In the last article, we focused on how to take care of yourself in order to stay motivated when you feel like giving up. In this article, we will focus on how you can stay motivated when you feel like giving up at work.
Strategy 1: Organize
There are people out there who love organization and people who hate it. Does your organized chaos make people shudder? If so, you probably need to get organized.
I remember when I was rebranding. I thought I was going to lose my mind for a while. When I finally got organized, everything was so much smoother.
What is the benefit?
Organization benefits everyone. Being organized saves time, effort, and money, but more importantly, it motivates you to be more creative and to meet deadlines. Most people recognize the importance of being organized, but they struggle with how to get (and stay) organized.
How do I get started?
I’m all about systems. Check out these 5 Tools to Manage your Business. Take a day or two to get your systems in order. If you’re struggling to do it yourself, it might be time to hire a VA, OBM, or systems strategist.
Working with someone else on your business is an added bonus to help you stay motivated. If you have systems or are not ready to invest in systems, consider a customized calendar to help you plan out your week in a way that works for you.
Strategy 2: Plan, schedule, plan
This strategy is surely no big surprise either. Many people plan out their week or their month, but I suggest you plan your day-week-month-and year as well as schedule time to plan.
What is the benefit?
Planning and scheduling time to plan is exponentially beneficial for several reasons. Not only do you save time, increase your focus (on tasks), and reduce stress (because you anticipate your schedule) but you can also increase your productivity, decrease your budget (by anticipating costs), and carve out time for what is important.
How do I get started?
There are many ways to get started planning. If you’re a digital fan, use a Trello board to plan out your day-week-month-and year. You can easily add to it and manipulate it in the same space you do work. And it’s free. If you’re a paper fan, find or create the right planner for you to be most productive.
Erin Condren planners are vibrant and beautiful, but in the wrong hands, they are a series of disasters. There are customizable planners that you can make from Canva or companies like Agendio.
Make your calendar perfect for you. What is most important is to spend a bit of time each day reviewing your plan and then reflecting on what you accomplished and need to accomplish the next day. If you schedule 25-30 minutes at the beginning of your day and another 25-30 minutes at the end of your day, that hour spent is going to save you in the long run. Do the same for the beginning and end of your work week and work month. Also, be sure you are setting tasks for the day and not just jobs or large chunks.
By setting tasks, you can motivate yourself to get those tasks done or shift those tasks if motivation hits you.
Strategy 3: Set goals
Goal setting is not a new concept. Most people like to use SMART goals. Goal setting is simply setting a goal to accomplish. That means the goal has to be geared towards action. I’ve got a really great piece about goal setting next month.
What is the benefit?
The benefits to setting great. Focus, tasks to complete, a timeline, some potential cost, and expectations in addition to satisfaction, motivation, clarity are among some of the benefits of goal setting.
How do I get started?
Goal setting should be done alongside planning in daily, weekly, monthly, and annual platforms. You might consider dividing into short-term (daily, weekly, monthly) and long-term (quarterly, bi-annually, annually, 2-year, and 5 year) goals.
Short term goals should be smaller breakdowns of the long-term goals with tasks assigned. If you use SMART goals, it’s important to keep those goals to no more than 5.
It is also helpful to visualize those goals. Create a vision board to help you see the goals you want to accomplish. Put that vision board in a place where you will see it often.
Strategy 4: Find an accountability partner
An accountability partner is an individual in the same or similar business who will help motivate you and hold you accountable for certain aspects of your business.
While the other three strategies depend on you to motivate yourself, an accountability partner will help you stay in line with your goals and check in on you as you do the same for them.
What is the benefit?
Having an accountability partner takes a lot of responsibility. You have to report to someone as much as they have to report to you.
Not only does this individual hold you accountable for your actions but he or she can help you avoid procrastinating.
How do I get started?
Getting started on finding the right accountability partner is a bit more difficult than the other processes. First, you have to determine the qualities and characteristics of the right accountability partner.
What behaviors motivate you? Aggressiveness? Bluntness? Compassion? Competition? Consistency? Empathy? Chances are, you want to find someone who is not like you.
If you’re empathetic, you probably need someone who will call you out on your kindness in your best interest. If you’re aggressive, you probably need someone to help you understand the perspective of others a bit more.
Once you know what qualities you’re looking for, you need to find someone. FB searches within your niche are helpful. If you’re a brick and mortar, maybe you have a friend in the community who you can count on. Think about people in previous jobs who you worked well with.
Finally, once they agree, you have to set up a schedule and adhere to it. Perhaps you “meet” once a month. That meeting day and time should be sacred, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reach out to one another at other times as well. Share the time, too. If you meet for one hour, spend half the time on your updates and half on his or her update.
Staying motivated right now is difficult. Understand that you are not alone in your feelings. With a bit of self-care and business care, you’ll give up that feeling of giving up in no time!