Low motivation days

[jkmuller]

Do you ever have days where you are totally unmotivated from the moment you wake up? I have found that I will have a series of high productivity, motivated days and then suddenly suffer from a total lack of motivation. I have a feeling I'm not alone in this regard.

My own solutions to this have been varied: waiting it out and exercising when I can muster the willpower. Is the best solution prevention? What do you think?

[MSC2471]

I find on low motivation days the best thing to do is to in your mind break away from your normal routine to re-energize you. Participate in activities that you really enjoy and that should re-fuel your energy for the next day. Music related activities seem to be a great motivator for me, so often I will listen to music, or go to a local club for a concert, to break away from my low motivation. I usually find the next day my mind is ready to attack whatever needs to be accomplished.

Matt

[Henry]

Originally Posted by jkmuller

Do you ever have days where you are totally unmotivated from the moment you wake up? I have found that I will have a series of high productivity, motivated days and then suddenly suffer from a total lack of motivation. I have a feeling I'm not alone in this regard.

My own solutions to this have been varied: waiting it out and exercising when I can muster the willpower. Is the best solution prevention? What do you think?

When I feel unmotivated, it's usually because I have daunting tasks. What keeps me going are the mini-goals I set for myself everyday.

[Alvin]

When I have low motivation days I either:

1) Do really mini tasks that are easy to do and finish. That way my energy gets juiced up little by little with every mini accomplishment.

2) Chill. I don't know why but it seems to me like our minds, bodies and emotions need time to 'defrag' themselves and the whole system slows down when that's going on. Ever spent a day doing a whole lot of nothing and feeling totally refreshed the day after, or is it just me?

[Kindred]

I experience this myself since I like to push myself beyond my capabilities, and get the most done the best I can. After a few days or weeks my motivation crumbles and I'm tired of being productive.

Taking rests for a while every now and then helps me. It fuels my motivation even more so since I'm eager to get back to what I was doing. Breaks for me are usually doing an enjoyable hobby, having a good conversation with a friend, or meditating if I need to really relax.

[boris]

The difference between mostly procrastinating through the day, and mostly working productively can be small.

Start doing the thing you have to do, first thing in the morning, allowing yourself to stop when you feel like it, and you may find that you've done a lot of work, and don't even want to stop.

[JiriNovotny]

Boris is right. Just force yourself to do 5 minutes of work - doesn't sound much challenging huh? - and your day will be much more productive. I know the feeling too, and this is the most effective method that I've come across. You should also replace "must" with "want".

Check out Steve's post about this: Rudder Of The Day

He says:

If I’m lazy or haphazard in my actions during the first hour after I wake up, I tend to have a fairly lazy and unfocused day.

[eduard]

i think that minitask are good for discipline

[Nico Kempe]

Originally Posted by eduard

sig: "myselfdisciplineandwillpoweraremissing"

I think I found them! They're right between purpose, interest and motivation..)

[pkchukiss]

For me, the tough part for every situation would be to sustain the energy to push on once I have started something. I find that having something to look forward to after finishing whatever that is in front of me helps tremendously.

Of course, then there is the temptation to ignore the task completely and just jump to the reward. Now that is something to be suppressed.

[homer1980ar]

Originally Posted by Alvin

When I have low motivation days I either:

1) Do really mini tasks that are easy to do and finish. That way my energy gets juiced up little by little with every mini accomplishment.

2) Chill. I don't know why but it seems to me like our minds, bodies and emotions need time to 'defrag' themselves and the whole system slows down when that's going on. Ever spent a day doing a whole lot of nothing and feeling totally refreshed the day after, or is it just me?

I cant find that "defrag" option on my windowz.. :s
That will be really cool ah!
Nice post!

[Nico Kempe]

Originally Posted by homer1980ar

I cant find that "defrag" option on my windowz.. :s
That will be really cool ah!
Nice post!

offtopic: you run Windows on your mind?
caramba! wouldn't like a blue screen of death in that case..

[icesar]

I think Steve hit the nail on the head with the Rudder of the Day post. When I get right to work in the morning on something important, I tend to have a good productive day.

On the other hand, if I check email, news, blogs, or forums first, the day can quickly turn into a low-motivation one.

One thing that I've found to help is that when I get derailed in the morning, I'll turn "the minute I get back from lunch" into the Rudder for the afternoon.

