Perhaps everyone is familiar with situations when you have to think about how to force yourself to work. Everyone is susceptible to such phenomena - office workers, freelancers, housewives and others. A familiar situation: when you sit down at your desk, the first thing you do is study social networks, read everything in a row, drink coffee, go for a snack, but never get to work? How to deal with this reluctance and why does this happen?
Wake up with pleasure
Waking up in a good mood guarantees a great start to the day and a positive continuation. To do this, firstly, it is important to go to bed not too late the night before to get enough sleep. Secondly, the following recommendations will help:
- Be careful when choosing an alarm clock and its melody. Modern alarm clocks go off during REM sleep, when it is easier to wake up. If you set an alarm on your smartphone, choose a pleasant, cheerful melody.
- Don't rush to get up immediately after waking up. Psychologist Marina Baskakova advises lying down for a couple of minutes and thinking about something good, dreaming. At the mental level, positive thinking will set you up for productive activities.
- Turn on a lamp or open the curtains to let in the sun. Bright light gives you a feeling of cheerfulness and joy.
Remember the need to follow a routine and routine. If you go to bed and wake up around the same time every day, you can stay active and alert all day. This will maintain a positive attitude.
Reasons for reluctance to work
Let's look at the main reasons:
- Most often, the main reason for reluctance to work is simple fatigue
. The pace of modern life rarely allows for relaxation, and this comes with its own consequences. Trying to match the surrounding rhythm, a person begins to exhale, fatigue accumulates, and there are few opportunities for relaxation. The endless desire to do everything in time and fulfill the plan turns into a nervous breakdown and weakness of the immune system. This affects normal functioning. - Laziness
becomes a serious obstacle to fulfilling responsibilities and implementing plans. It rarely appears suddenly, often forming at an early age. It is inherent in almost everyone, but its consequences will not be too destructive if you learn to fight it. If you let it take over, then the work will go slowly, and only serious motivation can change something. - Endless stress
has a negative impact, and it is more difficult for a person to force himself to work. They have similar effects to fatigue, but are more difficult to combat. Stress can result not only in a reluctance to work, but also leads to apathy, neuroses, and depression.
Use affirmations
Starting the day for vigor and positivity: Freepick
When you go to the bathroom after waking up, smile at yourself in the mirror. Remember the feelings from childhood when you woke up on your birthday, and try to restore them.
When looking at yourself in the mirror, use a few affirmations from the book “Live Positively” by Louise Hay, for example:
- I'm the best at what I do.
- I'm professional.
- I am a successful, strong-willed, persistent person.
You can formulate your attitudes - positive statements in the present tense. Regular practice of this technique gradually rebuilds the mind towards positive thinking, gives strength and self-confidence.
Do some exercise
As a child, parents often force me to do exercises, but do not explain why. It is difficult to instill such a habit in a child who usually does not yet care about issues of health and longevity.
As we get older, we understand that:
- Physical exercise improves blood circulation, nutrition of tissues and organs, and makes the brain work more actively.
- Warming up helps relieve night swelling and tones the body.
Make up a set of exercises from turns and rotations of the head, joints of the arms and legs, bending, and squats. The goal is not to feel the strain, but to prepare the body for an active day. This warm-up will help you finally wake up and lift your spirits.
Set achievable goals for yourself
Small, accessible goals will help motivate you. Create some tasks for yourself or for your team if you are a leader. Setting the bar too high often only leads to disappointment when goals are not met on time. Reward yourself and your employees with small rewards for achieving these goals.
10
Make time for motivation and meditation
After you wake up and exercise, take some time to find motivation and inspiration. To do this, read a chapter from the biography of an outstanding person, quotes from great people, articles on productivity, or watch a short motivational video.
A short meditation will also help you tune in to your work day, calm your thoughts and give them the right direction. This is the so-called proactive behavior that psychotherapist Linda Esposito recommends. It can be difficult to find time during the day to create inspiration, so the morning is a great time for this purpose.
Summary
The tips from the article will help you overcome a temporary loss of strength and get back into the mood for effective work. Remember that any difficulties are temporary and will definitely pass. The main thing is to motivate yourself, remember your successes and achievements, and avoid a situation where you decide to give up and stop looking for a job.
It’s not for nothing that King Solomon’s ring was written: “Everything passes and this too will pass.”
Author: Sergey Antropov (KadrofID: 5) Added: 02/27/2015 at 16:08
To favorites
Comments (0)
Create a Ritual
Morning ritual: Freepick
A ritual is understood as a certain action or set of actions that “turns on” a person and puts him in a certain mood. Various options:
- vigorous exercise;
- cold and hot shower;
- a cup of coffee or tea.
Psychotherapist Nicole Urdang recommends making a delicious, leisurely breakfast a ritual. Immerse yourself in the process completely and enjoy it. Anticipating your favorite ritual makes waking up much easier.
