Feeling demotivated is not only a difficult feeling to have, it begins to impact almost every area of your life when you realize you’re just not getting anything done. There’s not always a reason for feeling demotivated, but regardless of why you feel the way you do, there are ways to get back to feeling like your old self. Below, you’ll find 15 ways you can get your focus back when you’re feeling demotivated. Take a look!
1. Take A Look At Your Goals
Start by looking at your goals and figuring out what you can do to improve them. You might feel demotivated because you don’t have clear enough goals, or you have made your goals too difficult to reach. Transforming your goals from unrealistic and vague into goals you can actually measure and work towards is possible – just use the SMART goals system.
2. Switch Things Up
Doing things the way you’ve always done them is bound to produce the same feelings and the same results. If you switch things up, you might find that you can actually get into a better headspace and enjoy the things you do a lot more. Could you start work at a different time, work in a different place, or re-organize your schedule?
3. Change Your Daily Routines
Your daily routine can have a big impact on your headspace. For example, morning exercise is something many people swear by to help them get through the day and feel more motivated. Meditation can help to improve clarity and creativity, and using caffeine wisely can help, too. Developing a solid daily routine that you actually enjoy can help to get you in a better state of mind and improve your energy tenfold.
4. Take Time For The Things You Love
What’s the point in anything if you’re not taking time for the things that you love? Even if you just do 30 minutes of your chosen hobby each night, it’ll make a difference to your enjoyment of life and your outlook. If you enjoy reading, pick up a book. If you enjoy DIY crafts, get into woodworking or drawing. If you want something that takes the focus somewhere else, get into niche hobbies like model trains and miniature railroad settings or glasblowing. It may be challenging, but the benefits make trying worth it.
5. Spend Time Around Successful People
If you begin to spend time around successful people with a healthy mindset, you will begin to pick it up yourself. Studies have shown that we tend to become like the people we spend the most time around. If you’re spending time around other demotivated people, then you’re going to struggle to motivate yourself. Spending time around people who have healthy, positive mindsets and love their work might just help you to learn a thing or two.
6. Ask For Help
If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask for it. There’s no shame in it! In fact, taking too much on could be the reason you suddenly feel demotivated. Maybe you need a reliable IT support partner to help you reduce downtime and lighten your load. Maybe you could find a mentor to guide you when you feel you can’t be objective, somebody who has experience in running a business or being freelance. Don’t do this alone!
7. Learn How To Enjoy The Process
Focusing on the process rather than the results is often far more productive. Learning to love the process and putting a focus on that will automatically improve your results. How can you improve your process? What don’t you enjoy right now?
8. Stop Taking On Too Much
Knowing your limits and setting boundaries is crucial. Taking on too much and having a jam packed schedule each day will cause issues. You’ll probably run over, end up behind, and even if you don’t, you could burn yourself out pretty quickly. Be honest with yourself about what you can achieve, and make sure you plan in time to relax, too! If you don’t plan time for self care and time to wind-down, then you will end up seriously lagging.
9. Pay Close Attention To Your Self Sabotage
Most people self sabotage for different reasons, so becoming more aware of how and why you do it will enable you to stop. Some people self sabotage through fear, for example – this could even be through fear of being successful. Try to psycho-analyse yourself a little bit, figure out what your triggers are, and the self sabotaging behaviours that you use to cope with them. You might be surprised.
10. Try To Figure Out What’s Really Bothering You
Can you figure out what is really bothering you so you can take the steps required to change it? Perhaps it’s a lack of flexibility in your work, a lack of autonomy, or a lack of a clear purpose. It might even be a mixture of these things. If you can figure out what is truly bothering you, then you can make a sensible decision regarding what to do next.
If you’re really not sure what’s bothering you and you’re tired of going over it again and again in your head, it could be worth getting some objective advice from somebody you trust. You could ask a wise friend or family member, or, if you feel ready, you could speak to a therapist. You don’t need to have a serious mental health issue to visit a therapist – they can be helpful for most people. All of us have things that we can work on and things that we can’t quite figure out!
11. Work On Yourself
Working on yourself in general could help you to get your motivation back. Don’t worry so much about how to get your focus back at work or while working, instead, how can you improve yourself today? Could you meditate, try to look at things a new way, exercise, or try to build another new habit? The more you work on yourself, the closer you will be to feeling like you want to feel and becoming the person you want to become.
Working on yourself is a journey, and it takes time. It definitely won’t always be fun or easy, either!
12. Listen To A Podcast or An Audiobook
There are so many helpful podcasts and audiobooks out there that you can find for free or for a reasonable price that could help you to understand yourself better or look at your situation objectively. This is a great way to work on your self-improvement without having to go to an expensive workshop, consultant, or hire a life coach. Providing you can commit to coaching yourself in this way, it should work for you.
13. Learn How To Improve Your Stress Levels
Stress can be a huge factor when feeling demotivated. Many people try to bury their stress and end up in denial about it, but it will always bubble to the surface eventually. Knowing what your stress triggers are can help, but you should also figure out how to improve them. You could:
Exercise
Meditate
Breathe deeply until you feel better.
Take a nap.
Get outside for a little while.
Take a break and do something you enjoy.
Stop procrastinating.
Spend less time comparing yourself to other people.
There are so many things you can do, but it all depends on your personal situation and how you tend to experience stress.
If you’re tired of feeling demotivated, try the advice above and see how it can help you. You have to want to get out of your funk before things will change for you, so make small changes and take one day at a time. Do you have any advice that could help other people? Leave a comment below!