With COVID fatigue setting in and winter coming, motivation to complete work may be in short supply. The Harvard Business Review released an article this week titled “Feeling Overwhelmed? Here’s How to Get through the Workday” by Alice Boyes.
Alice Boyes offers the following tips for beating the blues and carrying on with work:
- “Focus on a familiar activity”. Begin by working on a “old” activity that you have lots of experience performing. The sense of accomplishment after the completing the work will help motivate you to take on more tasks.
- “Tackle an unfamiliar task”. Working on a task that you have been avoiding can boost your confidence. “When you act as though you have confidence in your ideas and capacities, it provides an antidote to [negative] feelings and can stop the negative spiral”.
- “Do half your usual work”. Settle for some work done over none. A modest goal can prevent you from feeling overwhelmed and therefore prevent you from procrastinating. Once you get into the groove of doing work, you will be able to achieve your goal.
- “Connect with others”. Feeling lonely can increase stress and reduce productivity. Feel free to reach out to weak connections, as they may be able to provide the support you need.
- “Drop your fear of negative emotions”. Negative emotions don’t mean doom. “The key is to use those feelings to propel you further rather than sweep them under the rug”.
(This article was originally posted on slaw.ca. heatherdouglaslaw.com)
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