You know that sense of "I still have another whole work day to get through"? It sucks. The worst part is knowing you have to wake up, go to work, and be productive when you're exhausted, unmotivated, and want to go back to bed. The most difficult aspect of it is that, even if you know logically that you are not the only one who has ever felt this way, it can feel quite lonely at times.
If you're in a Friday mood and want to shake it off, try these six strategies to boost your Friday enthusiasm.
1. Eat a Solid Breakfast and Plan to Eat Lunch
The first thing you can do to boost your Friday motivation is have a good breakfast. We've all heard that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." It turns out that our parents didn't merely tell us to eat before school. Studies have indicated that eating breakfast can boost memory, recollection, mood, and visual-motor functioning.
However, researchers discovered evidence suggesting the benefits of breakfast's micronutrient boost fade over time. The body, like a car with a full tank of gas that runs out after a long drive, has to be refueled. As a result, eating breakfast and lunch on a day when you aren't feeling your best may provide you with the extra boost you need to get through the day. Skipping meals can cause low blood sugar, which can make you feel weak and lethargic. If you're already fighting to stay motivated, not eating will simply make you feel sluggish and uninspired to get anything done.
2. Prioritize What’s Urgent
I've always been a lover of cheat sheets. No, I am not a cheater, but I do enjoy knowing what needs to be done. Nobody likes to invest precious energy figuring out what to accomplish when they are already unmotivated.
No matter who you are, there is a good chance that by Friday of any given week, you will have at least one or two tasks that were scheduled to be accomplished earlier in the week but did not get done. Here's an easy approach for determining what is urgent.
Simply ask yourself these three questions.
Are there any projects whose deadlines have passed but are still due?
Which of the projects is the most overdue?
Which of the outstanding projects will require the least amount of time to make substantial progress or be completed?
This should make it easier for you to pick at least one assignment on which you can work hard while knowing you're accomplishing something essential.
3. Tackle the Low-Hanging Fruit
Another strategy to re-energize your Friday motivation is to focus on the easy tasks first. It is quite OK to begin with the simple tasks. Perhaps you are exhausted and critical duties will require too much energy. There is nothing wrong with tackling the obvious easy tasks. Emails, filing, data entry, document reconciliation, follow-up conversations, editing or modifying written material, and conducting research are all simple chores.
Completing these easier activities will give you a sense of success. You can use this sense of accomplishment to help you tackle some more difficult activities, or you can complete all of the easy tasks so that the following week you can devote your time to the more difficult assignments.
4. Give Yourself at Least Two Scheduled Breaks
Allow yourself at least two scheduled breaks throughout the workday. Life is stressful. It's stressful to feel obligated to work when you're not feeling like it. Let's not make it worse by pushing oneself to sit in front of a computer all day with no breaks. The days of thinking that "lunch is for punks and working 80 hours a week is what you should be doing" are disappearing, if not already a distant memory for many.
In fact, scientists revealed that, while "taking short breaks throughout the working day may not have as obvious an impact as taking a vacation, research has found significant benefits." According to studies, taking breaks can help to decrease or prevent stress and sustain performance throughout.
Set three alarms before starting your workday: two 20-minute breaks and one lunch break. You are not proving anything to anyone by making yourself miserable in front of your computer. You deserve adaptability and sensitivity. Let these breaks be a radical form of self-care.
5. Listen to Some Upbeat Tunes
Another option to boost your Friday motivation is to listen to some positive music. Music has medicinal properties. It is not surprising that the vibrations of music might influence our emotions. Ancient communities recognized this and welcomed it through rituals such as chanting, singing bowls, chimes, bells, and other sound instruments used for healing. Chanting is used in healing and energy-shifting practices such as Kirtan and Bhakti yoga. Many spiritual healing rituals in Hinduism and Buddhism include the use of bells and chimes. Signing bowls have become widely used in the modern world for energetic healing.
Most people can recall at least one instance in their lives in which music or sound helped to change their mood. Music has been proved to have a direct impact on its listeners. According to studies, listening to music while working might lead to a "increase in both mood and quality of work".
If you're feeling really unmotivated, you may try playing your favorite record in the background while you try to get some work done. If you can't work while listening to music with lyrics and don't enjoy classical or traditional jazz, look into genres like trip hop, house, ambient, Beach House, and jam band. You might also love musicians such as Bonobo, Thievery Corporation, and Grammatik.
6. Give Yourself Something to Look Forward To
As a yogi, I am all about being present in the moment. But sometimes the present is a little too intense, and being overly present will not assist to boost your mood. In certain situations, harnessing the power of positive anticipation can be your hidden weapon because “knowing that something good is coming your way pushes you to accomplish those tasks you may not necessarily want to do.”
We all enjoy being rewarded, especially when we are performing an unpleasant task. Giving yourself something to look forward to ensures that you will be rewarded for all of your efforts to get through each day.
The prize does not have to be huge. It can be anything as simple as eating ice cream, going on a stroll, spending time with friends, or vegging out with your phone set to do not disturb for a few hours. I used to use this tactic a lot while I was in boarding school. The time between semesters in New England felt so lengthy, especially in the winter, that my friends and I would get excited about trivial matters like drinking lime rickeys at Brigham's. Believe it or not, it worked.
Try that the next time you're smacked with the Friday funk. Consider anything you can look forward to, no matter how minor, and see how it affects your energy.
Final Thoughts
As the proverb goes, "this too shall pass."
Friday is just another day that will soon come to an end. One thing you can bank on is that time waits for no one, therefore no matter how difficult it is to get through, remember that time is on your side.
Regardless, Friday will continue. The best thing you can do to boost your Friday motivation is to ensure that your body has the micronutrients it requires to power through the day, identify what's urgent, tackle low hanging fruit, take a break from your desk, listen to your favorite music, and remember that you have the entire weekend to look forward to.
You've got this!
More Tips on How to Improve Your Friday Motivation
How to Overcome Your Lack of Motivation and Stay Motivated
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