AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson
The fresh slate of a new year typically supplies all the motivation you need to make changes in your work life.
Then again, it's been a rough few years, and it's understandable that you might not feel inspired to double down on your job.
You're not alone. According to Gallup's 2022 State of the Global Workplace report, 60% of respondents reported being emotionally detached at work and 19% of respondents reported being miserable.
But while it's easy to wallow in apathy, it's not good for your mental health — or for your career.
Research shows that making changes, even small ones, to your job and your routine tend to be worthwhile. And they might be just what you need to get your professional groove back on track.
We scoured Insider's trove of content for the best tips, tricks, and strategies to rev up your motivation at work in 2023. Here they are.
Anticipating how you'll deal with inevitable obstacles on your way to achieving a goal is critical.
Gabriele Oettingen, a psychology professor at New York University and the University of Hamburg, calls it "WOOPing." WOOP stands for Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan.
Oettingen, the author of the book "Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation," explained the process in a New York Times opinion column: "Think of a wish. For a few minutes, imagine the wish coming true, letting your mind wander and drift where it will. Then shift gears. Spend a few more minutes imagining the obstacles that stand in the way of realizing your wish."
If you're planning to petition your boss for a promotion, for example, imagine some of the questions your manager might ask about your qualifications — and how you might answer them.
It's a "hybrid approach that combines positive thinking with 'realism,'" Oettingen wrote.
One way to get yourself out of a slump is to give advice to others struggling with similar problems. It might sound strange to give advice on things you don't feel you've fully mastered, but research shows it orients you toward action and gives you a shot of confidence.
In one study, Ayelet Fishbach, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, asked middle-school students to either give motivational advice to younger students or receive motivational advice from teachers. She found that the advice-givers spent more time on homework over the following month than those who received advice.
She replicated this phenomenon across a number of different domains: Struggling people who gave advice were more motivated to save money, control their tempers, lose weight, and look for a new job.
"Your first reaction might be, 'Why would you ask me?'" Fishbach, the author of "Get It Done: Surprising Lessons From the Science of Motivation," told Insider.
"But once you search your memory to figure out what you've learned — or not learned — about how to accomplish a goal, it reminds you of how much you already know."
Be honest about how much you can do.
On any given day, there are likely dozens of to-dos vying for your attention. Trying to attend to them all is typically a way to ensure you attend to none of them.
In their book, "Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day," Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky advise starting each day by identifying a "highlight," or the most important thing you'd like to accomplish in the next 24 hours. Knapp and Zeratsky helped set up the design-sprint process at Google, so they know a thing or two about time management. Maybe it's revising a complex budget spreadsheet; maybe it's making the final calls necessary to close a sale.
"Consider what's most meaningful to you, not what is most urgent," the authors wrote. And "think about what needs the most effort or work."
The idea is to be realistic about your bandwidth and to minimize distractions from the relationships and projects that are most important to you right now.
