Not feeling like work: what to do

Do you have a job, but just don't feel like working. Or don't even have a job, and shouldn't even think about finding a job. Do you go crazy with the job search requirement that comes with benefits and get demotivated by the sound of the alarm clock. Then anything could be going on.

Find out what you can do if you don't feel like working

Feeling like work has to do with your motivation to work. There are all sorts of factors that go into that motivation. For example, you have intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. The problem with forced job applications is that the government extrinsically tries to motivate you to apply with the threat that you will be cut from your benefits otherwise.

As a result, you might sometimes find yourself applying for jobs you don’t really want at all.

But extrinsic motivation can actually motivate you in other ways. For example, when that job that might not be so fun makes a lot of money.

In addition, the following factors are also important:

• Purpose of Purpose
• Height of Purpose
• Value of Purpose
• Likelihood of achieving goal
• Difficulty
• Willpower
• Strategies
• Attention

The goal

As you can see, the goal you want to achieve plays a major role in your motivation to work. The value of that goal might be about money, for example, but it could also be about how important it is to you to be able to say that you have a job or that you can do a certain kind of work.

The height of the goal, can also be about the effort you have to put into achieving the goal. This has an equal correlation to the likelihood of achieving the goal.

The more difficult the goal is, the lower your estimate of probability.

Therefore, it is important to break down a big goal into sub-goals. This allows you to look forward to each sub-goal, whose likelihood is closer to where you are now. Which makes it more attainable. This already makes your sense of working toward the goal greater.

Difficulty

The effort required to achieve a goal also has a major impact on your motivation to work. If something takes an enormous amount of mental or physical effort, it’s often not a motivating factor. Does something come easily to you? Then you’ll be just fine.

But it shouldn’t be too easy either, because then you run the risk of a bore-out. If your work offers absolutely no challenge, over time this can lead to you no longer feeling like working.

In this case, it's best to ask a supervisor if you can get new tasks that require a little more of you than what you're used to now. On the other hand, do you find that exciting to do? Then a hypnotherapist can help you. For example, by practicing with you to enter into the conversation with your supervisor, such as with a guided visualization.

Initially, the hypnotist helps you relax in order to induce hypnosis in you. Next, he tells you how to ask your supervisor for more challenging work in such a way that you can imagine it working out. Such as:

"You have requested a meeting with your supervisor at work and are now visiting his/her office. You express how you feel at work now. The work comes easily to you, but you notice that it is so easy that it demotivates you. You look at your supervisor with an open mind and ask if he/she has other and more challenging work for you. He/she indicates that he/she does, but that he needs to find out a few things first. In any case, there are a number of training courses within the company that you can take to gain valuable knowledge."

Visualizations like these can help you gain more self-confidence to take on more challenging work that better suits your abilities. This is just one example; depending on your beliefs and the nature of your work, the visualization may vary.

Willpower

If you arrived at this website because you typed in on a search engine: I don't feel like working out. Then you have already lost the willpower for the work you do.

Willpower can be increased in a number of ways, namely:

• By rewarding yourself when something is accomplished.
• By focusing on what is positive.
• By surrounding yourself with people who are strong-willed.
• By making a habit of work.

Increasing willpower can be done very well by rewarding yourself when you succeed at something. The first time this can still be difficult, but when you have succeeded and when you really reward yourself it can be very motivating for the next (sub) goal you want to achieve.

You can focus on the positive side by writing down 3 things/things/moments after each workday that you liked about the work you did that day. This will make you focus more on the positives which can make it more fun to go back to work the next day.

You become infected with what you deal with. It is sometimes said that you are most like the 5 people you hang out with. Surrounding yourself with people who are working hard for their goals can motivate you to regain the desire to work yourself. A hypnotist can help you with techniques for establishing new relationships, such as guided visualization.

Making a habit of work may sound very crazy, but working at least 4 hours a day every day can make you automatically wake up on time and go to work. This is also a strategy you can implement for work.

Strategies

The strategies you have for your work also greatly affect the sense of work you have. The previous examples have already discussed some strategies to improve your sense of work, in addition you can use:

• To-do lists.
• Move every 45 minutes.
• Meditation.

Making use of a to-do list is very helpful, as checking off tasks makes you feel nice. Just make sure you make a short to-do list. It is best to make a list at the beginning of the day. Don't add new tasks, save them for the next day's to-do list.

Physical activity stimulates your brain. Make sure to move around at least once every 45 minutes. For example, doing push-ups or squats can help you feel more refreshed, which often boosts your creativity as well. This is a useful strategy if you have an office job.

Meditation is also a useful strategy if stress has left you with no desire to work. By taking time before work and during your break to focus on nothing for a while except your breathing and muscle relaxation, you are already doing an awful lot to increase your motivation again.

Do you find it weird to move or meditate in your office? Then a hypnotherapist can help you get rid of that block so you can just do this. Your supervisor will only be pleased because you are actively working to be sustainably employable.

For example, a hypnotist can help you with hypnotic suggestions that you can also repeat during self-hypnosis, such as:

"I get to advocate for my health at work."

"It's good for my productivity to take a rest."

These are just examples of hypnotic suggestions, depending on your beliefs you may get other suggestions.

Attention

Is the desire to work mostly interrupted by fantasies about what you can do when you're not working? Then it helps a lot to occasionally apply mindfulness meditation while working. In that case, you focus on the here and now.

You shift your focus from your thought world to the real world. You do this by paying more attention to the input you receive from your senses.

Depression?

If these practical tips don’t help improve your motivation to work, you may be experiencing symptoms of depression. In that case, see your primary care physician. A hypnotherapist can help support your treatment for depression. Sometimes that’s enough; other times, more help is needed.

Would you like more information about hypnosis and mental techniques to motivate yourself—or even to help others? Then come to a workshop or check out the other events listed in our calendar.

Sources:

Book: Striving and Feeling: Interactions Among Goals, Affect, and Self-regulation (1996)