How to stay motivated in work?

It can be difficult to motivate yourself at work if you’re fed up, find it boring and are dreaming of your holidays. It can be especially hard to keep motivated when you’re doing an internship or unpaid work experience as there’s no money incentive, or if you’re not gaining the type of experience you’d like.

How to stay motivated at work

Set some goals

If you have a daily or weekly target to achieve, it’ll make life easier and you will have a sense of accomplishment in work. If you can’t set targets for yourself, approach your manager/boss and ask them to set you some realistic goals.

Enjoy your breaks

Do something fun or relaxing on your lunch or tea breaks, go for a walk or to the gym or go shopping. If you are working at a computer screen it is also important to give your eyes a rest at different points during the day. If you feel your eyes getting sore or finding it hard to concentrate take a break from your desk, get a drink or a small walk and then come back to it in 5 minutes.

Up-skill 

If you don’t want to stay in your current role but within an organisation maybe consider doing some training and up-skilling. Taking the initiative will look good at work and challenging yourself will make you more motivated. For more information on upskilling click here. 

Make a list

Not a to-do one but rather a ‘What I got done today’ list. Physically recording all the things you get done in a day should give you a sense of achievement.

Work/life balance

It’s important to keep these separate and to do things you enjoy outside of work, you don’t want your lack of motivation in work to seep into your outside life. Having something to look forward to after work can help you get through the workload.

Focus on why you are there

Think of the money, independence or the experience or the numerous reasons why you are there. It’s important to keep things in perspective and think of your CV in the long run or think of a treat you can buy yourself from your wages.

Stay positive

If you are feeling negative about work or something that’s happening this can make you lose motivation so instead, play some of your favourite music, take a break from your desk or talk to a colleague that you get on with.

For more tips on reducing stress and staying positive at work click here. 

Need more information?

We are here to answer your questions and talk through your options. Our online chat service is for 16 to 25 year olds and is available Monday to Friday, 4pm to 8pm. Chat to us now about your situation.

• Chat now to a trained Youth Information Officer
• Or leave us a message and we will email you back