Do You Ever Feel Uninspired When it Comes to Work?

DON’T WORRY IT HAPPENS TO ALL OF US AND THIS UNINSPIRED FEELING CAN BE VERY FRUSTRATING. JUST TAKE A BREATH.

We all go through long days and long weeks of work and begin to feel uninspired. Whether this is for a job or for school: for creative work or for regular assignments. It’s hard to always have the motivation to want to stay on top of work. We all want to say we’ll get our work done as soon as we get it. But in reality, this is hard to do. We get so boggled down with everything we need to do that our bodies just get drained, or we just can’t find the energy to come up with new, fresh ideas. Well here’s the good news. You’re not the only one who goes through this. Every single person in the world feels so overwhelmed and unmotivated at least once a day.

So the real question is, how do we get over this little bump? How do we overcome the fact that we physically can’t get work done? Well, trying to push yourself to keep working is doing you more harm than good. Pushing yourself to constantly be productive makes you more tired in the end. It’s like trying to drive a car when it’s running out of fuel; until it eventually does run out. What do you do then? You fill it back up with fuel. When you find yourself running out of steam you have to find ways to re-energize yourself and figure out what will help you. Everyone is different but here are some things you can do. There has to be something that helps you out.

I found a New York Times article by Tim Herrera called, “What to do when you feel uninspired at work.” One big tip he gives people is by telling them that they’re not motivated because their goal is too big. Look at what you have to do. Is it a lot? Is it something that will take up a lot of your time? Then break it down. Turn your big goal into mini-milestones. What is a reasonable amount of work that you can finish by the end of the day? Breaking up your large task into smaller ones makes it easier for you to find the motivation to finish whatever it is you need to get done. When you get the smaller stuff done, you feel like you accomplished more. It acts as a reward system that makes you actually want to keep going. Little accomplishments along the way may be all you need.

Another idea Herrera gives is taking note of how you work with the company around you. Something that I have noticed is that the people I work with or the environment I work in affects my productivity. It may sound silly, but it really is a huge impact. For me, I work better when there are people around me. When there is hustle and bustle and light conversations going on, but nothing too intense. I like to work in areas like a coffee shop. Something with light chatter and dimmed lighting. Being around this allows me to get out of my own thoughts and into the work I have to do. Being around people or friends helps me too because seeing other people work makes me motivated to do something too. Like I said before, everyone is different, so find what works for you!

If none of these tips works for you, you might need to take a step back from your work and come back to it later. Many times, you feel uninspired because you’ve been staring at it for too long. You no longer have the motivation to do it and just get drained. Here are some things you can do that might refuel you.

Take a power nap! Resting your eyes and body for even half an hour can refuel you so much. You wake up feeling energized and ready to seize another task. Another reason this helps is that staring at a screen for too long can make you tired. The blue light on your screen affects your eyes in a certain way. Another good solution for this is to invest in non-prescription blue light glasses. It filters out the harmful light on your screen that makes you tired so easily.

Another idea that helps me out a lot is to just get out. Get out of the house or the building you’re in. There’s something about fresh air that just energizes you right away. Now that you’re outside in the open air, go do something. Go for a walk or hike, have a picnic, or go for a drive. Find out what you enjoy and go do it. This boosts your serotonin levels and makes you feel more awake and alive when you do end up going back to work.

There are a lot of things you can do to feel motivated again. Don’t be afraid to go out and explore to find out what it is exactly that helps you do this. Whether they be small things like finding the environment you work best in or bigger things like going into the outdoors, there’s something for everyone!

The information in this post was acquired from the article, “What to Do When you Feel Uninspired at Work,” by Tim Herrera.