Now that another week has begun, I basically just read some of the articles, books, and journals I’ve been putting off, wrote, slept, worked out, ate, and slept during the long weekend (thanks to the Monday Labor Day Holiday!) I was lacking all motivation to do any “productive stuff”.

I felt like I didn’t accomplish much but all of ‘unproductive’ tasks help us regain our composure so we can face the coming weeks ahead. This post will talk about some strategies on how to create motivation where there is none so you can crush the coming week ahead

1. Set your values and priorities straights

Sometimes we lose motivation because the things that we are doing is not aligned with our values or character, or that we feel like we have no control about the things happening in our lives. Regardless, we have to play the cards that we are dealt with and give it our best.

When we set our priorities straight, we can focus on the important ones such as our health, relationships, career, finance and personal growth leaving less time for the menial tasks. When we are doing things that matter to us, we usually have more energy and passion for it. Ask yourself, what do you value the most?

2. Create a plan to kickstart your motivation

Many people just use their willpower to get started on things, waiting for everything to be perfect before they start. However, this method just creates frustration and exhausts our mental resources. To make things more efficient, identify the first 3 steps that you have to do and start executing it. You can write it down, visualise the task or how you see yourself doing the task. When we start with the doing, motivation can follow after.

3. Use mental health breaks throughout the day

Engaging in meaningful unproductive activities such as reading, deep breathing, journaling, or even doodling can pose great benefits so you don’t burn yourself out throughout the day. These “mental health” breaks should be done multiple times throughout the day to keep you on track. The trick is to do these breaks before you have totally exhausted yourself.

Tip: you could try doing the Pomodoro technique by setting a timer for 25 minutes in which you will involve yourself in deep work.

4. Be grateful and happy to sustain motivation

When you are happy, everything looks and feels well. Write down a list of the things that you are grateful for to keep you in a more positive perspective. You also have to set the intention that you want to be happier, productive and positive.

Tip: Work on being your own best friend by developing a healthier and more positive self-talk.

5. Build healthier habits

Think of our body as a machine that needs fuel to run. If you are giving your body junk through the food and drink you put in it, are you going to expect that it will run effectively and efficiently for you? It may go for sometime, but later on you will crash down. Try to build healthier habits by incorporating healthier food and drinks in your weekly diet and see how it effects your energy and motivation levels. You don’t have to give up that cheeseburger just yet, just start eating more of the green and natural stuff and notice how your body reacts to it.

To sum things up, motivation is not something that just comes down from heaven that will get you to achieve more. We have to be smart to actually create motivation with our actions, values, goals and habits. You don’t have to immediately do these 5 strategies. Pick one and focus on that for the week, you can go back again to this blog to check if you have missed any strategies.

Comment down below the strategies that you are using to kickstart your week!

Until you read from me again.