Motivation is hard to come by. There are days when you don’t even want to bother getting out of bed. Despite this, there is never a lack of things that need doing. Some day’s I don’t even want to get out of bed. It seems like it would be easier to curl up and watch old episodes of Judge Judy or The Price is Right and ignore the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, that is not an option. I wear too many hats to take a day off. I have a family, I’m a business owner, I have clients to meet, it’s a lot!
There is not too much more I can squeeze out of my day.
This begs the question, “how do I stay motivated?” I get this question all the time. Especially when it is so easy to burn out. There have been days when I feel like I am constantly fighting to overwhelm.
Staying motivated is a delicate balance, and it requires you to coordinate many moving parts. That’s why today, I will share my tips on how to get motivated when you don’t even want to get out of bed.
You have to realize your limitations and take care of yourself to get your desired results. Sometimes you will get better results by stepping back and taking care of yourself first instead of plowing ahead and forcing yourself to be more productive.
That’s why I am sharing this simple strategy with you today. It will lead you through fighting burnout when you don’t want to do anything. But some of the steps might be surprisingly counterintuitive.
What is Motivation, and Why does it Matter?
Motivation is actually feeling like you want to do something. When you have the drive and determination to start and continue to work on a task without forcing yourself to do it.
Let’s take early mornings, for example. Many people hate mornings, so they are not motivated to wake up early. Your bed is so warm, and you are comfortable. You just want to stay there all day.
However, on Christmas, you want to open presents and spend time with family, so you are motivated to jump out of bed and join them around the tree. You don’t have to be called or convinced. You don’t have to remind yourself of all the reasons to stay on the path. You just want to, so you do it. That’s motivation.
Motivation can stem from several factors, from physical rewards on Christmas or satisfaction with a job well done. There might even be monetary rewards. Without an incentive, it can be tough to stay motivated. That’s why it is essential to give yourself rewards to keep you on track.
How to Get Motivated when You Don’t Even Want to Get Out of Bed.
So, how do I stay motivated? What are my tricks? How do I balance running three businesses and a family?
I can tell you it is not easy. There are days that I go from sun up to sundown with a completely packed schedule.
My very first secret is that I absolutely love what I do. Sharing these tips with you, running my businesses, and working with clients doesn’t feel like work. I love helping people and feel genuinely rewarded that I get to.
That doesn’t mean that I am immune to a lack of motivation. It can still creep in when I least expect it. I am human, after all.
My second secret is time management and pacing yourself. Just because my schedule is packed, doesn’t mean that I didn’t set aside time to unwind. By planning my day and selecting my priorities, I can get a ton of stuff done and take care of myself in the process.
How to stay motivated to be productive.
Regardless of your goal, you’re going to have to get out of bed to achieve it. Using simple organization and efficiency techniques can work for any goal by breaking them down into tasks and assigning deadlines. Spending your time, staying busy, but without a true goal of what you are trying to accomplish will not help you.
Motivation, in this case, comes from the satisfaction of reaching your targeted goals. You have to put in the time to be successful. Have a specific task in mind that you want to complete, which will boost your productivity. This way, you are not spinning your wheels being busy but unproductive.
Can you have it all?
Can you have it all? I firmly believe the answer is yes.
I’ve often been told that I dream too big. But I don’t think I’m dreaming. I’m planning; these are two very different things!
I know where I want to go, and I know the exact path I will take to get there. You need to be very deliberate with your planning to accomplish what you set out to do. That is not to say that this plan can’t be flexible or adjusted along the way. But it needs to be carefully created and followed.
Great big goals can be broken down repeatedly until they are split up into simple tasks that can be worked on each day. This might seem to be overly simplified, but just try it out.
Creating a to-do list to organize your daytime will help you with this. It’s the little things you can do each day that adds up to huge gains over time.
Personally, I’m happiest when I am busy, so it’s easy for me to schedule tasks to work on throughout my day. But that does not mean that I spend every waking minute at work.
I also have slumps where I would just lay around in the bed and not be productive. Sometimes, my favorite thing to do is just daydreaming. I can tell you that my brain has definitely shut off for the duration of this procrastination session.
You will never be able to hit maximum productivity or motivation if you ignore your need for rest. Your brain will take a break whether you want it to or not.
If you don’t make time for your brain to rest, it will choose to shut down whenever it wants. This could happen at any time.
Rest when your body and brain need rest.
How to set and achieve priorities.