Make a plan for the day and visualize it
A clear understanding of what exactly you will do and what you want to accomplish helps you to have a positive attitude towards work. Blogger Anastacia Kay recommends making a clear plan for the whole day:
- Write down the tasks.
- Place them in order of priority.
- Allocate an approximate amount of time for each task.
When creating such a plan, do not try to fit all the tasks for the week into one day (especially if it is a Monday plan). Assess your strength soberly, allow a little time in reserve in case of force majeure. Plan relaxation and pleasant moments (meeting with friends, calling those you care about).
When the plan is ready, visualize the coming day and the result of completing all tasks. A mental picture of a positive result helps you cope with work tasks faster and more efficiently.
WHAT TO DO? [Specific actions to make yourself work]
In this section I will give 15 tips for those who want to know how to make themselves work. You can use them out of order. Choose the ones that seem appropriate for your situation. Save the rest for later.
I also ask you to keep in mind that in reality we never know what exactly will suit us. And if we consider something inappropriate, these may be thinking traps - the brain comes up with good reasons for us not to try new ways to combat laziness. Therefore, if you don’t like any of the methods, be sure to think about why. Perhaps this is a trap. And this is the method that will help you get out of the lazy pit of inactivity.
Find meaning in work
Often we don't want to work because we don't see the point in it. It might make sense for the client or the company we're working for. But not for us.
Therefore, some modern companies provide new employees with tours of all processes. So that even the one who screws a small nut onto a bolt understands that he is creating environmentally friendly cars and helping to clean up the planet. This gives him meaning in his work.
If you want to force yourself to work, ask yourself: why should I do this? What's the point for me? And what is the benefit to others?”
This way you will refresh or create from scratch the meaning of the task for yourself. If a task doesn't make sense to us or the meaning doesn't suit us, we won't do it.
Turn off emotions
Sometimes we don't want to work because we don't like the task. Maybe someone else should do it. Or the usual tools for performing it are currently unavailable to us, so we reject the task.
In this case, you need to act in a new way → do something that you are not used to.
At this moment, try to disconnect from emotions and just start doing. Because in fact the task is neutral. We ourselves paint it in unpleasant shades in order to come up with an excuse and a reason not to do it.
Also read: Test for emotional burnout at work and in life: how to determine that you are everything
Select priority
Maybe you don't want to work because you're overwhelmed with incoming tasks and don't know what to tackle first.
Choose just one thing to work on now and temporarily forget about everything else. Get started with what seems most important right now.
When a lot of tasks for work in the company accumulate, I schedule a call with the manager. Together we set priorities and choose what needs to be done now. I understand that this is a kind of release of some responsibility, but it helps me put things in order in my head. And I don't do this often. Only in case of urgent need.
If you have a manager or colleagues you can consult with, use it. This often helps a lot in understanding problems.
4. Get started
Sorry, I know it sounds too corny. But very often, when we don’t feel like working, we just wait for the “start” command. And if there is no person nearby who can give this command, you need to become a commander and executor rolled into one.
All you have to do is just start doing the task that needs to be done first. Take the smallest of the next steps. Motivation is a process. Just start.
Also read: How to start the day while working remotely [7 morning tips for a productive day]
Do for 5 minutes
Agree with yourself that you will work for only 5 minutes. It's very easy → just 5 times for one minute. Use a timer.
During this time, you can easily get carried away with the process. When the timer runs out, you will continue working because you have entered the flow. If you feel like it, continue. If not, follow the terms of the agreement - step away from the task and return to it after a while.
Even if you don't want to work any further after 5 minutes are up, that's okay. You will still be great because you have taken, albeit a small, step forward.
Start with a difficult task
Mental energy is limited. You need to spend the best part of it on the most important tasks. When the important things are done, move on to other things that don’t take up a lot of energy. As a rule, these are some familiar things that do not need to be thought about. Just do it.
Focus. Use the Pomodoro technique
Pomodoro is one of the best focusing techniques I have ever used. It is very simple and effective. If you can't start working because you are constantly distracted by other tasks, start using the Pomodoro technique.
I discovered it about 5 years ago, and started using it intensively two years ago. And productivity has increased significantly. I even used it as the basis for a remote specialist's glider.
Learn more about the Pomodoro technique.
Remove your phone and anything that might distract you from sight.
The smartphone is the #1 distraction for many people. Nowadays life happens on our phones. There is an interesting world there that attracts attention.
Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Telegram and other social networks generate oceans of different content per second. For every taste: you can listen to songs, watch cats, and get benefits. And there's nothing wrong with that. The development of the world is wonderful. It’s bad when it prevents us from working and moving towards our goals.
It's not your phone's fault that it distracts you. We are responsible for our own focus. Therefore, you yourself must make a decision that will get rid of this distraction.
