What to do when you've lost your motivation

 Exploring the reasons for lack of motivation

Is it me or does this lockdown seem to be dragging on ... and we're only halfway through!  In which case, it's pretty understandable if you've lost a bit of motivation at the moment.  I'm missing my Saturday morning boot camps right now but I've adapted, I've moved them to Zoom and the fun and laughter is still there.  This is exactly what we need to do when motivation is lacking, we need to turn things around and do them differently.

There are several reasons why you might have lost your motivation and this latest lockdown could have been the final straw for you.  Let's work our way through a few different options and find out what's going on.

Are you fed up of seeing the same things on your list?

Seeing the same things on your 'to do' list all the time can be very de-motivating but instead of doing nothing at all, approach them from a different angle.  Accept that you're probably never going to get round to doing them in their present state.  So what can you do differently?  For example, I take the minutes in several meetings at work throughout the month.  I'd see 'Type up minutes' on my action list knowing it would take me a long time to go back through the notes and translate them into something meaningful.  This left me feeling overwhelmed and de-motivated and I'd put it off for as long as possible.  What I've now started to do is break the task down, so immediately following the meeting I type up the minutes in draft format and then leave them to do something else.  When I go back to them I focus on the complex and technical parts, I might then have another break and then finally I tidy them up in terms of grammar etc.  Approaching tasks this way, in bitesize chunks, is much better.

Take action instead of waiting to find your motivation

We often wait for our motivation to arrive before taking action but 'flip your thinking' and take action first.  For example, if you have a task to do but you can't find the motivation and you know you have to get it done, set yourself a time challenge.  Set a timer for just 10 minutes and promise yourself you can stop after that time.  This works particularly well for exercise, 10 minutes is nothing, easy peasy, and you'll still get all the benefits even if you stop after that.  However, 9 times out of 10, you'll probably keep going for longer and, as I always say to my fitness clients, the hardest part is putting on your trainers and stepping out the door ... after that, it's easy.

Do you have a big enough why?

It's the buzz word of the year ... why ... what's your why?  I'm sure you've heard lots on this subject but it's true.  What is your why?  Why did you set that action / goal?  What are you hoping to achieve?  When you're lacking motivation, you have to ask yourself if your 'why' is a big enough reason to do it.  For example, if you've set yourself the goal of running a marathon but can't really be bothered to commit to the training then you're going to become de-motivated very quickly.  Instead, why not set yourself a more achievable target of doing a 10K and raising some money for charity.  Knowing that you are making a huge difference to someone else's life can be great motivation but you have to get the balance right with your goal in question.

Do you need to take a step back?

Sometimes we can lose our motivation because we simply need to take time out.  Are you feeling burnt out?  Have you neglected yourself recently?  It's very hard to feel motivated if you've been neglecting your basic needs.  This is not just a feeling of general laziness and can't be bothered, it goes much deeper so it's worth exploring if you're feeling particularly overwhelmed and de-motivated right now.  Are you eating properly?  Drinking enough water?  Having enough downtime?

Is it the current circumstances?

If lockdown and the current circumstances are the cause of your de-motivation, this is a little trickier to fix as we have a long way to go yet.  It's going to be hard but now is the time to draw on your creativity to work your way through.  A good place to start is by keeping a journal.  Getting all the rubbish out of your head and onto paper is a great way to clear your mind in the first instance.  Next, you need to get creative in terms of your contacts.  No, we can't mix with others right now but we can still talk to them.  If you're all Zoomed out then pick up the phone instead and do it the old fashioned way.  You can still meet one person from a different household for exercise purposes so set up a a 'walk and talk' session with a friend.  With vaccinations on the horizon, we at least have hope that this time next year could look very different and in a much better place.  Quite honestly, if we can get through this, we can get through anything.  We're going to come out of this situation much stronger and knowing which of our values are most important to us.

Until next week, stay safe ... and motivated!

#2020