Are you sick of writing a to-do list you never complete? How about switching your hands to scroll with your non dominant thumb because your finger has a cramp and you’ve been avoiding your to-do list like the zombie virus.
You need to get stuff done but you just can’t find the motivation to do so. And I will start by asking why do you need to get stuff done? Is it really a need or are you performing for the invisible societal pressures that have embedded into your brain since childhood.
If you are in a slump, congratulations I hope this article gives you one tool to get out of it. If you are currently motivated waiting for the unmotivated shoe to drop, keep these tips in your back pocket to swat it away when it arrives.
Why are you unmotivated?
Before we can get into building your time management skills we need uncover why you are currently unmotivated. And this isn’t exactly fun to do.
Unclear goals
You are a creative person who wants to create. But you have no idea what you want to do with your time. There are vague ideas, forgotten projects around the house and a vision in your head but what does that look like for your creative goals. How to set creative goals you can actually stick to? You need to understand at least one thing you want to achieve and break it down into manageable steps and habits.
Once you have an idea of what you want to achieve. This can be something in one month, one year or more. But think of one tangible goal that you know would set your creative soul on fire. Once you have a goal you want to break it down into daily habits. Here’s how to complete a Daily Habit Reset.
Perfectionism
Perfectionist are on a hamster wheel disguised as progress. You feel like you are running full speed ahead when in reality you are just going in circles. Get real about your abilities, how long something SHOULD take and letting go of this perfect vision you want it to be. Easier said than done. But I did see a TikTok video that call my perfectionist side out so bad that I sat up in my bed and did a real life face palm. I am paraphrasing here because I can’t find the video (I will look for it later and link it here but your girl is in flow writing this blog) “Perfectionist do not get stuff done…” and that was all I needed to hear. Because it is true. Perfectionists sit in a graveyard of ideas because we are too scared to share them with the world. The ideas are dead because you beat it to death before giving it a chance to hurt you. You’re wielding the shovel in your hand that is going to bury that idea in the dirt before you have time to connect with it.
Overwhelmed with choice
In today’s world there are so many options. As a multi passionate creative I want to live 300 lifetimes in this one. Sell everything and travel, quit the job, apply to a new job, tell that person how you feel, end the relationship, change your style, go to school, quit school. Change the program you are currently, go cancel your gym membership or start going to the gym. Start a business. Delete all social media. Start a new channel. There are just so many options.
Having all these choices usually leaves you with a feeling of doing nothing or not doing enough. Annoying right. However, on some level there is something you WANT. Something you can visualize for your life or it has come back every few months as a possibility but you shut it down for whatever reason (money, time, location, life, insecurities etc.) Ask yourself what you want your life to look like and pick one to three things that would satisfy a part of you to get started.
Think about eighty year old you who is sitting in a chair looking out at the window thinking about her life. What is it you want her to be able to reminisce about? What do you want her to regret not doing?
A more woowo and some would call weird way to chat with an older version of you is use the age filter on TikTok. It splits the screen and makes a version of you looked aged. It might be accurate, it might not. But I have done that twice. And seeing my face aged is so surreal. What has the version of me lived through, accomplished. I want to give her the biggest hug, high five and smile. I am proud to be her.
Pick something, work towards, then pick the next thing and the next.
Negative self talk
How often are you berating yourself for not doing “ENOUGH?” Why do you feel like rest isn’t productive? We can be our own worse critic. We are the judge, jury and executioner of our own habits. The louder your negative self talk is the harder it will be to take action towards your goals and dreams. Learning to catch your negative self talk and working through it rather than avoiding those feelings is essential to starting to move into positive self talk.
A great tool is to journal out all these negative self talk phrases while you are in a more neutral state. Calling out the negativity while you feel a semblance of safety will allow you to see the words for what they are. Harsh, mean, and sometimes cruel in order to keep you small and scared to try something new. Be a littler more kind to yourself today.
Instant Gratification
The need to see results right away is destroying your dreams. Everything takes time. We are given this false sense of immediacy through social media. If your favourite influencers goes viral and you start seeing them making tones of money, that seems like an overnight success but in reality there were years of work behind the scenes.
You watch someone who lost 50lbs and think they did it in ninety days but it was really three years of mindset work, inconsistent routines, life curve balls until finally a 90 day routine “worked”.
