5 Ways to Stay Motivated & Productive

1) Keep a Positive Mindset

Your mindset moulds almost every aspect of your life, including how motivated you feel and how productive you are at work. Making small, conscious changes to the way you think is the best way to improve your mindset over time. Now, this is much easier said than done, but with a little perseverance, positive and productive thoughts can begin to eclipse negative ones. For instance, instead of thinking ‘I have to get all this work done today’, make a conscious effort to re-calibrate and think ‘I want to complete this work to the best of my ability’. Feeding positive over negative thoughts can help you to feel more motivated to keep up momentum even as we approach the end of the year.

2) Define Your Goals

Keeping a positive mindset works hand-in-hand with setting optimistic, yet achievable short and long-term goals (remember, that’s goals not chores). By setting goals for the coming year, we are able to benchmark where we are against where we want to be and how we are going to get there. Make sure to set both large and smaller goals and be specific about how you’re going to achieve them; it’s much easier to get somewhere when you have a detailed map. The tail-end of the year presents a prime opportunity to get a head start and plant seeds to help our future-selves. So, instead of wishing the time away, utilise each moment as a tool to reach a goal, whether it be making your bed every morning or becoming the next Jeff Bezos.

3) Celebrate Small Victories

By celebrating small victories, we are giving ourselves recognition and power. Self-care is not selfish; in fact, it is an essential ingredient when it comes to staying motivated and productive both at work and in our personal lives. Basically, you should reward yourself often because the likelihood is, you really deserve it. Whilst it is not (usually) sustainable to buy yourself a new designer bag or shiny set of golf clubs each time you reach a goal, running a nice bubble bath or making your favourite dinner to reward yourself is do-able and very much encouraged. This will create positive feedback loops in your brain and push you to continue smashing your goals!

4) Make The Most of Winter

Aside from the obvious festive activities like decorating the tree and wrapping presents, December has a lot more to offer than short days and long, dark nights. It can be really easy to fall into the trap of blindly racing through the winter. Instead, you may as well make a fancy hot chocolate and get cosy by the fire, because it just doesn’t sound as enjoyable in June. Wrap up warm in your favourite coat and scarf and go for a wintery walk, after all… ‘tis the season!

5) Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help… and Help Others

People often forget that no one person can be perfect at all times. Sometimes we just need a little help- that doesn’t mean you are failing or being unproductive. Equally, by making a conscious effort to help others you can inspire others and harness that motivation back, it’s a win-win for both parties.