You won’t be motivated or feel 100% pumped to get things done. Life is tough, and you can’t always rely on your emotions or motivation to get things done; else, you will always procrastinate.
Procrastination and losing motivation feed off each other; when you don’t feel like doing anything, it feeds off procrastinating, and the same goes for procrastinating.
When you procrastinate on the things you should do, 20 years later, you’ll wish you had done the things you were supposed to do, motivated or unmotivated, because the time wasted can be retrieved.
Imagine yourself tired at a specific moment, and you have things to get done, but all you want is rest; when you ignore that feeling, you buy yourself extra hours. You don’t feel like it but did the task, which will make you feel fulfilled and happy afterward.
In this article, you will understand why you are always unmotivated and how to get things done when you don’t feel like it
Few reasons you are always unmotivated and can’t get things done.
Self-doubt.
Each time you doubt yourself or your worth, you feel less motivated; motivation and believing in yourself are best friends. Believing in yourself is the powerhouse that fuels motivation.
Lack of an end goal.
Imagine a situation where you don’t have a driving force. You will never be motivated to get up and get things done. However, you will often be encouraged when there is a goal and a price to get at the end.
Your emotions control you.
No matter how you feel, whether motivated or unmotivated, put on your big girl pants and get things done.
You will not always feel the energy to get things done, so you should not allow your feelings to dictate if you will get something done. If you let that happen 100% of the time, you won’t get anything done.
Your Environment.
A noisy, busy, or dirty environment with many things going on will make you less motivated to get things done. I’ve seen people who can’t process or think in a clumsy space, so you will find them cleaning their area before they begin work.
Also, your environment could mean people in your immediate environment. If the people you have as friends aren’t motivating, it will eventually rub off on you. If this is your reality, you need to do something about it.
Lack of a routine.
When you don’t have a routine, everything has your attention, making your mind process many things simultaneously, leading to anxiety. As a result, you become unmotivated, leaving or procrastinating on what you must do.
Having a routine makes you look put together and well-collected; it reduces stress and promotes better mental health.
You are scared of failing.
No one wants to fail, and 100% of the time, this is one thing that keeps people from going after what they want or the life they want.
In James Clear’s book ‘Keep Going,’ he says we have two lives, the life we currently live and the one we are capable of living.
So when you keep being afraid of failing and continue to feel unmotivated, how will you live that life you dream of and are capable of living?
If you don’t start and fail at something, how do you learn from your failure? And ensure not to repeat it in life.
A crowded or busy mind.
When you have a lot going on in your mind, you often can’t be motivated to get things done because other things are also seeking your attention.
It would be best if you had a social media detox.
This point ties to the last moment. You may need to do a social media detox if you consume more than they put out.
It makes you have a crowded mental space that requires space to process and think and also takes so much of your time. When you are done surfing the internet, you get tired and weak and don’t feel like getting anything done.
How do you get things done when you are not motivated?
Practice gratitude.
While you may not be where you want to be regarding a task or a job, appreciate yourself for how far you’ve come with it. Sometimes holding on to the journey of how you started and how far you are will motivate you to push through.
Track your progress.
Sometimes when you don’t see the progress you’ve made, you end up feeling like you’ve not done anything, so instead, track the slight improvement, document it down, and see how motivated you will feel to get to the finish line.
Take breaks in between.
Let me introduce you to the Pomodoro method of reading. I introduced this into getting my task if I want to spend one hour writing a blog post. I would break the one hour into tiny bits of twenty- and ten-minute breaks.
First, decide what you want to accomplish and estimate how long you will do it and how long a break you will take.
It will make you less tired and overwhelmed, so when taking a break, you can decide to talk a walk, grab something or stretch.
Set small goals to build momentum/work in tiny chucks.
When the work looks cumbersome, you are overwhelmed, and a lack of motivation sets in. Instead, break the task into tiny bits that make it look exciting and don’t require much of your energy.
Set milestones for yourself and reward yourself each time you complete one, and also have a system to visualize and track your progress.
Plan for imperfection / Don’t beat yourself up.
On days when you fail, yes, you failed, and so what, don’t beat yourself up and don’t dwell so much on that feeling because when you do, it spirals down to negative self-talk that leaves you sad, and you end up not feeling motivated.
Do away with negative self-talk.
While it is tasking to get those tasks done, one thing that should never be done is to use negative self-talk. This has a way of bringing down your energy instead, say what you like about yourself and appreciate yourself for the progress made.
Clean up your space.
Clean that space, and get rid of the things you don’t need and are taking up space in your immediate surrounding.
Cleaning my room is therapeutic and makes me process things well. So today, do something about your area and see how you feel.
Change your environment.
A change in the environment may be the single thing that would change the game for you.
Rather than working from home, can you go to a cafe or an open space, interact with people, or walk?
Make a list.
Keeping a list makes it all more manageable, organized, and put together, even if you aren’t.
When owning a list, you want to prioritize the vital task and have them sorted out first. That way, even if you feel exhausted at the end of the day, the critical task is done, so it’s beneficial for you.
Create a reward system.
When you have something you are looking forward to, you are eager to get the job done. So have a reward system for yourself, no matter how small it might look. For example, as little as when I get this done, I will treat myself to a cinema date.
For lack of a better word, the last thing you can do is GIVE UP. But, honestly, some days won’t go as planned, and this is not you giving in to your emotions or feelings.
When those kinds of days come around, you will always know. So tell yourself, I can’t do this, and that’s it. Cut yourself some slack and do nothing. Just Netflix and chill, or better still, take a long nap.
Above all, contrary to the last point, don’t always go with your feelings because if we acted based on our emotions, we would get nothing done.