What did I do? For the last three years, my smartphone has had sound and notifications turned off. It doesn't affect me at all. I can only see the call. And only if the phone is in my field of vision.
But sometimes, when the phone is just lying nearby, I give in to temptation and pick it up instead of completing the task. At this moment, I monitor this behavior of mine and move the phone to where it will not be visible at all. A good place is behind a laptop monitor. Here the phone remains near me, but does not interfere with my work, because I cannot see it.
I know guys who take their phone to another room. They say it is very effective. I haven't tried it yet. Not necessary.
Maintain a chain of achievements
Take an A4 sheet of paper, draw 10 boxes on it and put dates in these boxes. Agree with yourself about how much you should work every day. For example, you want to work 5 hours of pure time. Write this on a piece of paper.
Every day when you work 5 hours, check the box for that day. It is better to use a green thick felt-tip pen or pencil for this.
And on a day when you can’t work for 5 hours because you were relaxed or something distracted you, put a red cross in the box. This signals that you have lost today. Keep this piece of paper in your sight to motivate you to move.
This is a good method for forming a habit. Productivity works according to the law of inertia. When we get up to speed, we want to continue to be efficient. And when we slow down, it’s difficult to accelerate again.
When you constantly see your progress, it motivates you. You want to take action again and again. You will be upset by the missed days, so you will try to avoid them. Gradually, the habit of being productive will form. And the question “how to make yourself work” will cease to exist.
To plan
Pre-planned actions eliminate the need to make decisions. When you have a plan, you just need to carry it out without thinking about what to do next. This takes the load off the brain.
For example, you want to publish a new blog post, but you just can’t get started. Commit to writing one paragraph a day until the article is ready. This is, if you want, in small steps.
I'm going a little tougher. When I write an article, I plan to spend an hour on it every morning. It doesn’t matter exactly how much I write in this hour, because articles vary. But I have to work for a whole hour without being distracted by anything else. That's right, I wrote the article you are reading now.
I just woke up, made myself coffee and sat down to write. This is a good way, because the morning time is the most valuable time for mental work. The head is fresh and productive. Until we filled her with various thoughts of the day.
I recommend making a plan in the evening and following it in the morning. If you don’t want to or it’s difficult to plan the whole day, choose only one thing to start in the morning. This is enough to get started. The main thing is to turn on productivity and gain momentum. With this mindset, your entire day will pick up the right speed and you will remain productive for most of it.
Break down and correctly formulate the task in the plan
Sometimes we don't start a task because our brain finds it difficult and tries to avoid it. But in fact, the task is simple, we just formulated it incorrectly.
To stop this, learn to formulate tasks accurately and specifically.
For example:
The task of “Cleaning up your desktop” sounds complicated and unclear. You need to be more specific: “Wipe the dust on the table, remove everything unnecessary, fold the wires, wipe the laptop screen.”
One task turned into 4 very clear and simple actions. Each of them is easier to complete than taking on the difficult task of cleaning up your desk.
The same applies to work tasks.
For example:
The task of “Write an article” sounds difficult. Let's specify: choose 3 photos for the article, write the abstract, write the introduction to the article, write the conclusion, write the title.
It has become simpler and clearer. Essentially, I split the task into several small actions. It seems like there is more work, but now we can choose what exactly to do if we don’t want to write the entire article. For example, if we’re too lazy to work, we can spend 10 minutes selecting photos for an article or writing an introduction. Or just write a title. It will take even less time.
If you can’t start a task and constantly find excuses, try breaking it down and accurately formulating each piece. It will become easier.
More to read: Technique: fit the task within the framework of faith
Ask yourself: “Am I ready?”
I borrowed this method from the book “Triggers”. I highly recommend reading it.
Any business starts with the first principle, which increases the chances of success.
- In carpentry, this is the principle of “measure twice, cut once.”
- For sailors, it’s “know which way the wind is blowing.”
- In women's fashion - "buy a little black dress."
And here is the first principle of achieving success in any business. It reduces daily stress, conflict, unpleasant arguments and wasted time. It is formulated in the form of a question that you should ask yourself every time you have a choice between getting involved in a fight or ignoring a problem.
Am I ready to make an effort now to change this situation for the better?
The author of the book shortened this question to the first three words - “Am I ready?” In this matter, two instructions are combined: Buddhist revelation and common sense.
The question “Am I ready?” gives a millisecond pause for arrogant, cynical, negative, argumentative and selfish reactions. The pause gives time to think through a positive response. Read more carefully what is written below.
“Am I Ready” requires us to exercise willpower and take responsibility rather than drifting inertly with the flow. We ask ourselves: “Do I want this?”
“Now” reminds us that we act in the present. In the future, circumstances will change and require a different response. The only problem is what we are facing now.
