How to get motivated when you really don't want to
Some days there is one task you really need to get done, and you simply cannot make yourself do it. You would rather do anything else: tidy a drawer, reorganise your notes, check your phone for the tenth time. The task sits there all afternoon, and by the evening you feel worse than if you had just done it.
Everyone has days like this. Motivation comes and goes, and waiting for it to turn up on its own usually means waiting a long time. The good news is that you do not need to feel motivated to get started. Often it works the other way round: you start, and the motivation follows.
We share three simple ways to get yourself back on your feet and doing something useful, even on the days you really do not want to.
1. Go outside for a walk
It sounds like the opposite of what you should be doing. You have work to do, and now you are leaving the desk altogether? But when you feel flat and unmotivated, a short walk is often the quickest way to reset.
Many of us spend most of the day sitting down: in class, on the bus, at the desk, on the sofa. After hours of that, it is no surprise that your body and mind feel sluggish. Getting up and moving, especially outdoors in daylight and fresh air, wakes you up in a way that another cup of something or another scroll through your phone does not.
Walking is also about as easy as exercise gets. You do not need any equipment, any skill or any plan. Just step out of the door.
Try this: when you feel stuck, take a 10- to 20-minute walk around your neighbourhood. Leave the phone behind, or at least in your pocket. Look around, breathe, and let your mind wander. It can feel like you are wasting even more time, but you will usually come back to your desk more refreshed and much readier to start than when you left.
2. Clear your study space
Walk into your room, see a messy desk, and your motivation drops before you have even sat down. Piles of old worksheets, clothes on the chair, snack wrappers and a tangle of cables all send the same message: this is not a place for focused work. And if you are already tired, it is very easy for that mess to end with you lying on the bed and scrolling instead.
A clean space works the other way. It makes starting feel lighter, because there is less standing between you and the work.
Tidying up has another benefit. For many people, clearing a space is calming in itself. It is a simple, physical job with a clear end, and finishing it gives you a small win to build on. That feeling of having done something is often enough to carry you into the harder task.
Try this: give yourself ten minutes to tidy your study area. Clear the desk, put books back on the shelf, throw away the rubbish, sweep the floor if it needs it. Then leave only what you need for the task on the desk, and sit down straight away, while the momentum is there. Just do not let the tidying turn into a whole afternoon of reorganising; that is procrastination in disguise.
3. Focus on one goal, broken into small steps
A long list of things to do can drain your motivation just by looking at it. When there are ten tasks competing for your attention, you do not know where to start, so you end up starting none of them.
Instead, choose one main goal for the day, or for the next couple of hours. Just one. Then break it down into steps so small that each one takes very little effort.
“Finish my History project” is big and vague. Broken down, it might look like this:
- Open the project brief and reread the question.
- Write down three points I want to make.
- Find one source for the first point.
- Write the first paragraph.
None of those steps is hard on its own. Each one is small enough to start without having to psych yourself up, and each one you finish makes the next easier. Before long, you are properly into the work and focused, which is where motivation tends to show up.
Try this: at the top of a blank page, write the one thing that matters most today. Underneath, list the smallest possible first steps. Start on step one right now, and do not think about step four until you get there.
Start before you feel ready
The biggest myth about motivation is that you need it before you begin. Most of the time, it is the other way round. Motivation shows up once you are already moving: after the walk, after the desk is clear, after the first small step is done.
So on the days you really do not feel like it, do not wait to feel like it. Pick one of the three ideas above and do it now. If you often struggle to get going, our notes on beating procrastination and making hard things easy to start go further into how to make starting easier.