Hey you! You’ve probably landed on this page because you’re feeling like you need some inspiration and motivation. Here are 3 insightful hacks you can incorporate into your life to increase productivity.
The word motivation is derived from the word ‘motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating actions to accomplish goals. Psychological factors stimulating people’s behaviour can be – the desire for money, success, independance or love.
Kou Murayama PhD, a professor of Multidisciplinary Motivation Science, explains that there are two types of motivation for achievement-based goals:
- To master materials and develop their competence, which are called mastery goals.
- To perform well in comparison to others, which are called performance goals.
Results on a study performed on 3000 school kids showed that those who focused on the mastery aspect of learning (“I invest a lot of effort in math because I like math”) supported more longer-term growth in achievement than the kids who focused more on the performance aspect of learning (“I work hard because I want to get good grades”).
Which means those who did maths to get good grades only received short-term rewards and those who do it because they enjoyed it saw more long-term learning, motivation and achievements.
The same report also showed internal motivations outlived external ones. Internal motivations are also known as intrinsic motivations which are:
- The act of doing something without any obvious external rewards.
- You do it because it’s enjoyable and interesting.
As humans, we are able to generate much more intrinsic motivations than we thought we were capable of. It also just goes to show if you enjoy something you can go so much further.
We all have spiritual, mental, emotional and physical dimensions of our existence. When these are in harmony we can explore our full potential. That’s why before you start looking for ‘tips’ it’s vital to get your life in balance first.
Here are some quick tips to help you get started.
1. Surround Yourself With Motivation
When they say you are most like the top 5 people that you surround yourself with. It’s true!
Have you ever noticed when you’re around a friend who is happy and suddenly you start to smile and feel happy too? What about when your friend is suffering from say, a breakup? Do you start to feel their pain too?
As humans, we are naturally empathic souls therefore when our nearest and dearest are in high emotional states of being it’s hard not to catch their vibes. This also trickles down to your motivation.
You need people — whether it’s friends, family, mentors, colleagues or partners — talk to anyone in your life that’s inspiring this will help motivate you.
Many workers strive to be the smartest person in the room but if you’re always the smartest person, you won’t have the inspiration to grow. You want to surround yourself with people who you think are better than you and are motivated themselves. That way you can catch their energy.
When I need motivation and I’m home alone (most of the time 😂) I hop onto youtube and look for my most favourite business personality. I LOVE Marie Forleo as she’s just so dam energetic and motivated. She’s not everyone’s cup of tea but she’s 100% mine. Because Marie is so uplifting and all her videos cater to my pain points I catch her energy!
It’s like getting a coaching session but for free. If you surround yourself with those who resonate with you who inspire you and are motivated themselves. You can catch their vibe.
The reason for this is, I genuinely think motivation is due to your mood which is affected by your emotions which can be affected by your surroundings.
2. Do whatever you want or feel like
If you feel like staring at a wall. GO STARE AT THAT WALL (this is what I do to relax lol). You can tune into what your body needs if you sit down in a quiet spot and just take some deep breathes in and out. Then feel your body and listen to what your mind is telling you to do. If that’s something go do it. If it’s nothing. Go rest! It doesn’t matter. You’re life = your rules.
If you really wanted to do something you would do it. I remember when I wanted to transfer to a different team at work. There wasn’t a job for me on this team. I spoke to my direct report, his manager, then his manager who then directed me towards the manager of the new team and then he directed me towards his manager. They kept telling me there wasn’t a job. When they finally let me into the new team, I didn’t feel welcome but I still stuck around for a year because I liked what I was doing.
If you wanted to do something you would make it your top priority. You would find the strength to drive you towards whatever it is. If you don’t then it’s a sign. Just leave it. There is nothing wrong with leaving a project and idea half-finished and moving onto something that you feel compelled to do.
Always follow your gut feeling.
3. Give yourself 1 goal to complete
Sometimes the reason you don’t feel like you’re motivated is that you haven’t been ‘productive’. Being productive is subjective. You can change your perception of productivity by reflecting on what you do at the end of the day. I’m pretty sure you filled up your day with things like watching films, researching, reading, cooking, admin stuff, talk to the family. That’s still being productive.
You can start by asking yourself and re-defining what productivity is to you.
- What does being productive look like to you? It could be getting a task done, starting something you’ve always wanted to do, progressing in a project, arts & crafting, producing something, cleaning..
- What do you do/did you do during your day?
- Would any of those tasks deem productive to another person?
First, you reframe your definition of productivity to smaller more baby fist bumps. Then, you pat yourself on your back.
You don’t have to finish something to be productive. To me, even something as simple as replying to an email or a friend I’ve been meaning to is being productive. Once I do that I feel accomplished.
Once you reframe what productivity is, specifically something you consistently do day to day you will feel much better. That feeling will lead to other areas of your day and life and the more you realise how productive you already are the more positive you will feel about completing bigger more rewarding tasks.
If that doesn’t help, setting yourself one manageable goal can help. Just one goal. It doesn’t have to be learning it can be as simple as completing an old task you’ve had on your list – whether it be on your computer or work or personal – choose that as a starting point to complete.
When you achieve something that you haven’t before it trains you to be more self-motivated. Think back to how you was 5 or even 10 years ago. Did you always know how to do what it is you can do now? No one is born with innate skills and talents. They’ve all learned by doing. You’ve already got that energy inside you. Learn the triggers and get that boost every time you overcome a hurdle.
If you find it hard then choose something super small but definitely try at least 1 new thing to challenge yourself or to complete.
It’s okay not to do anything. If you’re relaxing at home, you can’t be productive all the time. Relaxing is a great way to let your mind fester creativity. So fear not. Motivation will come when you’re relaxed, happy and not worried about being motivated 🙂
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