Staying motivated these days is something that for many may seem like a distant horizon, almost unattainable and the reason for this most of the time is that in our imagination we need good reasons to keep ourselves motivated, such as a salary increase for example. But there is a great paradox here, to get a salary increase I need to be motivated and perform more, but how am I going to be motivated if I need a salary increase for that???🤯
Regardless of what your goal is, your motivation should not depend on external factors, but on things that are within your reach. That's why I created a list of 10 simple things you can start doing right now to keep yourself motivated and believe me, sometimes the answer to the biggest problems lies in the simplest things, the fall of Sir Isaac Newton's apple, despite being just an illustration about the discovery of gravity, it's a great example.
1 - Prepare a place for you to work 👨💻🏠
Not everyone can have a room in their home to dedicate to work, but everyone probably has a corner.
So, reserve a dedicated space entirely for your work this will help to separate the work from the home environment and to concentrate better.
2 - Establish a routine ⏰⏳
Create a daily routine by setting fixed times to start and end work.
There is usually no one watching over us when we work from home, but remember that hardworking people make good use of ethics, so always consider being honest with your boss and yourself, respecting the hours defined by the company you work for.
If you are a freelance professional, you can create a work routine similar to a common routine that is normally 8 hours a day, this time can be reduced as long as it is productive.
3 - Dress appropriately 👔👗
Wearing comfortable clothes like pajamas is great, but it can make us feel too relaxed.
Several surveys show that what we wear greatly influences the type of people we are, so prefer to dress as if you were going to the office. This will help you create a work-oriented mindset and increase your motivation.
4 - Do non-work related activities 🏀🎮
It may seem contradictory, but focusing too much on work can lower your motivation by becoming too tiring.
During working hours, try to take short breaks to drink water, grab a coffee, play with your pet or any other activity, this means that your brain is not 100% focused on work, many ideas arise when we disconnect from what is in our minds.
Take advantage of your free time to do other activities that you enjoy such as physical activity, reading a book, playing video games, etc... this will help you avoid burnout and stay focused when you are working.
5 - Look for sources of motivation 🎧🚀
When I'm doing some activity on the computer that doesn't require much attention I like to listen to a podcast, if you have that habit, take the opportunity to look for themes that are related to motivation and that have inspiring themes that will certainly keep your motivation high.
6 - Improve your communication with your co-workers 👨💻🤝👩💻
During my adolescence, I was a very introverted person and this hindered me a lot at the beginning of my workday, but something that helped me to deal with it was reading books related to the subject, such as:
- Quiet by Susan Cain
- Quiet Influence by Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, PhD
- Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life Marshall B Rosenberg PhD
There are others that are not on this list, but these books have excellent tips for dealing with communication, especially for introverts.
You can also video call or join group chats with colleagues to maintain a sense of team and social interaction, this will help you feel part of the team and will definitely boost your motivation.
7 - Create a daily goal 🎯📆
Whenever you start your work day, try to create a small goal, a tip is to open your email calendar and check all the events scheduled for that day, this will help you never forget a scheduled meeting.
You can create your own appointments, for example: Reading the Quiet Influence book from 10:00 am to 11:00 am, this will help you to focus on your goals and give you motivation to achieve them.
8 - Have a clear professional growth goal 🎯📈
It is very common to hear the phrase: Where do you want to be in 5 years?
This sentence makes me a little nervous because in 5 years a lot could have happened, maybe I've already changed my profession, could you predict 5 years ago the things that happened to you in that time?
Instead think about where you want to be in 5 months or 1 year, that's more predictable. Are you a dev trainee and want to evolve to a higher level? Or maybe you're an HR person looking to change careers?
Anything can be possible, just put the effort into it, so make a list of things you need to do to reach your short-term goal, separate those that are within your reach and those that are not, and then always review them to go fulfilling one by one whenever you have the opportunity. This will give you a clear vision of what your professional goal is and help you to be motivated to continue in your current job or even change it.
9 - Clean up your email inbox 🧼📧
Even though messaging apps are on the rise these days, email is still the main form of communication for many companies, and it's very easy to receive a barrage of emails every day, whether it's advertising products or services, span, among others.
Scan your inbox, create a folder with a prominent name like "Important" or whatever, then move into that folder what you consider important, then delete everything else, and your inbox will be clean and that way you will be able to identify which emails are really important to you and those that are not, you can unsubscribe and stop receiving them.
Imagine how many opportunities you may have already missed by simply not noticing an important email in the midst of so many unnecessary ones.
10 - Start reading a book about motivation 📚 🚀
It seems obvious, but we haven't always done the obvious and reading a book about motivation will definitely help you stay motivated because you'll be reading stories from someone who has probably gone through the same difficulties as you.
It is very common to identify with reports written by the authors of the books, and this is a very good thing, as they help us to deal with various challenges of everyday life.
To add reading to your routine, a tip is to leave the book close to your laptop so you won't forget to read it, if you prefer to read it in eBook format, try leaving the reading app open on your device so you can remember always make time for reading.
Some great books about motivation that I've read and recommend:
- The Effective Engineer - Edmond Lau
- Clean Coder, The: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers - Robert C. Martin
- The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery - David Thomas
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - Carol S. Dwek
Conclusion
Remember that these are just tips and you can adapt them to your reality, you also don't need to put them into practice all at once, start slowly and add one by one as you feel comfortable.
Your motivation will increase dramatically and you will definitely feel much better. Did you remember another tip? Don't agree with something? Be sure to comment your opinion!
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