How to get motivated – at work, at home, in life
As a survivor of the Paddington Rail Crash I admit there have been days when I would rather stay in bed, pull the duvet up around my ears and shut out the world! After the crash I suffered from PTSD- Post traumatic stress disorder – and there were times when the most I could manage was making myself a cup of tea and stare out the window, watching others live their lives.
Now, I give talks on motivation and I am walking the talk! When life gets tough you may have no idea how to get motivated. This is especially tricky when it comes to your working life. If the only thing getting you out of the door each morning is fear; of losing an income; of not being able to pay your bills; then you need a serious shift in how you look at your life. If, like me, you are self-employed, then you have to master self-motivation and it can be doubly difficult. If you are an employer, you have additional responsibilities; you need to know how to get motivated to keep your business going, but also how to motivate your staff.
How to get motivated by looking at what you have
Being de-motivated can become a vicious cycle. When work is not going the way you want, or life is constantly challenging, it can define your mind set. You tend to see things in a negative light and that colours even the good things. This can spread amongst colleagues too and create a negative culture and ultimately a poor work environment.
To break that cycle you need to shift the focus. As an individual you can learn how to get motivated in a number of ways; the simplest starting point is learning gratitude. This requires looking at the small things in your life to start with. You may have heard of gratitude lists before; that is because they do actually work! 
Write down at least 6 things you are grateful for. Examples might be; your children laughing; your dog greeting you with a wagging tail; your colleague making you a cup of coffee; your health (definitely on MY list!!) etc. The key here is to refer to this list when things are not feeling so great.
If you are self-employed then learning how to get motivated may also mean giving yourself a break now and then. Some days it is better to acknowledge that you just cannot complete tasks efficiently. Sit yourself down with a cup of tea and mentally run through everything you are grateful for then decide to do one small thing towards your long list of tasks. Occasionally we create demotivation by overloading and overwhelming ourselves. This applies in the workplace too. Yes, you have deadlines, no you can’t opt out of working that day. What you can do is to give yourself a mental breather, remind yourself of your gratitude list and select one task to complete initially.
If you are an employer; take note! Overwhelming your staff will lead to de-motivation. This, in turn, will lead to a fall in productivity.
How to get motivated some tips and tricks
- Get outside- during your lunch break or even at the end of the day after work. Do NOT work at your desk eating sandwiches! If you don’t allow your body to recharge and switch off from work you will drain your energy, lose motivation and the quality of your work will deteriorate. I used to go drive in my car and find a good place to sit and look at the stars- they seemed to help me put things in perspective
- Don’t think about the big stuff- focus on small things you CAN achieve and you will gain the motivation to tackle the bigger things
- Shift your focus to positive things and SMILE – this releases your happy hormones and gives your body a kick start.
- Watch motivational films, videos, talks. They actually work by taking you away from your own thoughts and making you think differently.
If you are an employer, consider what positive energy you put into the workplace- do you think about how to get motivated yourself? Do you consider that your staff need some help in this area occasionally? If you are self-employed- make connections with others in your industry; isolation is a sure fire recipe for feeling demotivated.
You can learn how to get motivated, one step at a time and by focusing on things to be grateful for.
If you need some motivation in your workplace- why not book me to speak to your employees- read these testimonials to see how I can help raise motivation levels.