How To Be Productive When You Have No Motivation

Whether you’re going through a rough patch or just can’t seem to muster up the motivation to be productive – we’ve all been there. A lack of motivation can be one of the biggest obstacles to achieving your goals, so how can you overcome not feeling motivated. We’ve come up with the best tips to help you be productive when you have no motivation. Here’s how you can reset your productivity and find motivation again.

1. Fake It Until You Feel It

Sometimes, all you need to do is fake feeling motivated to convince yourself to get up and check off those tasks on your to-do list. Act as if you feel motivated, and your actions might end up changing your behavior and get you in the flow of actually feeling motivated again. Ask yourself what you would be doing if you felt motivated, and go out and do it.

2. Combat Your Reasons To Not Do It

When you feel unmotivated, most of your self-talk will often involve you coming up with reasons to not get your work, tasks, or chores done. When you hear that inner monologue, try combating those reasons and your self-doubt with the opposite. If you tell yourself you can’t do it or won’t achieve your goal – list all of the reasons why you will reach that goal instead. This will help you to change the way you speak to yourself and get you feeling motivated.

3. Use The 10-Minute Rule

Getting started with a task or goal is usually the hardest part. To help get yourself started, give yourself 10 minutes to do the task you’ve been putting off or dreading, and tell yourself you can quit if you still want to after 10 minutes. 10 minutes isn’t very long and will make the task seem much easier. Often, once you start the task you’ll find it’s not as bad as you thought it would be, and you’ll probably want to keep going once those 10 minutes are up.

4. Pair a Task With Something You Enjoy Doing

You probably have negative feelings and thoughts about doing the tasks you feel unmotivated to start. So, pair those tasks with something you enjoy doing to make it a more pleasant experience. Boost your mood by doing something fun that you enjoy with your tasks – you might even end up looking forward to them!

5. Reward Yourself For Your Hard Work

Whenever you do work on your goals and tasks when you feel unmotivated, give yourself a little reward for a job well done. It’s important to acknowledge your good habits and your hard working moments so that you feel more motivated to continue working hard. This will also help you look forward to finishing tasks since you’ll be getting a small reward once you do.

Final Thoughts

Everyone has days where they feel unmotivated and want to do anything but check off the things on their to-do lists. If you’re in a funk or feel unmotivated to be productive, use these tips to get yourself back on track and to help reset your productivity.

Photo Credit: mar_kovaleva