Reframing Thoughts for Better Motivation

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Tara Lehman, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

Do you have days when you just feel like going back to bed? The idea of going to work is a stretch? You think of all those emails, that long to do list, the whiny employee, and that big strategy meeting and just how are you going to get through it all with a smile on your face?

Let’s be honest, even the best leaders can have off days. There are a few things of course, you can do to help prioritize, but this post is not about that. It is about being motivated to go to work and take care of the things you need to do, be a leader and take care of your team.

What if, instead of letting the negative thoughts go wild in your mind, we reframe our thoughts to be move positive?

Here is an example: Your thought may be ‘Sigh, I have the longest meeting in history today and I will never get anything done, the emails are just going to pile high!’

What if instead you said to yourself something a bit more positive. How does this sound: ‘I have the strategy meeting today, where I can put my ideas forth for how we can succeed. Oh, I need to remind myself to put my out of office on, so anyone emailing will not be expecting me to reply today.’

Do you feel the difference? Just putting a positive spin, or an idea that can assist you (out of office) you can completely change how you feel about the day. Yes, this is a simple example, but it is about reframing your thoughts to allow more positivity, which will lead you to more motivation to get up out of that bed and head to work. Remember we all have those days where we do not want to, so find a way to make it easier and better – reframe.

One more example: ‘I do not want to go to work today because I have to fire John Doe later today, then I have the strategy meeting. How will I ever concentrate?’ This is a bit harder as we never want to fire people. Sometimes we do need to help our mind through it though, and change this into something easier and more manageable to our mental state.

How about: ‘Today I will terminate John Doe and thank him for his service. If I do this first thing this morning. I will be better able to focus on my ideas for the strategy meeting rather than thinking about the termination meeting all day.’ Not a positive thought necessarily, but a reframing and rescheduling so your day will be better and you will have more focus on the ideas you have for that big strategy meeting to move the company forward.

Next time you have those negative thoughts about work, or you just want to press the snooze button one more time, try to reframe your thoughts to either be positive, or think of a way to make your life easier that day. This can help to motivate you to get through those cold winter mornings when all you want to do is stay at home.

Tara