Grab Some Coffee and Be Awesome!
Alexis Hearn
Entrepreneur I Head of Growth I Video Marketing Expert | Development Guru I Creative Leader I Strategic Storyteller
Have you ever stumbled groggily into work at 9 a.m. on a Monday morning, with a pleasant weekend in the rear-view and five straight days of the office grind staring you in the face?
We've all been there before.
And in those moments, even people who love their jobs may have trouble pushing themselves to work at their highest capabilities.
How can I motivate myself to work harder?
1. Convince yourself you want to do it.
One of the easiest things you can do to motivate yourself is to think of the work you're about to do as not being so hard, after all.
Focus not on how difficult it will be to achieve your goals but on how good you will feel about your work once it is done.
Make hard look easy! Trick yourself into believing your the kind of person who is capable of doing much more then what your handed.
2. Take control.
While it's easy to be overwhelmed by various personal and professional responsibilities, you can help yourself stay focused by keeping in mind that, at the very least, you are in control of your own actions.
Own every moment! You are in full control of this power!
3. Surround yourself with other people who are working hard.
No man or woman is an island. In order to pursue your goals with everything you have, it's helpful to be around other people who are working just as hard.
Whether it's coworkers who inspire you on the job or a group of like-minded friends you meet up with afterwards, it's important to have peers who push you to succeed.
The saying goes, you're the average of the 5 people you hang out with most — so surround yourself with HARD workers!
Who do you know that is going places? Start hanging around them.
4. Break up your tasks into smaller tasks.
Break your hard work into component parts; it makes it easier to see where the obstacles are so you can be prepared to overcome them.
Indeed, it's important not only to identify these small tasks, but to pat yourself on the back when you complete them.
Small wins can appear incremental and rather trivial, but they can boost inner work life tremendously. Furthermore, small wins can accumulate into big breakthroughs.
5. Stay focused.
It's difficult to motivate yourself to keep working if you're not able to concentrate on the task at hand.
Limit your exposure to outside distractions by letting people know you won't always be available to immediately respond to texts, emails, and instant messages.
If you have trained others that your are always available to respond to requests, you need to retrain them to expect something else! Make it clear to people when you will be available for requests and when you are not.
6. Remember your "Why."
Nothing is more motivating than reminding yourself why you're doing the work in the first place. Whether you're building a product you love or simply putting food on the table for your family, it's crucial that you remain in touch with what inspires you.
"You hear a lot in business about connecting to a 'vision' — the 'why' of that company. The vision is how the company wants to be positioned. You can set the same standard for yourself as well.
7. Stay positive.
As anyone will tell you, failure is inevitable, but it's how you deal with failure that determines whether you will ultimately be successful.
Do what you need to do accomplish your goals, regardless of what others might say about you. Stress the importance of making sure you don't see the success of other people and get down on yourself.
Focus on your strengths, rather than dwelling on your weaknesses.
Building your self esteem is about finding what your strengths are and then developing and building on them. Your employer would not have given you a job if they did not recognize certain skills in you.
Put a smile on and get down to it!
Have a fantastic day!