How to Motivate Yourself at Work

Ask a Question
How to Motivate Yourself at Work

Even if you enjoy your job it can still be difficult to motivate yourself on a daily basis. Whether it is the early starts, office politics or lack of inspiring work, sometimes you feel like you just don’t want to go in any more. This is a common situation to be in and it can be difficult to get back on track. By taking small steps, celebrating the progress that you do make, and looking forward at your future career development, you will be able to increase your motivation and feel happier about your career.

Set Yourself Goals

Often, part of the reason for losing motivation is the feeling that you are not achieving anything new and are just rolling along doing the same thing. One way to get around this is to set yourself goals. These can be small things, such as tidying your desk or increasing your typing speed, or they can be more focused on your career development, such as Gaining More Training or taking on more responsibility.

Celebrate Your Successes

If you feel as if nobody pays any attention to all the hard work that you do, it can be easy to lose motivation. Redress this balance by celebrating your own success and making it clear to others what you are doing. You don’t want to brag, as this will only Annoy Your Colleagues. However, there is nothing wrong with telling your manager about the projects you have been working on and the results that you have seen. Feel proud about what you have done and how you have contributed to the company.

Career Change Matcher

Career Change Matcher

Tell us what is not working and what you want instead and we will match you with career paths that fit.

Try our Career Change Matcher free, here on this site →

Reward Yourself

If a child does something good, then you would reward them, so why not yourself? Sometimes it only takes a little treat to motivate yourself and feel better about your day at work. Whether it is something small like a cup of tea for finishing your filing or a bigger reward, such as a spa day for completing a big project, it really can make a difference. Of course, you hope that a successful career development will be reward enough, but sometimes we all need a little boost along the way.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

Career Development

You be finding it difficult to motivate yourself day to day but sometimes you need to look at the bigger picture. Think about where you want your career to go and how you can work on your career development. Make a plan and each week take a small step towards making it a reality. Perhaps you need to gain some more training, improve certain skills or Improve Your CV. Whatever it is, knowing that you are heading for bigger and better things will help you make it through the daily grind.

Impressing Your Boss

Making sure your hard work is seen by the right people can be a key step towards moving up the career ladder. Find out how to stand out from the crowd by reading our article Show Your Potential To Decision Makers.

The Next Step

Career Change Matcher

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Career Change Matcher lets you tell us what is not working and what you want instead and we will match you with career paths that fit. Try it now →

Ask A Career Change a Question
BathMatt 06/09/2012 at 9:58 pm
This site displays some very positive, well-rounded advice with an open and optimistic view. It's certainly given me a boost to start thinking long and hard about my career and whether or not I should stay put or whether it's time for me to move on.

Thanks
Matt

Ask A Career Change a question

Ask our editorial team a question and we will reply with our advice. Tell us as much about your situation as you can: the more detail you give, the more useful our answer can be.

You do not need to use your real name. Please do not include your full address, phone number, email address, or the names of other people. We may edit or remove identifying details for privacy and legal reasons.

Comments are moderated before publication.

Try our free Career Change Matcher Find My Next Career for Free