How to Increase Motivation at Work?

Have you ever sat in front of your computer, working on an assignment, but couldn't find the motivation to get started? Or maybe you've even started working on the task, but as time goes by, your urge to continue doing it fades. Lack of motivation at work is a common feeling, but that doesn't mean it can't be overcome.

The reality is that even the most successful people sometimes find it difficult to motivate themselves. The difference is that they know the methods they can use to ignite the inner fire and get back on track.

If you're wondering about how to be more motivated at work, you can find the answer here. In this article, we'll look at why motivation is important, the factors that hinder motivation, and methods you can use to increase your motivation at work.
What is motivation?

Motivation is what drives you to complete tasks and achieve your goals. There are several factors that can influence motivation, such as:

Your desire to achieve your goals
What will you gain from achieving your goals
What can be lost if you do not achieve your goals

As you can see, there are both internal and external factors that play a role in your ability to motivate yourself to work. For example, one factor that can influence your motivation is your internal expectations of yourself and your ability to succeed. At the same time, you may also be driven by certain external factors, such as the potential rewards of being promoted or the fear of losing your job.

Keeping this in mind, motivating yourself effectively requires you to identify what your personal internal and external motivating factors are.

Why is motivation important?

Motivation is important because it is what drives us to achieve our goals, both big and small. Effective motivation can produce positive changes in your life because:

Gives you something to work on
Strengthen your problem solving abilities
Create productive habits

Without the right motivation, whether internal or external, it can be difficult to get started on a task, and this makes achieving any goal seem daunting. So, if motivating is important, why do people have trouble doing it?
Why do people find it difficult to motivate?

There are a number of reasons why someone has difficulty motivating at work. Starting from feeling less challenged to feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the task at hand. Common factors that contribute to a lack of motivation include:

Not feeling challenged by work
Failing to see the purpose of a task
Feeling overwhelmed or intimidated by the enormity or complexity of a task
Experiencing anxiety about approaching deadlines

If you ever feel unmotivated to get work done, one of the following factors may play a role in how you feel. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to overcome this and increase your motivation at work.

How to motivate yourself to work

If you're wondering how to become more motivated, there are five techniques you can use to achieve your work goals. This is:
1. Create achievable goals

As mentioned, the two main reasons for a lack of motivation are facing tasks that feel overwhelming in scope and causing anxiety due to looming deadlines, often both at the same time. Both of these factors can be overcome by creating smaller, more achievable goals rather than trying to complete the entire project in one go.

Breaking down the overall task into specific, measurable steps allows you to achieve your goals little by little. As the saying goes, every journey begins with a single step; likewise we achieve our larger, more complex goals by completing several smaller individual stages. Breaking down goals into smaller tasks also allows you to set a time frame for each bit so you can make sure you get everything done before the deadline arrives.

2. Incentivize yourself carefully

When breaking down a larger project into more digestible chunks, you may be tempted to reward yourself after completing each chunk. For example, you might tell yourself that after completing one part of a goal, you will reward yourself with a break. This might even incentivize you to complete the task at hand. However, these counterproductive incentives will only hurt you in the long run.

While self-incentive is not necessarily a bad thing, it is important that you do not promise yourself anything that will ultimately interfere with achieving your overall goals. Let's say you reward yourself with a 15 or 20 minute break after completing a section. You may find it difficult to return to activities after a break and end up losing more time.
3. Challenge yourself

Often, we find it easier to motivate a task when it challenges us in some way. Maybe this makes us think outside the box or requires us to rely on skills that are not as developed as others. On the other hand, tasks that are easy to complete, say tasks that you can do routinely and without much thought, are not always easy to motivate.

If you find it difficult to motivate yourself to do such routine tasks at work, try creating a challenge for yourself. See if you can complete a number of tasks within a set time frame (as long as you don't sacrifice quality, of course). Or challenge yourself to find innovative ways to increase productivity. Even if the task at hand isn't the most exciting, you can always find a way to push yourself to complete it.
4. Find a goal

Another factor that contributes to a lack of motivation at work is the feeling that the tasks that need to be done have no purpose or are unimportant. However, each job provides some value. It's important to remember this when you feel unmotivated to do something.

Try to think about the immediate impact of successful completion of the task. Maybe this allows other departments to do their jobs effectively. It may have a direct impact on the overall success of the company. Even if the task itself seems small, it likely exists as part of a larger network of tasks that makes a big difference.

5. Focus on the journey

Another common mistake people face when trying to get motivated is focusing too much on the outcome of the end goal rather than on the journey required to get there. You may even find yourself daydreaming about what successful achievement of those goals would look like. Maybe it will result in a raise or promotion.

While describing success isn't a bad thing, spending too much time thinking about what might happen rather than what needs to happen will only hurt you in the long run.

Similar to feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of a task, if you find yourself thinking too much about the end goal, try breaking the task down into chunks. Then, instead of thinking about what will happen once it's all done, just think about completing the next increment of that general goal.

If you find it difficult to motivate at work, even the slightest distraction, such as an uncomfortable chair, can take your mind off the task at hand. Browse our collection of office chairs to find a comfortable and stylish chair to stay active all day.