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8 Tips For Staying Motivated During COVID-19

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COVID-19  smacked us in the face out of nowhere, didn’t it? The effects of the pandemic are unprecedented and so significant that the whole world is in a state of emergency. Economies are baldy impacted and this does have a rippling effect on all of us. It looks like the negative impacts will continue to be encountered in the foreseeable future. But, there’s a BIG But!

Ups & Downs

Where would the “Ups” come from without the “Downs”? Now if you start to keep the emotions at bay and start thinking logically, you will realize that adversity has brought out the best in us as we try to navigate through trying times. A quick glance at such events in history will highlight key inventions that came out of most trying times. So we can try to find peace in the fact that good things are coming our way! 😊

Focus On What Is In YOUR Control

You control your emotions, your decisions, your feelings, your thinking, your motivation, your need to be better and the list goes on. Rather than focusing on the adverse economic effects coronavirus will have on the world economy, focus on what the impact might be to you, and take action to minimize or mitigate the impact on you by some simple but important decisions that I will touch upon from this point onwards!

Cut Down On Spending Where You Can

Maybe you’re suffering short term pay cuts, or losing out on a percentage of income for some reason. Try to see if you can adjust your expenses (discretionary spending). For example, I realized that I had a lot of monthly subscriptions (which I could do without or reduce) such as generous data plans, paid apps, etc. So I did some adjustments to these packages and now I am paying less and essentially I made myself a way of increasing the monthly income that remains with me! To be honest, this made me feel better and the reward for this exercise is that you feel motivated to make such decisions because you know that you are in control.

Be Grateful

Always remember that there’s someone in this world that has it worse than you. They dream of the life you are enjoying (even during adversity and apparent pay cuts). The best way to go about this is to take some time and list down the things you have (put some real effort into this). You will realize that you still got a job (if you lost it, there’s still hope and do not give up), you have electricity, running water, technology to keep you connected with your friends, your family, skills, and talent (which you need to take time to find out during this time). Once you have done this exercise, your perspective about your situation may change into something more positive and happy!

Set Goals

Setting goals and key milestones to measure your progress even of something as simple as the number of push-ups, you did on a daily basis can give you tremendous motivation to keep going. I was really impressed with myself when I achieved a record number of push-ups a day (which I never thought possible before).

Explore The Opportunities On The Web

There are so many educational online courses for FREE offered by different organizations and this kind of thing can be very engaging while it adds value to you by increasing your knowledge of things. You can check out some interesting online courses by logging into; 
https://learndigital.withgoogle.com/digitalgarage

 I completed "The Fundamentals In Digital Marketing Course" which was a 40-hour long program that you could complete at your own pace! (I have typed in the link for you, below)  and what's more, you receive a nice certificate at the end too! 

 https://learndigital.withgoogle.com/digitalgarage/course/digital-marketing

Hobbies

If you don't have any, create a few! 😍 here are some ideas; Fitness, Reading, Writing, Planting, Painting, and the list goes on. You can have a nice combination of two or more of these activities during your time especially in lockdown. When you start doing these on a daily basis, it will help your mind take its focus away from the negatives and focus on the positives.

Set Examples & Get Noticed

It’s a good thing to ensure you are doing something related to work during your usual office hours. Unless of course, you are taking a healthy break of 10-15 minutes which can comprise of things like walking in the garden, going through your social media, calling a friend or even some exercise (or whatever you prefer).

Showing you can be counted on (even when you have the freedom to slack off) can go a long way. Your boss or line manager will definitely notice your performance if everything that could reasonably be done from home (regarding your work tasks) is done in a timely manner and if you are contactable during the core office hours.

An ideal boss would appreciate you for the work you are doing. This can be really motivating. Also, if you feel like your boss is also genuinely concerned about your mental and physical well-being as well, that’s the icing on the cake!

Accept Things For What They Are

This frees you up and remember, just like companies are ought to do, you should revisit your personal goals and adjust them accordingly. This will help you tie your goals to more attainable ones considering the current situation and will avoid you feeling demotivated. Just like in the movie "3 Idiots" tap your chest and say "All is well!". Your attitude will truly support you along this journey! 💪

Do share this article if you enjoyed it &follow/subscribe to my Blog 😊

Mahen Brendon Makalande
Sri Lanka

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