Like me, you might have some of the best freelance tools (or twenty) that claim to help you maximize your productivity. I LOVE using tools, but a digital tool isn’t always the best way to change our state of mind. The most productive way I’ve found to alter our state of mind is: mindfulness motivation hacks!
Being motivated is a state of mind, so if you’re looking to tap into your motivation, use mindfulness.
A lack of motivation is a problem we create for ourselves both now and later. Think about it: we’ve all felt unmotivated to finish a project and told ourselves,“I’ll just do it tomorrow.” To our surprise, tomorrow comes and…we still don’t feel like doing it!
Don’t freak out. If you’re new to mindfulness techniques or meditation, it’s the perfect reason to take the plunge.
Practicing Mindfulness Motivation Hacks
Mindfulness exercises can relax your brain and draw your attention to your current state. It helps you hone in on your present emotions and help you realize what’s stopping your productivity.
Once you use mindfulness to find out what feelings or thoughts are stopping you, you can resolve them.
It requires a certain level of self-honesty and self-awareness (which is an important facet of the freelancer mindset). However, you have to meditate on the real thoughts blocking your motivation if you’re going to let them go.
Clear your anxiety by getting to the bottom of your mental blocks.
Once you let the little disruptive thoughts go, you can focus on the real road blocks you’re facing. Try a meditation session and just keep steering your mind to the present moment.
Ask yourself what’s truly keeping you from doing your work.
Maybe you’re on edge because you haven’t eaten today or you’re feeling cranky due to a lack of sleep. Tell yourself you’ll take a nap or eat a snack and after that, you’ll do your work. Be strict with yourself!
Maybe you’re feeling the affects of impostor syndrome. Maybe you’re burnt out on a specific project.
These problems don’t have quick fixes, so give yourself a pep talk. You aren’t feeling great now, but you promise to dedicate time to sorting out these feelings later. Then, focus on saving those emotions for later and again, be strict with yourself. If the emotions rise back up, remind yourself you’ve saved time to worry about that – and it isn’t now!
Using mindfulness techniques to explore your emotional state will give you a solid understanding of your emotions and their effects on your productivity.
When you understand and can predict your emotions, scheduling your tasks during your motivated periods of the day becomes easy.
Try doing a “mental walk-through” of your tasks before scheduling them.
When you’ve got your list of tasks in front of you, think deeply about them before scheduling yourself. Consider what effect those tasks will have on your emotional state.
Will those tasks or activities put you in a ready-to-work state or will they make you feel burnt out?
Don’t schedule two things you hate doing on the same day. Fit your tasks into your schedule keeping your clarity and motivation in mind.
Recognize patterns in your motivation levels.
Mental walkthroughs of your tasks can also help you see patterns in your work style. Using mindfulness motivation hacks will only work if you know yourself and your habits well.
For example, tonight you’ve planned to eat a big lunch and write a post afterward. Doing a quick mental walkthrough will make you realize you’ll be tired after eating. Motivation is hard to come by on a full stomach!
You’ll quickly learn to grab take out when you need post-lunch motivation and not to schedule tasks on homemade lunch days.
Mind Tricks to Boost Your Motivation
– Use mindfulness techniques to calm your emotions and create focus.
– Soothe any easy-fix emotions to clear your head.
– File away more complicated emotions for later (and strictly keep them for later).
– Do a “mental walkthrough” of your tasks to predict your future motivation levels.
– Recognize patterns of high and low motivation periods and schedule accordingly.
Do you know another way mindfulness motivation hacks can help? Comment below!
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