“Make an effort” reminds us that this is work that requires time, effort and opportunity. But we must remember that our resources are limited. We ask ourselves, “Is this really the best way to spend our time?”
“To Make a Difference” is a reminder that we can make ourselves or the world around us better. If we don't get what we want, why get involved?
“This Situation” focuses us on the problem at hand. We cannot solve all problems. Time spent in areas where we cannot contribute is stolen from those where we can.
This is worth asking ourselves when we are looking for an answer to the question: how to make ourselves work.
“Am I willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish this task to the best of my ability?” If not, maybe it’s better not to do this task at all or transfer it to another performer? Think about it.
Don’t reproach or blame yourself if you lose your temper
At the beginning of the article I said that there is nothing wrong with laziness. She simply exists.
But laziness signals that something is wrong. You need to figure out why the failure occurred, eliminate the cause, take measures to heal the problem, and go back into battle.
Many people begin to blame themselves for missed deadlines and overdue promises. You need to learn to turn off this emotion and act.
Just know that nothing bad happened. You just haven't figured out the issue yet. There is nothing to blame yourself for. Everything is about to get better and you will regain your productivity. You have already started reading this article and have read more than half of it. So you are looking for a way out. And that's great. You're already doing great.
Also read: What to do when you have no strength and it seems like everything is in vain [survival instructions]
Do nothing but work
If you don't want to work, don't do anything other than work. Just sit or lie down. Let your head calm down and think through all the thoughts that came to you when you were distracted from work.
If you have promised yourself that you will work for a certain amount of time on a specific task, you can only do it. And if you don’t want to do it, just don’t do anything - just be inactive. Over time, extraneous thoughts will go away, and you will be able to get back to work without distractions.
Change your attitude towards the result
Sometimes we can't get started because we're afraid we'll end up failing. Therefore, we delay this moment by inaction.
This view of the outcome needs to change. It is not difficult.
Think about what good things will happen when you succeed. This pleasant emotion will help you switch to a working mood and get to work. And even make it better than you could, because the brain will begin to look for the most effective solutions.
Find positivity on your way to work
All the previous points on having a positive attitude at work can be done at home, but you still need to get to the office. It is very important not to lose your mood here, especially on public transport or due to inclement weather.
On the way to work:
- Notice beautiful things. Pay attention to the trees and clouds, birds and flowers. The beauty of nature is calming and positive.
- Use your imagination. During a crush on public transport, mentally compare people to penguins, shifting from foot to foot. If you are driving and get stuck in a traffic jam, dream about something pleasant.
- Look around and mark the places and establishments you would like to visit, pay attention to posters for interesting events. Planning your rest helps you work more efficiently.
- Listen to your favorite music or audiobook. While traveling in public transport or walking, positive melodies or funny stories will add excitement and create a good mood.
The importance of attitude
A person constantly needs motivation. From an early age, parents force their children to wash dishes, clean, go to the store and look after younger brothers or sisters. In return, the child receives pocket money, desired toys, clothes, etc. From an early age, the child is instilled with the principles of remuneration.
You cannot survive without motivation in adult life. People need money as a means of subsistence. But in order to receive them, you must conscientiously perform the tasks that the employer sets for your subordinate. Another problem is that even regular monetary rewards cannot constantly motivate a person. Sometimes laziness manifests itself, which forces you to “give up”, despite the need to urgently resolve important work tasks, the number of bonuses, etc.
Colleagues or superiors may notice a lack of interest in work. Such an employee will no longer be valuable. If completing tasks causes difficulties, the employer can reprimand the person, fine or fire him. Therefore, it is important to learn how to motivate yourself to work.
Money is not always sufficient motivation to work
Create a positive atmosphere for yourself and your team
When you come to work, it is important to maintain a positive attitude and not let your mood dissipate, for example, at the sight of irritated colleagues. Candidate of Psychological Sciences Svetlana Tikhomirova is sure that for a positive attitude it is important to love your job, respect your colleagues and enjoy life.
This can be expressed in simple steps:
- Take a sincere interest in the affairs of your colleagues.
- Focus on achievements and enjoy even small successes.
Having completed all these steps in the morning, you will feel invigorated, learn something new, draw up a clear action plan and know where it will lead. All together will be the key to a positive attitude not only at work, but also for the whole coming day. Remember that your mood and condition are in your hands.
Original article: https://www.nur.kz/family/self-realization/1691932-tekhniki-pozitivnogo-nastroya-na-rabot/
Get ready
First you need to find a quiet corner.
A tip for those who work in open space offices: this is not your workplace. A car won't do either - there are too many things around that will distract attention. Most likely, it will be more convenient in the foyer or on the balcony. You can arrive early so that no one disturbs you. You will also need a notebook or notebook for notes (make sure you have a pen with you).
And of course it will take hours. Otherwise, how will you be able to time it and be sure that you do it in exactly seven minutes?