One thing that helps me is setting and keeping priorities. Pick no more than 3 for any day.
These are not mundane tasks like waking up, taking a shower, eating breakfast, or brushing your teeth. These are 3 goals or objectives that you need to carry out outside your typical day.
For example, you might choose:
- Meal planning for the week,
- Cleaning your bedroom,
- Working on an essay.
This is already a ton of work. Do NOT add any more obligations onto a day like this.
You have to understand your limitations, and piling on many activities that you won’t be able to get done will do more to hurt your progress.
It can ruin your mood when you don’t do what you set out to do. You feel bad because you didn’t finish what you committed to. Doing this too often will hit your self-confidence and sew self-doubt in your ability to do anything. All of these add up to a recipe for lowered motivation.
But, if you give yourself three targets, and you complete them, you’ll get a boost! This could motivate you to tackle even more things than you initially expected.
Setting realistic goals and achieving them will boost your motivation, not hinder it. It makes it much more likely to get more done than you first expected.
Your planner does more than tell you how you will spend your week.
I love my planner; it is an extension of my body. You could practically consider it another appendage. I can’t live without it.
My planner does several things for me. It allows me to plan my time in the coming days and weeks. But it also helps me to see how I’ve spent my time in the past.
Logging how I am spending my time and reviewing can show me what I spend too much time on. It will also let me know where I underestimate the amount of time needed to complete a task
There will be some things that you pour a ton of time into. I’m not saying that this time is wasted. These tasks may be crucial, which is why we need to have the necessary time to complete them available.
It might be beneficial to carve out time in your schedule to devote extra energy to this task. If you can get in front of these obligations, you can more easily tread water. Relieving you of the worry that builds up when you are afraid of falling behind on something so tedious.
Another way could be to clear out other things you need to do before starting this task. This way, you can devote your full attention to it and not have to worry so much about time restraints. So, if you go over, you don’t have a list of things you still have to do hanging over your head.
Finally, try breaking up burdensome tasks into smaller chunks. This can make it easier to carry out overall and less strenuous. I try to break up everything I need to do into pieces that will take me no more than 15 minutes.
I don’t care if I end up with a list of 20 steps, as long as each step takes only a few minutes to complete. If any of those steps take longer, I will list them as repeating entries of the same task.
Small tasks are less daunting to deal with and allow you to see yourself making progress towards completion. This is another way to increase your motivation.
Seeing progress will summon motivation, allowing you to get a second wind and become more productive to complete the remaining tasks.
Regardless of which strategy you use, make sure you set aside the time you need to complete any goals for the day.
Stay Organize.
It is so much easier to convince yourself to do a task or focus on something when you know you have everything for it already in place. Keeping a clean and inviting workspace also helps with this as well.
Having all the items needed for a project before you sit down and start it will help you complete it faster and more efficiently. There is much less setup or clean-up, and you don’t have to deal with the constant frustration of searching for an eraser or ruler.
Tidy, organized workspaces are also just more inviting. I love sitting at my desk with all my stationery and getting to use it. I often buy specialty and artisan stationery products because it makes me want to use them.
I also organize my time. I block my schedule and batch similar tasks to get things done as efficiently as possible.
I break down everything into 10-to-15-minute blocks and schedule them throughout my day. This way, I know that nothing will take me more than 15 minutes to complete.
If something takes longer than 15 minutes, I will schedule a second or third block to allow myself more time. It does not necessarily have to be immediately after. Sometimes I will split items up if I can.
For example, I hate doing dishes. It takes an hour, and I can’t force it to be any less. But I don’t want to sit there for an hour because I feel like I’m not making progress. So, I break it up.
I start with the first load, usually plates, cups and bowls. Once I am done with that load, I’ll put the next set in the sink to soak. Instead of hopping right in, I will take 5 minutes off and do a different task.
I might clear off and wipe down the counters or sweep the floor if I am in work mode. This will usually boost motivation for washing the next load because I realize how clean the kitchen compared to when I started.
My motivation and patience are pretty low after the second or third sink load. I might take a 5-to-10-minute break to watch a video or browse Tik Tok to give myself a break.
I always set a timer, of course.
Block off your time and switch up activities.
Avoiding monotony is a great way to prevent losing motivation. Rotating activities helps keep you more engaged in your task because your brain is not going on autopilot and disengaging. You also don’t have to worry about spending hours and hours on a single job.
