Finding Motivation When There is None

I know I’m not the only one who struggles to find the motivation to get the things done that we need to do every day. Some days (or for some of you maybe it’s most days) it can be hard to find the motivation just to get out of bed, let alone make it into work or take care of the errands that you’ve been pushing off for weeks.

Well, I’m here to tell you that you are not alone and that this is a fairly common struggle that many people have. Don’t get down on yourself about it.

Throughout this article, I’ll share with you some of my experiences and the things that have helped me find motivation when there was none left to find. I hope you’ll share with me what helps you in times like these too.

I don’t want to clean my house

I’m a huge procrastinator when it comes to cleaning. It’s not that cleaning is super difficult or that my house is very messy. I simply lack the desire or motivation to keep up with it.

The times when I’m most successful at cleaning my house is when I have some kind of outside motivator to get it cleaned (someone is coming over or I’m leaving on vacation soon). So, sometimes I’ll invite people over just to give myself the motivation to clean and keep up with it.

Eating healthy is too much work

My husband and I do much better at eating healthy when we have meals and snacks prepped for the week. But with both of us working we just don’t have the time, or when we do we lack the motivation to get our food prepping done at the start of our week.

So, what do we do about it?

Oftentimes, I’ll try to find snacks at the grocery store that are already packaged or prepared so that they are easy to portion out myself and grab throughout the week. This can be more expensive, but it’s generally worth it to keep up with our health and feel better.

Find shortcuts like this that can help you when you’re lacking the motivation to eat healthy.

Go to the gym? No thank you!

I have to admit, I have been failing miserably at this one lately. There are specific time periods when I can actually go to the gym, but for that, I either have to wake myself up early enough to go or find some desire to go after work.

I don’t have a proven method that works consistently for myself here yet, so I’m open to any tips you all have for me.

Some things that I have done in the past that I could try again is getting to bed earlier so it’s easier to wake up in the morning and go. Another thing that helps is having a buddy with me. When my husband is motivated and excited to go work out, it’s much easier to make myself go. Find a buddy that you can take with you to work out each day (friend, roommate, spouse, significant other, parent, child, co-worker, anyone!).

One last thing that helps me here is laying out my workout clothes the night before. I love clothes, and while it may seem vain, planning out my outfit helps me find some much-needed motivation to get myself up to the gym in the morning.

Try different methods to give yourself the motivation you need, even if it does seem odd at first.

I don’t want to go to work today

I’m going to start this one off by saying that even if you love your job, it’s hard to find the drive to want to show up every day. And that’s even worse when you despise your job. I’ve been in both situations. I’ve had jobs that I dislike that were very hard to go to, and right now I have a job that I love and still find days when it’s hard to stay driven and motivated to go and do well.

Most of us probably don’t have the option to just skip days of work when we don’t want to go, so we somehow make ourselves get out of bed and go anyway. But on these days when we lack the motivation to go, the day seems to drag on and last forever.

How can we make those days better and easier to push on?

For me, I find that taking it one step at a time usually helps. It starts by just getting out of bed and getting ready for the day. Find something you enjoy in the morning to put yourself into a good mood before work (I like good food and planning my outfits - so cute clothes and a yummy breakfast help).

When I get to work, I do the same thing. One step at a time. I’ll make a list of the things that I need to do and just start focusing on one thing at a time. It helps me feel more productive when I can check something off (no matter how small) and as I get focused on a task I forget about counting down the hours and my day gets better.

Whatever you are lacking the motivation to do, don’t give yourself a hard time about it. We all feel this way at times. Just find a way that you can push through, and experiment with different motivators to make these days easier for yourself.

I’d love to hear what things work for you when you find your motivation lacking. Share your story with us to post on the site!