7 top tips to help you stay motivated at work
Sooner or later it happens to the best of us; we experience a sudden attack of apathy, loss of energy and the desire to stare out of the window, chat to a colleague or head off to find our seventh coffee of the day. Motivation is a precious gift, and the ability of business leaders and managers to motivate their employees is a highly desirable trait.
The good news is that motivational knowledge and techniques can be learned, and any leader or manager who seeks to keep their staff motivated and productive will benefit from the course 'Motivating Others' presented by business skills training experts Maguire Training. This practical and informative one-day course teaches delegates different theories of motivation, explains the reasons behind motivation and demotivation and demonstrates ways to create a working environment that is conducive to motivation. Delegates will also leave the course equipped with a number of strategies for understanding behaviour, dealing with difficult situations and motivating people.
What can we do, however, when demotivation strikes and there is no one else around to spur us back into action? Here, the team at Maguire Training share their 7 top tips to help you stay motivated at work.
1) Seek out the company of motivated people
Spend some time in a place where there is a buzz of activity and positive energy. Motivation can be infectious - try to pick up on strategies and behaviours that you can use to motivate yourself.
2) Set yourself new challenges
Do what you always did and you'll get what you always got. By trying something a little different which stretches you and is rewarding you can overcome the apathy of the familiar and be motivated by something new.
3) Swap perfection for excellence
Trying to attain perfection in everything you do can be draining and demotivating. Perfection is a subjective concept and therefore unachievable; strive for excellence rather than for the impossible.
4) Acknowledge that the motivational buck stops with you
Luck, fate and Sod's Law are not the reasons for your lack of motivation. Whilst it may be easy and convenient to blame external forces for your lack of productivity, the truth is that motivation is something which is fully under your own control.
5) Don't try: do
If you say 'I'll try to complete this task by five o'clock' you're already building an escape route for failure. Positivity and self-belief are key to motivation so tell yourself 'I can complete this task by five o'clock and I will complete this task by five o'clock'.
6) Learn from, but don't dwell upon, missed targets
Beating yourself up over something which is now history is demotivating and a waste of energy. Instead, look at what happened, understand why it happened, learn from the situation and move on.
7) Accentuate the positive, and eliminate the negative
Motivation benefits from an optimistic mindset. Look for the good aspects of any given task or situation, remind yourself of the rewards for completion and ignore or dismiss anything negative or energy-sapping which detracts from your goal.
How can we help?
Motivation aids productivity and productivity means business success. Inspiring your employees to stay focused and achieve more is within your grasp thanks to the range of motivational courses provided by Maguire Training. Many, such as the excellent 'Theories of Motivation' eLearning modules are delivered as online training which means that delegates can learn at their own pace and in their preferred environment, accessing their chosen course via Maguire Training's innovative E-learning platform.
