How to Stay Organized When You are Not Motivated

This morning I woke up feeling completely unmotivated. It was Monday morning. It was dark, dreary, and rainy outside. I just returned yesterday from a long road trip, so the house was a disaster and I was feeling blah that the trip was over.

Doesn’t this photo just make you feel completely unmotivated? (I’m happy to report in no longer looks like this.)

MessyHouse

I know many of you feel this way sometimes, so I wanted to share how I overcame it, got myself motivated, and accomplished a lot today.

How to Stay Organied When You're Not Motivated

Of course the ideal would be to wake up each morning and leap out of bed ready to tackle all your tasks. Let’s face it, though. That doesn’t always happen. So here’s what I did:

  • First, I got dressed including my tennis shoes and some makeup. Putting on my tennis shoes instantly gets me into “work” mode.
  • Next, I did a huge brain dump. I opened a spreadsheet and typed all the things that were in my head. I had so many tasks I didn’t want to forget and things that need to be accomplished this week. Writing them down helped me get them out of my head so I could focus more on the task at hand. You could also do this with a pencil and paper. I highlighted the things that really need to get done this week.
  • Then I made a detailed plan for my week and my day. In my planner I assigned the tasks to what day of the week I would accomplish them. Then I wrote a detailed schedule with times for the next few hours of the day. Now that I had a plan of attack, I felt far less overwhelmed and much more ready to get started.
  • I started with the most impactful task – getting the house clean and straightened. Not only did the tidier house make me feel instantly more inspired and less overwhelmed, but it was an active that really got me moving. Although it had looked like a disaster zone, it really only took a few minutes to get everything put away.
Here’s a video of me talking about the process of getting myself motivated:

What do you do when you’re not feeling motivated? How do you get yourself motivated again?

Posted Under: Organizing