Doing the same thing repeatedly everyday can become exhausting and boring after a while, especially when there are little or no challenges or creative tweaks to the job description. These, among many others, are reasons for lack of motivation at work. Lack of motivation at the workplace work makes it unexciting for you to get up to work every morning. But is also good to note that, lack of motivation at work is normal from time to time.
If I were to define motivation in urban language, I would say: “motivation is the vibe that enables an individual to take some actions in order to achieve some set goals. Motivation at work is however the energy an individual puts into work in order to achieve stated goals.”
The amount of energy and enthusiasm an individual is able to put to work, will determine the level of result he or she is able to achieve within a period of time. Without motivation towards work, it becomes quite difficult to achieve set goals within a stipulated period of time.
An employee could lack motivation at work because of any, or a combination, of the following reasons:
Unstructured Work Environment:
When an employee works in an unstructured environment, he or she tends to receive a lot of unspecified to-dos. This means the job description of the employee is most likely going to be unstructured. In this scenario, the employee may be given tasks that are vague in description and do not match his/her skills. Employee can be over worked because there is no structure to check what the employee is meant to be doing at a given time. Employees that find themselves in this situation are usually not motivated to work.
Inadequate Job skills:
An employee is more committed to do the work they are certain they would succeed at. An employee is motivated to work better when they feel prepared or trained for job. When an employee is often given tasks he or she is not fully trained to do, he/she finds it difficult to succeed and thus it is difficult each day to get motivated to work.
Routine Task
It is very normal to get bored once in a while when an employee is given the same task over and over again, with no new challenges or creative tweaks that help display the employee’s different skills. In this case, tasks are done with so much levity and there is no extra effort to do it better. Employees that find themselves in this situation are usually not excited about work and thus struggle to get motivated at work.
Lack of Feedback
This is another reason why employees lack motivation at work. When employees work and don’t get any feedback from their superiors, it makes them feel they have been working in a vacuum. Feedback, whether positive or negative, allows employees to know what they are doing right and should continue to do and what they are not doing right and need to discontinue. Feedback opens employees up for improvements and motivates them to work better.
… So Here’s How to be Motivated at Work
Spice up your routine once in a while:
In cases where employees are tasked with the same routine every day, a little tweak that does not change the result of the task can be added to work. For instance, a financial analyst that just reports numbers every day, can decide to add colors, images, charts, graphs to the presentation. This allows employees to be creative while working and help them look for new ways to make the next presentation look good. So even if it’s just numbers, they are beautiful numbers.
Take 10-15 break once every 1-3 hours
In a situation where an employee feels overwhelmed with work, lack of motivation is just few steps away. It is therefore necessary to have a break from work, when the employee is relieved a little bit. Employee can either take a short work within the premise of the work environment, flip through the pages of an interesting magazine, read few lines of an interesting novel or any other thing the employee finds interesting that is totally off work. This will not only keep the mind relaxed, but also open the mind to creative ideas that can be applied to work.
Take a Leave and Travel
Working for a long time without any break can be very draining, leading to lack of motivation towards work. Sometimes an employee needs to retreat to a new environment for a couple of weeks to refresh. Taking a work leave does not just relax the body, it also refreshes the mind. Going somewhere different, seeing new developments, culture, technology, opens up the mind to new ideas and creativity. Take a travel break with ease from Page.
Create a comfortable work Space
If possible, personalize your work space to suit and boost a positive state of mind. Employees are more motivated at work when their work space is more comfortable and suits their personal design. Some employees like to have and see something interesting from time to time – like a small fish bowl on their desk or toys like rube cube, stress balls. etc.
Whatever works for you as an employee is fine, in as much as it does not impede the concentration of others and it aids your motivation to work.
