How to Motivate Yourself 101 | Tips to Stay Productive

Everyone has goals and dreams they want to pursue. However, working for what you aspire to is challenging, especially on days you don’t feel like getting up. If you can relate and need a quick fix, look no further.

Here are 18 tried-and-tested tricks to help you motivate yourself to work and stay productive.

Everyone has goals and dreams they want to pursue. However, working for what you aspire to is challenging, especially on days you don’t feel like getting up. If you can relate and need a quick fix, look no further.

Here are 18 tried-and-tested tricks to help you motivate yourself to work and stay productive.

18 Tips to Motivate Yourself for Work and Stay Productive

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Countering a creative block and getting the courage to start is hard. But employing these strategies can help you get over it and work smartly, boost productivity, and achieve results.

Remember Why

Everything aside, what matters is why you are here. Always remind yourself of the reason behind your ambitions; it can be anything from money to getting good grades, and more. Don’t get carried away and remain in touch with your inspiration. Think of yourself as an ambitious organization with certain goals and set realistic standards for your journey.

Challenge Yourself to Just Start

The most challenging part of getting yourself ready to work has to start. The thing is, your work will seem to flow once you start. If you find yourself looking at a computer aimlessly, trying to build up the courage to get going, set a timer and take the very first move when it reaches zero. It is, after all, how every journey starts with the first step. Instead of thinking about completing it, take a step towards it.

Set Smaller Goals and Manage Time Wisely

The most destructive habit in your way of productivity is setting goals you cannot achieve. So, get out of delusion and go for small yet realistic goals. Let’s say you have a project that is to end in a month, don’t get caught in the trap of having ample time. Rather, break down your work into manageable tasks and assign them daily. It can help you do little but achieve more.

Make a Realistic Checklist

Checklists are crucial for your work routine and productivity. However, conventional, miles-long, unrealistic lists are setting you up for disappointment. Instead, the tasks on your checklists should be short, attainable, and concise. As we discussed, focus on everyday small goals and move forward.

Pro Tip: Tools like EdrawMind’s advanced kanban boards deliver the best. It features numerous separate spaces for completed, work-in-progress, and to-do tasks to help you visualize the workflow and monitor progress.

Follow the Pomodoro Technique and Take Small Breaks

While it may sound counterintuitive, taking breaks actually improves your productivity. The Pomodoro time-blocking technique works best at this. This technique believes that taking rest every now and then can help your brain focus more effectively on tasks at hand.

Let’s say you are working for four hours, set your time at every 25 minutes, and the next ten minutes are your way out. Do whatever you like in these 10 minutes - yoga, meditation, walking, and more.

Clear Distractions from Your Workspace

There are almost endless ways we can get distracted, especially while working. Some distractions are controllable while others are not. Everyone knows better what distractions are within their control. For instance, a cell phone might be a distraction for one but not for others. Hence, what you have to do is detect these items and get them out of your sight.

Use the 2-Minute Rule.

Procrastination is the real thief of time. Delaying tasks that could’ve been completed easily earlier can make things worse. So, you must follow the 2-minute rule. If you have to do something that could’ve been done in less than two minutes, do it immediately. This technique will help you keep the small tasks from piling up into a huge mess and bring mental clarity.

Don’t Expect Perfection

The pressure of being perfect at what you do can be overwhelming. But you have to get over it. Nobody’s perfect. A good way to begin is with a blank doc and a lot of brain dumping. Write anything that comes to your mind related to the topic you’re studying or the strategy you’re planning. Once done, filter out your ideas and make a plan on how to proceed further.

Pro Tip: EdrawMind’s ample canvas is your go-to brainstorming space. It features non-linear expandable branches, an outline mode, preset structures, and more to begin with.

Develop Proactive Strategies

You never know when something unexpected pops up in your way. Even scrolling a little more than usual can mess up your checklists. But you must come up with proactive strategies to manage these distractions. One such strategy could be having recovery rituals, in which you leave some time off your day to compensate for the time lost.

Make Technology Your Friend

Software specifically designed for productivity and automation is your best friend. They are a shortcut to simplify tasks, streamline daily operations, and much more. But the question is, what tool best serves your requirements? It all lies in your requirements.

For instance, if you are a writer, a copywriting tool like Jasper might be better, or if you are a project manager, an automation software like Motion is better suited. Talking about an all-in-one work solution, EdrawMind is it. It is an advanced mind-mapping software for professionals with various working modes and AI assistance to simplify daily operations.

Match Tasks with Energy Levels

You cannot always be in the mood to do monotonous tasks. Hence, a better way to approach work is to designate specific days for different types of work. Let’s say, Monday is for meetings and Tuesday could be documentation, Wednesday for presentations, and more. Themed days can help reduce the load on your cognition to switch context.

Pro Tip: EdrawMind features several color-coded planners and calendars, which might be helpful in planning the theme days.

Quit Multitasking

While it’s a common perception that multitasking is beneficial, it is actually not. In fact, when you try to do many things at a time, you lag at all of them and accomplish less. Cleveland reports that Dr. Cynthia Kubu, a renowned neuropsychologist, believes that multitasking can take away our ability to focus on learning. So, it is better to do one thing at a time and achieve the desired results.

Measure Results, Not Time

Never think that hard work equals productivity. Think of two people tasked to write a proposal. One would go through all the extensive documents with each and every detail, while the other would employ an automated summarizer for these documents. While both have similar results, one has used all of his/ her time.

This is the wrong approach. You must know how to think smartly and focus on tasks important for the desired objectives. EdrawMind’s AI-intelligent file analysis is one such tool. It can help you extract key insights from miles-long documents or videos and get a quick summary in seconds.

Employ 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule is all about focusing your energy and time on high-impact tasks, the one that matters most. It can be your strategic planning, allocating resources, assigning tasks, and more. So, the deal is to give 80% of your time to high-impact tasks and 20% to delegate these tasks and produce the results. Combining it with effective evaluation techniques can do wonders for your objectives.

Learn How to Navigate Group Tasks

Ever worked in a team? You would know how chaotic and messy they can get, with everyone cutting each other off and spending hours without strategic frameworks. A good way to make these meetings bearable is brainstorming. This thinking technique can help you filter ideas in less time, keeping everyone in the team focused and concentrated.

Pro Tip: While brainstorming, always consider digital software like EdrawMind. Its mind mapping canvas has all you need to think as a team, be it existing templates, referencing options, and more. What stands out is the real-time editing that lets multiple team members make changes and give feedback on the canvas.

Learn How to Micro-Schedule

Micro-scheduling is the art of dividing your workday into smaller and manageable goals. It's different from checklists. This time-blocking technique involves dividing your day into segments for different tasks. You can use your Google Calendar to make a micro-schedule and stick to it religiously. It will maximize time efficiency and boost productivity.

Break Down Concepts in Minutes

Slidemaking is a crucial yet must-step in a work routine, whether you are a student or a professional. It helps you visualize concepts better and gets your idea across. But you don’t have to work blindly towards it. Tools like EdrawMind automate the process of making presentations. All you need to do is upload a document or give it a topic, and see how it creates visually appealing and informative slides in minutes.

Learn to Forgive Yourself

Always remember, no one is perfect. You cannot stay motivated and productive at all times. Or, unexpected work can get in your way anytime. If you are going to put yourself down at any such incident, it’s going to get worse. So, the only way out is making peace with these things, forgiving yourself, and picking up from where you left off.

Wrapping Up!

There you have it, the answer to your lack of motivation. Remember, it's your determination and loyalty to goals that make all the difference. However, while doing so, don't blindly work hard and employ intelligent techniques that benefit your work regime and save you time to achieve more.

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