Unmotivated? 13 Proven Strategies For When You’re Feeling Stuck

Self Mastery

Jun 8

We all know the drill.

There is a mountain of work that you need to complete but you don’t want to do anything.

You don’t even want to get off your bed, let alone work on a project or run some errands.

But since you have commitments, you either:
a. Force yourself to dive into what needs to be done. And the thing that should have been completed in an hour, now takes you double that time.

b. Postpone doing it despite knowing there will be negative consequences for doing so.

Obviously, this destroys your productivity.

We have all been there and we all know how it feels to want to be productive but our bodies just do not allow it.

In today’s world, where productivity is worshipped as one of the most important qualities, it is vital that you find ways to be more productive even when you’re feeling unmotivated.

I know it sounds almost impossible, but you can actually achieve that. There are many ways that have been shown to be effective to that end. Let’s take at 13 proven strategies to motivate yourself when you feel stuck.

1) Prepare A To-Do List The Night Before

If you have a plan of action, you always have more clarity. You don’t have to scurry around trying to figure out what you should do next. So, why is this relevant here? Well, think about it. When you wake up in the morning, and you are feeling unmotivated, your situation will worsen if you don’t even know where to begin. It will make you want to stay where you are simply because you don’t have clarity.

But having a to-do list prepared beforehand will give you a better idea of how your day looks. It allows you to prioritize certain tasks and might actually motivate you to start doing them. So, if you have been feeling unmotivated a lot lately, or when you think that you might feel lazy the next day, you should prepare a to-do list the night before. And the next day, just think about how satisfying it would feel to cross all (or some) items off the list.

Pro Tip: The app I used is Things 3, it helps me plan my day, manage my projects, and make real progress towards my goals. Plus it syncs across all my devices.

2) Think About How Your Work Affects Other People

I think it would be safe to say that when other people are involved with your work, you become more sincere. For instance, if you are earning for yourself only, you might not be too motivated. But when there is a family involved, you become a lot more serious. That’s because the stakes are higher. So, when you are feeling unmotivated, it makes sense to think about how your work affects those around you.

This works best if you are at a job and you work in a team. The personal connections that you have with your team can be a powerful driving force. In this scenario, you are aware that you need to show up and do your job properly. Or else, the whole team may suffer. Studies have actually shown that we are more motivated when we share a deeper connection with our teammates. So think about your teammates the next time you feel unmotivated.

3) Try To Motivate Other People

This one might seem bizarre to you. You might wonder how you could possibly motivate someone else when you yourself are feeling unmotivated. But crazy as it may sound, this method can actually work. Apparently, research studies show that when you give advice to other people, you end up feeling motivated yourself. I think I have felt this way a number of times as well. It works better if the advice you’re giving relates to the problem you’re facing.

In one particular study, participants reported feeling up to 77% more motivated after giving advice to others. This is quite significant and cannot be ignored as a coincidence. So, if ever you feel unmotivated, try helping someone else feel motivated. Maybe talking to them might give you insight into how you can feel better yourself. Or maybe, giving advice to them might fill you up with confidence, thereby making you feel much better.

4) Do Something You Love

One reason you might be feeling unmotivated is that you don’t get enough time for your hobbies or other things that you love to do. We all know that work-life balance is extremely important. And when that balance gets disturbed it really affects your mental and emotional states. So, if you want to be more productive, you first need to take steps to feel more motivated. And you can do that by giving time to your hobbies.

Make sure you have a block of time every single day to devote to things that make you happy. It could be reading a book, listening to music, writing in your journal, gardening, playing a musical instrument, cooking, photography, or anything else. These things will make you happy. And when you are in a happier state of mind, you are much more productive. 12% more to be precise.

5) Eat Something Delicious

When you are feeling unmotivated, it might be due to a number of reasons. One of them may be that you just don’t have the required number of calories in your system. This is more likely to happen early in the morning before you have your breakfast. So, I think it’s a good idea to pay attention to what your tummy has to say. If you feel like you need to fuel up, eat something delicious. Not only will it energize you, but it will also make you happier. Again, if you are happy, you are likely to be more productive.

Also, the brain requires a lot of energy to function. Scientists estimate that it uses up 20% of the body’s energy. And that too in a resting state. It’s only fair to say that you need a lot more when you’re trying to get some work done. Naturally, if it doesn’t get that energy, you might feel unmotivated and sluggish.

Furthermore, because the brain is so rich in nerve cells, or neurons, it is the most energy-demanding organ, using one-half of all the sugar energy in the body according to a Harvard Medical School paper, “Brain functions such as thinking, memory, and learning are closely linked to glucose levels and how efficiently the brain uses this fuel source.”

6) Take A Quick Break

Your energy and motivation levels fluctuate throughout the day. You are more likely to be active and motivated in the morning than in the afternoon. We all know how hard that afternoon slump hits, am I right? So, when you start feeling unmotivated during the day, it might be because your body needs a little downtime. Therefore, the sensible thing to do would be to take a quick break instead of trying too hard (and failing) at completing a task.

Even psychologists say that taking breaks can not only increase your productivity but also enhance your creativity. I don’t know whether you have experienced this, but when you’re stuck on a task, and you move away from it for a while, you find it much easier to solve once you come back. It can do the same for your lack of motivation as well. Sometimes, all you need is to disconnect from “work”.

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7) Reward Yourself For Completing A Task

The brain loves to be rewarded. In fact, there is a whole reward system in your brain that controls most of your behavior! Did you know that? Well, now you do. And you can use it to become more motivated than ever. One way you can do that is to set incentives for completing a task. Yes, it’s exactly as it sounds as. And though it might sound childish, it actually works.

