Top 8 tips for how to stay motivated at work

ARE you experiencing the midafternoon dip in motivation? Here’s the key to maintaining your personal drive in the workplace.

Marie-Josee Ares-Pilon

PERSONAL motivation is key to maintaining almost all aspects of life. If we’re not motivated, we’re more likely to be less productive and do things half-assed.

One area in life in which many of us have trouble staying motivated is our work life. Given that most of us spend more than 50 per cent of our time at work, it’s easy to see why we might lack motivation sometimes. However there are plenty of ways you can create a more positive environment for yourself and become more motivated at work. Here is how:

BUILD PERSONABLE RELATIONSHIPS

Many career experts believe becoming friends with colleagues is one of the best ways to stay motivated on the job, and I couldn’t agree more. When I first began working at my last job I knew no one there, but as time went by I started going to lunch and grabbing drinks with my colleagues, who eventually became great friends. As I got to know everyone from work, I was always inspired by their backgrounds and plans for the future. Being around like-minded individuals like this will help motivate you at work.

EXERCISE BEFORE WORK

If you want to start each workday full of energy and ready to kill it, do some sort of exercise in the morning. Whether it’s running, lifting or yoga, just get moving. According to the Mayo Clinic, working out in the morning causes your whole cardiovascular system to work more efficiently, upping your energy for the whole day. When you get to work, you’ll be fully awake and more alert versus barely rolling out of bed 30 minutes before and showing up to work only half awake.

CREATE A TO-DO LIST EVERY DAY

The first thing I do when I get into the office is write out a to-do list in my moleskine notebook. When I physically write down my goals for the day, I’m much more motivated to accomplish them, especially when I leave the list in plain sight. Writing a to-do list causes us to feel more responsible because each time we write a task down we’re making a commitment to ourselves to do it. When you start falling behind at work, having a to-do list with a lot of uncompleted tasks on it will motivate you to work harder and cross them all off.

SET GOALS AND MILESTONES

Although setting short-term goals is important, setting longer-term goals and milestones is much more important in regards to staying motivated at work. Having something to work towards makes working worthwhile. Find your career path. Decide what your dream job at your dream organisation looks like and work every day like it will bring you one step closer to having that dream come to fruition. Also be sure to create smaller goals to measure your success along the way.

ESTABLISH FREQUENT MEETINGS WITH YOUR SUPERVISOR

When you’re trying to grow in your career, it’s important that you constantly receive feedback from those managing you. At my last employer, my manager would set up 30-minute meetings (one on one) every week with me where he’d give me feedback on how I was doing and make sure I was being challenged. Every time I left these meetings I felt inspired and motivated. You should reach out to your supervisor and request to have one-on-one meetings at least twice a month, even if it’s just something as informal as grabbing lunch.

FIND A MENTOR

When you’re chasing dreams, it’s important to have a mentor. It’s great to have an experienced person have your back because they have already experienced any fears or doubts that you may have and know how to overcome them. Try to find someone who either has your dream job or is very knowledgeable about your industry. It’s not even important to have your mentor be at the organisation you currently work for; it may be even better if they aren’t.

LIVE A BALANCED LIFE

If you’re having fun when you’re not at work, you’re more likely to be happy when you are at work. It’s a very simple concept that many of us forget sometimes. Enjoy life when you’re not working and understand that your 9 to 5 funds your to 5 to 9 life. Don’t overwork yourself; live a balanced life. When you overwork yourself or forget to enjoy yourself when you’re not working, it’s bad for your health and motivation and will definitely affect your performance.

CELEBRATE YOUR WINS

According to Simon Reynolds, the author of Why People Fail, people often dwell on tasks they didn’t complete or didn’t do well. We’re all guilty of this to some degree but we need to understand focusing on this negativity can kill our motivation. Although it’s important to recognise our failures so that we learn from them, we should celebrate the things we do right in order to promote positive reinforcement. When you’re going through a hard-time at work, celebrating a win, no matter how small it may be, can give you the motivation you need to keep pushing through.

This article originally appeared on AskMen.