[pdamoc]

Originally Posted by jkmuller

My own solutions to this have been varied: waiting it out and exercising when I can muster the willpower. Is the best solution prevention? What do you think?

I just had one of those days yesterday...
What I did was constantly remind myself that bad days pass and that good days pass, all days pass and tomorrow is a new day, everyday. And you know what... I feel great today... and since I know this too shall pass... I try to make the most of it... just as yesterday I just kicked back and relaxed, accepting the low day into my life...
When you fight the low mood it will tend to stay the course... when you accept it... it will get bored and leave you.

[Jake Danger]

When I have days like that I usually discover that something was bothering me, but couldn't quite break the surface of my conscious mind. Once it surfaces I'm ready to go...

[Trina]

Every day is a low motivation day for me. My issue isn't as much how to break out of it (since it is normal and comfortable for me), but how to get the rare motivation filled days to stick around. LOL.

[Nico Kempe]

I've had days where I didn't do anything the whole day. It doesn't always satisfy me, but I think the defragmentation analogy fits right in there, your mind and body need some rest too every now and then.
On the other hand, when I just push myself to do something, like cleaning something up, I often end up cleaning the whole house.
I guess that works like the upward spiral Steve once talked about, the first, small, accomplishment that you forced upon yourself motivates you to go on with it, it energizes you, and after you've done that next task, you have even more energy, well, mentally anyway. And then at the end of the day you're totally exhausted but hey, you did clean the whole house, sort out those stacks of paperwork, and sunlight once again shines thru your window, not at it.

[Trina]

Originally Posted by Nico Kempe

On the other hand, when I just push myself to do something, like cleaning something up, I often end up cleaning the whole house.

I can totally relate to this. I don't have much motivation on a daily basis, but when it comes to cleaning my house, once I start I can't stop until it's all done. I'll get up to unload the dishwasher and end up scrubbing the whole house top to bottom. LOL

[irilys]

There are lots of great suggestions here. It depends very much on each person I guess but every method is worth trying.

This morning actually I was about to stay in bed for longer when the clock rang. But I thought: how will you achieve anything today if you sleep? I thought again of the goal I have set to achieve by mid-2007 and got up straight away.

It's normal to have low-productivity days. The consolation is that after one of those, you realise how little you have achieved and that can work as a great incentive to do more to compensate.

[Andrew Brunelle]

I would have to say that in order to boost your motivation, you should either read things that inspire or motivate you, or meditate for maybe a half hour, either by deep breathing or by concentrating on what it is that really makes you passionate. If you are passionate about something, then think about it and imagine your "idea scene," as Marc Allen says. Put your life in perspective and see where you want to be headed. And you'll naturally become motivated to start on this path. You don't have to do a lot on those low motivation days, but simply thinking about building your stock, your purpose in the world will make you want to get started on whatever it is you're ready for

[Living2xcess]

I find that the best way to motivate myself on days that I am feeling lethargic and unmotivated is to sit down, stay away from the TV, and just start writing things that I want to do and want to get accomplished. I also make sure I include several simple items, because it is alot easier to get motivated to do a small task than a large project.

Starting small is a great way to become motivated, and once you get motivated, your motivation usually only intensifies afterwards (unless you turn on the TV).

[Ori]

I think part of the problem is calling it a low motivation day. It implies that once you notice this is it one of "those" days, you know you're doomed for the entire day. In my experience, at some point I realized that this was some kind of underlying belief which was incorrect, and that it was letting my laziness/procrastination take over until something external would kick me out of that state.

Nowadays I don't do that anymore. I still get days when I wake up unmotivated, but I'm much more aware, I notice the state I'm in and accept that it's just a temporary state. Some of the advice given before makes sense to me, especially
listening to or reading self-help/motivational material -- I find it a really good solution, because it's really hard for me to concentrate (e.g. meditating, writing) when I'm not motivated.

[songwriter]

Well in my experience, I've had these "low motivation days" when I had "a low motivating life" or so :-/. When I've been unhappy or my life seemed to go nowhere... forgetting about my purpose. When you think someone good is waiting if you wake up you don't have these problems I think.

[ken nubo]

funny how you should mention that, today I had one of those days, so I drank a pitcher of rum and coke ^_^