2 ways turn demotivation into inspiration

If you, like myself, have a hard time getting straight back into your top motivation after a nice, long summer holiday, you are not alone. Despite loving our job, it is really common, that we experience the loss of our motivation after the summer, even when we felt a sky-high motivation just before the holiday.

It is normal, and leaving the psychological reasons for a separate article, I will here jump straight into what we can do when we get caught in feeling particularly demotivated to do a certain activity or task.

Whether it is a task at work or a personal activity that we have to do, but simply can’t get started on, the key is to break the demotivation, so it does not end up stealing our otherwise productive energy.  

 

Reframe the activity

Make a list of the things that really motivate you. Try to look holistically at your job/life to get a broad spectrum of activities that you enjoy, feel inspired to do, and gain energy from.

With the list in front of you, ask yourself why you are motivated by each item? Which of these motives, can you attach to the dull activity to make it more appealing?

Example – You hate conflicts. You know you have to deal with a particular tough conversation, but keep pushing it ahead of you, and feel the demotivation. What motives from your list, can you tap into and apply to your task? If you via you list, see that you are often motivated by personal growth, perhaps you can use this tough conversation as an opportunity to help yourself grow and enhance your communication skills?
This technique is simply called reframing, as we consciously help ourselves change perspective on the thing we need to do.

 

Tap into an inspirational person

Think of someone who loves doing the task you cannot get motivated to do. Try to put yourself fully into that person’s perspective. See the activity with his eyes and imagine exactly what he sees in the activity. What motivates him? When you have imagined the person’s motivational drivers behind the task, you may be able to steal and use these drivers as inspiration to fuel your own motivation. In effect, this person may be able to serve as an inspirational role model for you on that particularly task that otherwise drains you.

As you can gather from these two examples, helping yourself become motivated relies on one key aspect – your self-awareness. Self-awareness and curiosity are true keys for us to understand how we can feed our motivation and gain more inspired to do the things we don’t seem to enjoy at first sight, but sometimes have to do.

I wish you a happy motivational hunt <3

All the best,

Karina

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About Karina Kaae

I work as a Positive Psychology Practitioner, Consultant, Coach and Speaker. I help people and organisations enable changes and thrive. I believe that we are more resourceful than we think, and that we can consciously work with unproductive patterns to help us thrive and reach our full potential.

I graduated from Copenhagen Business School 10 years ago, and have a background in consulting (McKinsey & Co.) doing organisational changes.

I’m now specialising in psychology with a Master in Applied Positive Psychology & Coaching Psychology to help facilitate positive changes in the individuals, I work with.

If you want to know more about how I may be able to help you – either via coaching, consulting, seminars or talks – please do not hesitate to contact me at Karina@sustainablelead.com or +4560540901 for an informal chat.

 

Would you like to know more about mental well-being and personal performance? You can follow my LinkedIn page Sustainable Lead  or subscribe here to the newsletter.

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