It is so much easier to convince yourself to do something for 10 minutes or even 25 minutes than hours. As you start to lose motivation and interest, you slow down. This will cause the task to take longer and longer. But if you are only ever going to do something for 25 minutes in the first place, you can count down this time and know that something more interesting awaits you on the other side.
Make time for regular self-care.
One of the first things any accountant or financial adviser will tell you is to pay yourself first. This is one of the best ways to achieve success and financial security.
Today, I will give you the same advice: pay yourself first.
When planning out your week and budgeting your time, you should schedule time for self-care and socialization. Add time to spend with your friends doing something that you love.
This can be anything from going for coffee to just hanging out. One of my favourites is planning a girls’ day, running errands, getting our nails done, or grabbing lunch.
I hate running errands alone, and coupling it with someone else makes it more fun. I actually look forward to standing in that long line at the insurance company when I know I have someone to chat with.
I also block off time every day to procrastinate. Sometimes it’s something simple, like giving myself extra time to complete simple tasks. That way, I can have the time needed to procrastinate or do it slowly.
Other times I will actually block off time for nothing. I often do this around important events. I also like to block off at least an hour on Monday and Friday, so I have time to just… exist.
In addition to these “nothing” blocks, I also make sure that I schedule time for specific self-care tasks, like manicures, skincare, video games, etc. I want to make sure that I’m not just carving out time for myself but also actively doing things to take care of myself.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you reward yourself. Anything that you love to do, and recharges your battery, can be considered your self-care.
Engage in positive self-talk.
We are always so quick to be hard on ourselves. We expect more from ourselves than any other person on the planet. The problem with this is that beating yourself up can significantly impact your self-esteem and motivation, even if you don’t intend it.
Negative self-talk can have a profound impact on your self-worth. We did a deep dive into the effects of both negative and positive self-talk. I highly suggest you check it out.
Even if you are joking when you call yourself names, your brain can’t actually tell the difference. Your brain thinks you are serious, and this is what you actually think. I will internalize these words and slowly lower your self-worth, even if that is not your intention.
Try to avoid this habit. Instead, give yourself compliments every time you can. The same trick to make you feel bad about yourself works in reverse. Your brain does not know you are not serious or that you don’t necessarily believe it. Still, if you repeat these compliments enough, they will eventually become real.
You can bring things into reality by continually believing in them and working towards them. If you keep telling yourself you are great at something and work on it, your brain will think you’re getting better, and so you will.
This is another form of paying yourself first. This time, you are paying yourself in compliments. This is the simplest form of self-care.
Understand your limitations.
I know my limitations.
I respect my limitations.
That doesn’t mean that I like them, but I am imperfect, and we all have them.
I don’t think that having limitations takes away from what I can accomplish because I understand where to draw the line. I can make a plan to compensate for these shortcomings. This way, they don’t interfere with my goals.
Just because you have a shortcoming does not mean you have to let it impede your progress. There are so many inspiring stories of people succeeding despite the odds. If you have a plan, you can achieve it. You just need to take the first step.
Don’t forget to unplug.
I try to unplug and put down my phone at least a little bit every day. I also try to avoid working on Sundays.
Sunday is my relaxation and reward day. I try to keep it clear to use it for a catch-up day if I fall behind during the week. If I stay on track and accomplish all of my goals, Sunday is a free day, and I can do whatever I want.
I also keep the notifications off on my phone. I find them so distracting and often jump to them, even if I’m focusing on something important. Instead, I turn them all off and just check my phone between tasks.
That way, I don’t get distracted and finish what I’m working on faster. This caused me some anxiety at first, but it eventually dissipated.
Now, I can give my full attention to the project I am working on or my clients. I don’t have to check my phone whenever I get an email or a mobile game decides it’s having a new limited-time event!
Try your best to delegate.
You don’t have to do it all yourself. This is the most crucial point I want to make today.
I can’t run everything by myself. It is okay to ask for and receive help. There is no shame in needing it or accepting it.
Once I finally realized this, life became so much easier!
It has been my experience that if you allow yourself to be vulnerable and give people the opportunity to step up and help you, they will rise to the occasion.
Motivation can be so fragile. It takes the slightest setback to just completely obliterate it some days. When you burn yourself out, it can take days or even weeks to come back.
If you keep a balanced schedule and try to avoid overwhelm, you can keep a much firmer grasp on it. Try some of these tips and see how they work for you.
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