How to Get Things Done?
If you feel like you are not motivated, you are not alone. How do you get things done? You have so many things on your to-do list and you don’t know where to start? Instead of doing at least a few of the more important things on your list, you end up completing ones that are not so important and leave the pressing matters to be done another time.
Here are five things you can do to get motivated.
Diagnose How You Feel
Many other emotions get in the way of feeling motivated. Diagnose what are the underlying feelings of being unmotivated. Maybe you feel overwhelmed or tired. To know where to start, you need to name the emotions that are behind feeling unmotivated.
If you are feeling overwhelmed, maybe you have too many expectations from yourself. If you have unrealistic expectations, you will probably fail and the feeling of failing will not motivate you further.
How to Get Things Done?
Sometimes we feel unmotivated because we spend too much time comparing ourselves with others. When we compare with others, we feel like we are not achieving enough.
The feeling of fatigue can also be an underlying issue of being unmotivated. Here, you need to make sure you have enough rest and that you are not too harsh on yourself. Or you might spend too much time in passive rest, watching Netflix where your energy might be super low and it’s difficult to get energetic and excited.
The Most Difficult Task of the Day
The most difficult and important task of the day should be completed first thing in the morning. That will give you the motivation that you need to tackle all other tasks during the day. Sometimes when we dread completing all our tasks in one day, we might end up leaving the most important one till the late evening or we may end up not doing it at all.
Do Things that Make You Happy
We are not robots who complete their to-do list like they are working on a track. We need to enjoy life and find time to do things that make us happy. Always find time to do things that make you happy. Plan a vacation trip for your family or with friends. Take a trip during the weekend after a difficult week. Find time for a break during the day and to do things that you enjoy, even that counts.
During the working day, you might have a lot of difficult things to tackle but during your lunch break don’t stress about work or talk about work. Don’t spend your break with people who will drain your energy but with people who will give you energy.
Reward Yourself
It’s important to recharge. Plan to recharge after a difficult day or week. Even after 90 minutes of working, take a break. During the break do things that will truly give you energy. Maybe it’s a walk or talking to a friend and planing a night out as a reward to look forward to. Don’t reward yourself with some time on social media since it’s very likely that social media won’t give you energy but will make you feel bad. Be mindful of how things make you feel. If spending five minutes watching funny cat videos makes you happy, then do that. If spending an hour on social drains your energy then avoid it.
It’s important to take your breaks regularly. If you take a break after three hours of focused work you probably won’t make a wise choice on how you want to reward yourself.
Eat Right
What you choose to eat is what gives you energy. Have you noticed that after eating McDonald’s food or any fast food, your energy is low and all you want to do for the rest of the day is indulge yourself in binge-watching your favorite TV show?
Find what kind of food will work for you and understand what doesn’t work for you. Sometimes what we think that we want is not what our body truly needs. We feel like we want a double cheeseburger, but we do need to be mindful of how that food makes us feel. Your mind and your body should be aligned with what you truly need.
Stay positive, focused and keep an eye on your end goal.