You watch an artist post their art online, it blows up. Those videos of the label maker printing out hundreds of orders and the text on the screen talks about launching their business. Or it’s been only 30 days and they have achieved this seemingly overnight success but what you don’t see are the years of practicing their art, throwing out trial pieces, starting a different business entirely, convincing yourself to just keep your art as a hobby because no one will buy it, and then finally getting the courage to launch a creative business.
Practice detaching from that immediate result and watch your life change.
External Expectations
The pressure from family, friends, past version of you is really hard to shake. If you are pursing a career that a family member has praised you for since you can remember but you have hit a wall and are not enjoying it any more. It can be very hard to extract yourself from that. Of course my words of life is too short to do something you hate won’t penetrate the life long barriers you have put up around you in order to perform for the people in your life.
However, your desires and dreams will carve their way into your life by force. It’s not a sharp carving knife. It’s a blade of water. A stream, creek, river. The erosion of thought will be small at first until the embankment of your mind gets wider and wider. It will become noticeable and you will have to make a choice.
This choice is hard, heavy but at the same time freeing. The one person you have to live with is you.
Mental Health Issues
I am not a medical professional or a therapist but we all of our ailments. A deeper reason for being unmotivated can be depression, anxiety and burnout. I want you to lead with kindness with yourself while exploring these options. I know a really big part about depression for a lot of people is taking medication. The feeling of “why can’t my brain just be fine” or “why do I have to take a pill to feel quote normal unquote” and it can be hard to come to terms with needing help and not thinking your way out of it. I find that if you need to take medication to function in this world, pop those pills baby!
Now let’s get into some simple time management tips to help you feel a little less unmotivated while pursuing your art and daily life.
5 Time Management Tips for the Unmotivated version of you!
Use the Two-Minute Rule
If there is something that comes up in your day that takes 2 minutes or less, do it in the moment. Waiting means those small, tedious tasks will pile up into a big overwhelming cloud that follows you around.
“Marissa, if I could just DO the task I would. I am unmotivated, it’s not that simple,” you scream at your phone.
Correct, this is something that will not happen overnight. It’s not a switch you flick. But it is a muscle you can start engaging more and more often. The more you do it the stronger it gets.
There is an audio on cleaning videos I can across that says “don’t put it down, put it away” and it has helped me maintain some of the clutter in my life. Everything has a spot so it should go there instead of random places I will have to clean later.
Micro Habits
Micro habits is a great way to break your bigger habits and goals into the tiniest possible form in order to build your confidence. Here are 10 Micro Habits you can consider to improve your life.
The reason a micro habit is beneficial is because it is an immediate win. This is something you can do in 5 to 30 minutes in your day in order to feel accomplished. And the more you do these micro habits the better you will feel. It’s banking those wins to help you see that you have what it takes to take action no matter how small.
Body Doubling
Body Doubling is a way to get stuff down that you wouldn’t normally do because you have another “body” or rather person around. You can invite a friend or a family member over to simply exist while you both do something. If you do not want someone in your personal space you can look into virtual body doubling. There are youtube channels or softwares that would connect you with people who will be on you screen while you both get stuff done.
Create a “Done” List
Put the focus on the things you have accomplished, rather than what you have not done. Writing a list of 10 things to do and you get only 2 of them done will lead to disappointment and frustration. Start flipping those thoughts to the things you have done. And I mean start small. I got out of bed today. I brushed my teeth. I posted on Instagram for the first time in a month. I texted my friend back. I journaled. I hit 100 steps.
A done list will allow you to celebrate your wins. Look at what you did today. By praising yourself and patting yourself on the back you will start feeling the smallest bit more confident in your ability to do the things you want.
Theme Your Days
Lastly, if the idea of trying to do everything every single day overwhelms you to the point of doing nothing. Theme your days. Monday’s are your creative days. Tuesdays are chore days. Wednesday are self care, hygiene days, Thursday are homework or studying days etc. And this won’t be perfect because somethings will NEED to get done in the immediate on random days but for certain tasks you can categorize your days so that it is not as overwhelming for you. You can remove the things from your mind until the designated day. “That’s a Thursday task,” and just focus on the other things you want to do that day.
Now, being unmotivated can be for a variety of reasons and this merely touched on handful of things that might cause it. I am not a medical professional or a therapist. I am someone who has waves motivation and then unmotivated slumps. These tips have helped my get out of those slumps in order to accomplish a handful of the goals I have set out over the last few years.
You can check out this video on 20 Daily Habits to Improve your life to spark some other ways to feel a little more motivated then yesterday.