivated you will be.
Motivate yourself- There are days I wake up and after I have coffee I am ready to start working but there are days when it takes me three hours to motivate myself to want to work. I love what I do so I don’t have a huge problem with motivating myself to work but some days I know I need to do something but the motivation just it’s there. On those days I listen to music and do something fun that is not work-related an hour before I plan to start creating to get myself in the right mindset. For what I do I don’t think I need to force motivation on myself but actually think it’s important not to. Motivation comes naturally for some people because they really love their jobs and have mastered mindset but for others, it may be a little more of a challenge and take more work. Loss of motivation can sometimes be caused by burnout so it’s good to do things not work-related occasionally to prevent that.
Shut off your distractions- I work from home and everything I do is online because that is how I advocate so it’s easy for me to get distracted by everything else I do on the Internet. I get more notifications than the average person because I run a blog with hundreds of followers and multiple social media platforms to spread awareness for my disability. Sometimes the notifications I get are not important and don’t need attention but a lot of the time people are reaching out to me and I can’t ignore them. When I am trying to create content I try and limit this distraction and shut off my phone until I am done because if I didn’t I would be tempted to answer every notification and it would take me three times longer to write a post. Do what you know needs to be done to limit your distraction and if that means shutting your phone off for a few hours then do it! You don’t need those distractions and there is nothing that will be posted on Facebook that can’t wait a few hours until your don’t with your work for the day.
Have a workplace- I still live at home so I don’t have an office to advocate and have to do all my posts in the same area where I sleep. Sometimes it can be hard for me to stop working because I get focused and want to finish the task at hand even if I know it’s not possible to finish and will take several weeks or months. Motivation can be hard when your room is your office and the place you sleep so what I do is I don’t write posts in my bed because that would allow me to get too comfortable and even less motivated to get stuff done. I always create in a chair that is upright because when I am less comfortable I am more productive and am less likely to watch hours of YouTube videos when I should be creating content. You have to be able to separate where you sleep from your work because if it’s all in the same place you won’t be able to set boundaries and it will be very difficult for you to stay motivated or to stop working! I don’t work from my bed not because I think I couldn’t but I would always associate with work and I wouldn’t be able to stop so it would become a big problem.
Stop making excuses- Sometimes we have every excuse in the book why we can’t do something or why this isn’t time for it. You need to stop making excuses on why you don’t want to do it and just do it because ninety percent of the time there is plenty of time and you just don’t want to. No one ever did anything great by having five hundred excuses on why there wasn’t time today because if you truly wanted something you would find time for it. Some days you may not have time and I get that but most days there will be plenty of time and you just don’t want to do the task at hand and will find every excuse why you can’t.
Some days motivating yourself won’t be hard because you like your job and look forward to doing it but even if you love your job there will be days showing up will be a struggle. Every job has tasks that no one wants to do but has to be done to improve your business and you would much rather be doing anything but that task. There is nothing wrong with having a lazy day but it’s important that you recognize when you are feeling this way so you can get yourself out of it. Allow yourself to have days when you do nothing work-related but also learn when you have had enough and need to set boundaries for your business. It’s important to have time for yourself when you aren’t thinking about your business because it’s what will keep you sane but sometimes you don’t have as much “me time” as you think you do. Getting yourself motivated to start can be the hardest part of any job but once you have done that you will be on a roll and not want to stop! How do you get motivated to work when all you want to do is marathon your favorite tv shows and take naps?
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