All of us are prone to feeling lazy and unmotivated during the final stretch of the workday. These ten tips will help you reboot your mental engines and re-motivate yourself to end the rest of your day on a high note.
1. Make an exciting project or plan for after work that you can look forward to. Make it as specific as possible so you know for sure that you’ll do it. (“I’m going to try out a new vegetarian recipe after work at seven o’clock” as opposed to “I’m going to cook after work.”)
2. Take a scheduled mental break to slack off and be lazy. If you feel your mind wandering, use a kitchen timer or a cell-phone alarm to schedule a ten-minute, do-whatever-you-want break where you organize your desk, email a friend, stalk someone on Facebook, or look at your favorite shameless celebrity gossip blogs.
3. Make yourself a nice cup of hot, green tea. Drinking coffee or black tea might be too much caffeine for the second half of the day, and it could disrupt your sleep schedule. Green tea has just a little bit of caffeine, and also contains antioxidants that are good for you.
4. Change up your work environment. If you work from home and can work anywhere with Internet, switch it up with a new café. If you’re stuck in a cubicle, see if you can rearrange the mess on your desk or add a new picture to your wall to give your usual office landscape a new vibe.
5. Connect with another human being. No wonder you’re feeling an afternoon slump—you’ve been staring at the computer screen all day long like a zombie. Stand up and see if you can actually connect with another human being in real time, whether it’s checking up on a coworker or talking to the barista at the coffee shop down the street.
6. Find something to laugh about. Laughter is the best way to de-stress, re-energize, and untangle whatever anxiety or boredom you are feeling. Here’s a handy list of eight absurd and silly Internet blogs that might squeeze a chuckle out of you.
