7 Simple Ways to Motivate Yourself at Home
Ever feel like you lack motivation when doing basic things, such as working, exercising, getting the house in order? How do you find and keep your motivation for life in general? Are there any easy fixes and what are the best and most simple ways to get yourself motivated and to keep going?
Over the last year, our motivation may have seen peaks and troughs. We may have been initially motivated to start up exercise, try out a new hobby and embraced home-schooling (if you have kids). We may have enjoyed the variety of working from home (if we went to work before Covid) and finding joy in spending less time commuting, more time with the family and outdoors, setting up home office in a sunny garden. Fast forward into winter, and those sunny days are gone, as is our patience with the kids or anyone else living with us - if you live alone, you probably stopped talking to yourself, because it just got boring.
Motivation is a temporary fix and we need to work hard to keep up the momentum, so here are 7 simple ways to find and keep the motivation in your life, whether you are working from home, need to keep exercising and anything else you want to achieve in your life:
7 simple ways to motivate yourself at home:
- Get started
- Write a to do list
- Chunk it
- Be accountable
- Surround yourself with inspiring people
- Compare yourself to yourself only
- Remember your why
1. Get started
Sometimes motivation will let you wait. In that case, you just need to get started and you’ll most likely find that you will keep going until you have finished the task. Take exercise for example: The thought of having to do it may not be appealing but once you have your gym kit and trainers on, you’re on that treadmill or doing that Zoom HIIT class, you just do it and afterwards feel so much better for it. If you can’t find motivation, let it catch up with you.
2. Write a to do list
Writing things down on paper makes them more real, plus you are less likely to forget them. Make sure you keep on top of it but also ensure that you don’t overwhelm yourself by setting unrealistic goals. You’ll be surprised how accomplished you’ll feel when you cross something off and, even better, you have proof how much you have done in a day. This will keep you motivated when working alone or from home, without a team behind you.
3. Chunk it
Breaking down mammoth tasks into manageable, smaller sub-tasks will make you feel less overwhelmed at the beginning and will ensure you just keep going. Combine this with a list from tip 2, and tick things off, and you’ll soon be flying through your jobs without finding excuses for not staying on task.
4. Be accountable
If you want to do something big but are scared or unmotivated to start it, tell friends and acquaintances what you are about to do, whether that’s via posting on social media or sending them a text. Not only will people get excited for and with you, they will most likely also ask you how things are going with whatever it is you are attempting. The fear of having to tell them you didn’t do something will keep you motivated to work towards your goals. I use this one ALOT. It really works!
5. Surround yourself with inspiring people
Having people around you who achieve small and big things, who are positive and have a can-do attitude will rub off on you and make you more motivated and determined. People who always tell you what can’t be done and who are defeatist are counterproductive to your mission to stay motivated.
6. Compare yourself to yourself only
Everyone is unique in what we do at work, how we work, how we exercise and what we can and can’t do in life. Comparison is a killer for motivation and will most likely deflate you so you won’t want to start in the first place. The best way to stay inspired and motivated is to see how far you have come personally, and compete only with yourself. "The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday".
7. Remember your why
In our busy and now through a pandemic very muddled and chaotic lives we can quickly forget why we do what we set out to achieve and why we should keep going. Visualise your dreams and the end result, the reason you were inspired in the first place and made the first big step. Knowing why you have to keep going will up your motivation and spur you on.
Make sure you have breaks and reward yourself; this will keep you motivated with whatever you are doing and make you an inspiration for others.