The idea is to tell yourself something like, “If I achieve task X, I am going to reward myself with Y.” For instance, you could set an incentive to watch your favorite TV show, if you complete a report on time. Research shows that when employees are incentivized, they become more productive and creative. As I said before, the brain loves to be rewarded!

8) Keep Track of Your Progress

Do you know about inertia? Yes, the one from your high school science class. Well, it’s a law that says that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an external force. Basically, objects have this tendency to remain in their current state. Now, hear me out. I think this law of inertia applies to our behavior as well. So, if you are feeling lazy, you will want to keep being lazy.

But, if you achieve tasks constantly, you will want to maintain that streak. Naturally, your productivity will shoot up in this scenario. Now, how can you ensure that this happens? Well, one way is to keep track of your progress. This is called the Seinfeld Strategy, named after the popular comedian and writer Jerry Seinfeld. In it, every time you make progress or complete a task, you need to mark it on a calendar or a to-do list and make sure you can see it all the time. So, if you feel unmotivated on a particular day, you will see your streak on the calendar and want to continue the streak.

Pro Tip: I use an app called Streaks as my habit tracker. It plays off the concept where you create a ‘streak’ of days, therefore, you don’t want to break the streak the longer it gets! If you’re interested in learning more about how to create habits that stick, read my popular blog post 3 Habits That Will Change Your Life.

9) Try To Complete Smaller Tasks First

So, this is something that has really worked for me in my life. And I hope it will work for you as well. When you are unmotivated, it’s also probable that you will get easily overwhelmed by the big tasks ahead of you. Contrary to the whole “eat the frog first” mentality, what I like to do is try to complete the smaller tasks first. It could be as easy as cleaning your desk, taking the trash out, checking your emails, and stuff like that. This accomplishes two things.

First, it helps you break the inertia that we talked about in the previous point. Plus, achieving smaller tasks increases your motivation. That feeling of achievement, even if for small things, can make you feel a lot better and more active. Then, you can tackle the real stuff. You can also try and break a big task into smaller parts so it doesn’t seem that overwhelming.

10) Meditate For A While

Sometimes, your lack of motivation stems from issues we don’t know why. And you may not always know what the root cause is. You just feel its effects. To deal with such issues, I suggest you meditate daily! There are a ton of benefits of meditating regularly that science has proved over the years thanks to hundreds of research studies.

Out of all these, perhaps the ones that are relevant in our context are boosting emotional health, reduction in anxiety and stress, lengthening attention span, and improvement in sleep quality. All these benefits can directly influence your motivation levels. And that, in turn, will positively affect your productivity. So, even if you can meditate for just 3 minutes daily, do it! And see the results for yourself after a month!

11) Keep Social Media At Bay

When you feel unmotivated, I am sure there is one thing that you will be a lot more likely to do. That’s to reach for your phone and scroll down your social media feed. Am I correct? That’s what everyone does when they’re bored, right? But you see, doing so will have two negative effects at that moment. First, you will waste an enormous amount of time on something that is quite frankly useless.

Second, you might end up feeling terrible after using social media apps. You might see your friends having fun or going to places that you dream of visiting, and that might leave a bad taste in your mouth. We all know that people only show the good parts of their lives on social media. But we assume as though their lives are perfect and they are much happier than us. This can make you even more demotivated and your productivity will suffer. So, keep social media at bay, especially on days when you are not feeling 100%.

12) Work Some Place Else

The place where you work has a huge influence on your productivity. The whole vibe of the place can either enhance or disrupt your productivity. At your workplace, things like natural light, airflow, temperature, humidity, and other natural factors can impact you. The type of people that surround you can also play an important role in determining your mood and how much you’re able to work.

So, if at all possible, you should work someplace else on days you feel unmotivated. You could take your laptop to a park, a cafe, to the rooftop, or any other place where you can work in peace. If you work better at home (remote working), you could make arrangements with your superiors to do just that. At the end of the day, what really matters is productivity. So it only makes sense to work at a place that ensures higher productivity.

13) Explore The Why

To solve a problem, you need to get to the root of it. Merely treating the symptoms won’t help. So, if you feel unmotivated, ask yourself, “Why do I feel this way? Why am I not being able to be productive today?” Take a small break and go deep within yourself by journaling. Tony Robbins always talks about incantations, the most powerful way to get answers in your life is asking yourself powerful questions.

Explore your feelings. Is it because of a suppressed emotion? Did someone say something to you that hurt you? Is it due to a lack of proper sleep?

Asking questions and exploring how you feel on the inside can be greatly revealing. It is highly likely that you will find your answer. Once you do, you can solve that root problem. It will then make you feel better and so, you will be able to focus normally on your work. The end result is better productivity. As simple as that!

Final Thoughts

As a human being, your feelings keep fluctuating from one moment to the next.

That’s just how we are made.

There might be days when you feel super motivated and confident and you might be able to clear your whole to-do list in no time at all. Then there might be days when you don’t even want to get off the bed. It happens and it’s okay. Don’t blame yourself for it! It’s human nature.

What you can do, though, is to look for ways you can still be productive when you’re feeling unmotivated. Fortunately, there are many science-backed ways to do just that. From breaking a task into smaller ones and meditating to incentivizing yourself and taking a quick break, there are many effective ways you can deal with your motivation and productivity issues.

Let me know in the comments below to hold yourself accountable — what was your favorite strategy and how do you plan on using it in your life?

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