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We’ve all had those days, the ones where you just don’t feel motivated, and no matter how hard you try, you fail to do anything productive. I often have days where I just don’t do anything and then feel irritated by the fact that I haven’t accomplished anything. I’ve therefore had to think of a number of ways to inspire myself to be productive and motivated and hopefully they’ll help you as well.

Blogging has given me a creative outlet, one that I had lost during my 20’s, but every now and then I struggle, my energy level plummets, my concentration wanders, and I find myself struggling to be motivated enough to write a blog post or spend time scrolling through social media.

I’m sure we’ve all had those moments where we have a to-do list a mile long, but really all we feel like doing is turning the TV on and/or going to sleep.

Why I Don’t Feel Motivated

Burn Out – Planning trips, taking trips, producing blog content, managing multiple social media accounts, promoting the blog, having a full time job and finding time to do the basic things like eating and sleeping – all of this can result in an overwhelming sense that it has all become a bit too much and with plummeting energy levels motivation can also dwindle.

Dread – Sometimes productivity and motivation can wander for the simple reason that we are actually dreading the task that needs doing. In terms of blogging, for me this is spending significant amounts of time on social media (specifically Facebook.)

Distraction – I don’t generally enjoy social media as much as a lot of people (especially bloggers) but we all know what it’s like when you fall down the rabbit hole. You open an app with the intention of replying to a few messages, liking a few photos or sharing a couple of posts, but then you realise that you’ve actually wasted an hour that could have been spent much more productively.

How to be Productive and Motivated

I love a to-do list, but this can mean that I occasionally give myself too many things to do, the problem is that many of my deadlines are self-imposed so when my to-do lists look daunting it really is my own doing.

Instead, I loosen the tight deadlines and give myself a break. Sometimes it can be as simple as doing a different task and stepping away from the computer screen entirely. I apply this to my full time job as well as blogging, if I’m feeling at all unmotivated I take time away from my desk and find another job that needs doing.

When I’m in burn out mode I tend to be distracted, tired and suffer with headaches. To combat this I have realised that the solutions are quite simple: a few early nights to make sure I get some decent sleep, drink more water to reduce the headaches and prevent me feeling too lethargic.

Fresh air can also bring about an incredible boost. Sometimes just grabbing my camera and heading out can be the motivation and inspiration I need.

The second reason I often have trouble becoming productive and motivated is that I’m not always looking forward to some of the items on my to do list. Leaving the boring tasks to last, means they get pushed further and further back, which ultimately means I dread the more and more.

how to be productive and motivated — Photo Credit: Green Chameleon

Techniques and Aids for Being Productive and Motivated

There is a technique known as the Pomodoro Technique which uses a timer – I’ve never looked into this in details but the gist is to set a timer (usually for around 30 minute) and focus on an individual task. This mean no distractions, like social media, emails, or TV. When the timer goes off I take a break (usually treating myself to a coffee and a biscuit) and then reset the timer to focus on either completing that task or starting a new one.

This helps me hugely when faced with these dreaded tasks as I know that as soon as that timer goes off I will have completed them.

To help with the over-use of social media or other distractions there are apps available that restrict your phone use.

I use AppDetox which is an app locker that helps you to block apps and take a digital detox. I can set rules or time restrictions so when I hit those limits I am then prevented from using them again that day.

We all have periods where being productive and motivated can be a challenge, so finding your own methods for dealing with these issues can save you a lot of time and hassle.

What do you do to stay productive and motivated?

Let me know in the comments.