How to Maintain your Motivation

Harnessing Motivation – Four not-so-conventional Motivational Strategies

In a previous life I delivered a course called Effective Personal Leadership. Module Six focused on motivation. During one particular program, star participant, Jenny was a no-show.

She rang a few days later and half-giggling, said, “Andrew, I just couldn’t be bothered!” We both laughed at the irony. She went on to explain that she was under the pump with work and running kids around and simply became overwhelmed.

It most likely happens to most of us at some stage – and tends to be more prevalent in the midst of a cold winter!

If you are finding it hard to bust out your best dance moves at work right now, here are four life-changing ideas to get you back in the groove.

1. Set up your day

Have something to look forward to when you kick off your day. This may be an indulgent coffee or something outrageously different to bran for breakfast. Get some ‘achievement gold stars’ by going for a short walk or doing some stretching before work.

2. Mix it up

Start work 30 minutes early and smash out some pesky over-hanging tasks before your needy workmates or clients start annoying you with their incessant demands for you to be nice to them.

3. Fake your own disappearance

Nail some big, super important tasks by going off the grid. Silence your phone and close your email for 119 minutes. Keep colleagues at bay by wearing a surgical mask with ‘50% Ebola-free’ written in texta on it.

4. Reward yourself

Go beyond the high-five and fist-pump zone and mark your achievement with something that’s all about you. Could be some time out before going home, wearing your new Spiderman outfit to the supermarket or trying to break your record of 16 laps around the busiest (or only) round-about in town whilst booming Bonnie Tyler’s 1983 epic, ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’.

There you have it, four sure-fire ways to have you rampaging through the rest of your workday.

PS – Of course there are a host of mystery prizes for your best ideas on maintaining motivation. Comment below or contact me directly.

PPS- Want some serious strategies for coaching yourself and others? Check out our Solutions Focus Training Program