Productivity, The Musical

I have been feeling unmotivated. UNMOTIVATED. Like, in caps, I've been feeling so unmotivated. At work. Where I need to feel most motivated. It's been a problem. There are lots of reasons for my lack of spunk. I can't remember what they are right now.

Oh, wait: crappy work culture demeaning boss feeling like a salesman instead of a creator of partnerships having no ownership and toiling under managers instead of leaders? That's about right.

PARDON ME.

Anyway, so I've been thinking of ways to both excel at my work (if you're going to do something, do it well) and feel better about things until I can figure out what direction my career is taking. Nothing like getting a PhD and then not using it to make someone reconsider their ENTIRE LIFE. What the hell am I doing, anyway? But actually really the question is how to motivate myself in my current job, despite my lack of long-term commitment to it?

I've started doing three things, which I'll share with the aim of helping my fellow unmotivated friends find some peace, as I hope to.

1. Morning pages. I hadn't ever heard of morning pages but apparently the entire internet knows about them and their source, The Artist's Way. It's the idea that you wake up and first thing (before coffee, before dressing, before breakfast, before anything) you write approximately three handwritten pages. Just fill 'em up, stream of consciousness or with purpose. Doesn't matter. The point is to dump your brain out before your pesky ego gets in the way, to spur creativity, empty anxiety, and start to work through some of the things you've been meaning to work through. I heard about the practice from my Facebook friend Nicole. Thanks, Nicole!
2. Toggl. I used to use this app during grad school, when I'd be home all day "working" and wondering why I wasn't getting anything done. It's a task tracker. It's totally type-A so of course I love it. For some reason, tracking my tasks makes me happier to do the tasks, and glad to do more tasks. I occasionally think the perfect job for me would be Professional List Maker. I'd be amazing. You'd hire me. Even this blog post is a list. You should have seen me in grad school, trying to organize complex arguments into cogent narrative: lists, lists, lists, and more lists. All over the house. I have downloaded at least five list-making and -maintaining apps. I LOVE LISTS. And tracking. And list-tracking.
3. Long-range plan. I'm still working on this. That's why I need the morning pages (see #1). But I'm working on it. Get your long-range plan (what do you want to be doing in 18 months? 5 years? 10 years?) and start thinking about the steps to take to get you there. Seeing my daily work as small steps toward those goals, even if it's just because I'm doing a damn good job and trying to learn as much as I can, has helped.

What has worked for you? Meditation? Cheerleaders? Punishment? Reward? Self-flagellation? Pineapple? I'll try anything.