How to Stay Motivated at Work

Suffering from a little work demotivation happens to all of us at some point. With 2018 now firmly in motion, this is the time those New Year resolutions slowly start to slip. But, it’s also the time you can combat that and those lethargic feelings by making an effort to get yourself back on track. Trust us, you’ll feel better for it.

Identify your peak productivity time.

Do you leap out of bed in the morning, immediately ready to get going? Or are you most alive in the afternoon, when your mind has had time to warm up? You’ll know instinctively when your mind is at its most productive, so try to plan you day to make the most of that. Of course, this isn’t always going to work – we all have meetings at different times throughout the day for example, but try and schedule in those meatier tasks for the times in the day you know you’re most productive.

Procrastination is not your friend.

Arguably the biggest offender when you’re not quite on track, procrastination is a killer. There’s nothing easier than putting off something you don’t want to do – whether it’s because it's a difficult conversation, it's time consuming or if it’s just something that’s a challenge for you – procrastinating doesn’t make it go away, it just makes it worse. Set yourself time limits and make yourself do those tasks you’re putting off. You’ll feel A LOT better getting them done rather than going down a YouTube rabbit hole, we promise.

Planning is key.

If you’re feeling disillusioned with your workload, approaching your working week without some semblance of a plan isn’t going to help. Track what you want to get done during the week and hold yourself accountable for it. If nothing else, on Monday morning make yourself a list of tasks you want to achieve during the week, and then block out times you’re going to do each task. Physically putting something down on paper or into your Outlook calendar can make all the difference when you’re struggling to start.

Don’t think about it as ‘work’.

Coming into a task with the mind-set that it’s work and thus, will be hard, is never going to make it seem like a task you can happily complete. For the recruitment industry, this is actually pretty simple. We transform lives every day. How great is that feeling when you place a candidate you’ve been working with for a long time who just keeps getting pipped at the post? How about when you help someone get a job in a new industry they’re passionate about? Whenever you start feeling low about work, just think that you are genuinely helping to transform lives. There’s no better reason to go to work in the morning.

If you liked this blog, check out our guide for keeping your energy up at work and how to take the next step in your career.