Lately, I’ve been feeling incredibly unmotivated to do the things that had once brought me joy.

Unmotivated to pull out my computer and make a LPOL post.

Unmotivated to exercise alongside a pilates video.

Unmotivated to try to build relationships with new people.

Unmotivated to do anything but lay around and spend an entire Sunday scrolling on TikTok.

It’s almost as if inspiration had taken a long holiday from my life.

Then it dawned on me:

I’m consuming way more than I’ve been creating recently.

Virtually all of my waking moments have been spent absorbing information from several different sources that sometimes I don’t even register as being media. Whether it’s the slogan on someone’s t-shirt, the song playing in the background of a coffee shop, or the topic you’ve been assigned to write a 3,000-word paper about, we are surrounded by information at all times.

Since our attention is constantly being kept on something, it’s important to incorporate moments of boredom into each day to give ourselves a break from having to process things. This can take many forms (a few of which I will go into more detail below), but the most significant aspect of “making yourself bored” is that you do so with the intention of deliberately taking time to press pause. From this, new ideas and flashes of insight can then be invited into the forefront because there’s finally an environment for these events to take place. These are some of the life hacks I’ve slowly started to incorporate into my daily routine that has prevented writer’s block from occurring throughout my life.

Setting a Five-Minute Timer to Do Nothing

During the day when I feel my energy reservoirs starting to deplete, I’ll pause whatever I’m doing and set a five-minute timer to do something that requires no active brain power, such as staring out the window or laying down. This serves as a quick refresh that helps re-orient me back to my senses.

Journal Dump

Having a big dump of any thought that comes to mind is another great way to offload information that’s taking up unnecessary space. Again, this shouldn’t require any active brain power, so just write whatever comes to mind and don’t question the process. Putting pen to paper and allowing our stream of thoughts to take physical form makes space for fresh ideas to come in from the release of stagnant energy that happens through this practice.

Do Not Disturb & Time Limits

Make your phone’s productivity features your new best friend. Create realistic time limits on apps that you can mindlessly spend an hour or two on (sayonara for now TikTok & Goodreads!). If you feel overwhelmed trying to get work done, get into the habit of turning DND on focus mode. I never gave this feature a shot until recently and it’s been a game-changer. Another feature I’ve heard of through TikTok that you can investigate for yourself is turning your iPhone’s color interface to black and white to boost productivity. I don’t think I’m there yet, but if you give this a shot please let me know how it goes.

Having a Pre-Internet Hobby

Making the most of your free time through an activity other than scrolling through your phone or watching Netflix can be a fun way to learn another skill. This could be something craft-related like knitting, painting, or making pottery, or something more conventional like cooking or reading a book. As with anything, whatever hobby you choose to prioritize should be an interest that you actually enjoy doing so it can be a long-term outlet.

Clean Up Your Room & Camera Roll

There are few things in this world more satisfying than giving something a deep clean. This could be your kitchen, bedroom, or camera roll that’s racked up over 3,000 photos. Clearing out an area drastically helps me to clear up mental space, as I’m someone who gets stressed out working in a messy environment. An added bonus to cleaning up is even if things are going awry, it subconsciously signifies that we have control over at least some aspect of our life.

Switch Things Up

If there’s one rule I strive to follow in my day-to-day life it’s to not let my outlook on things get stale. To not get stuck in the same routine or frame of thinking requires trying new things. This doesn’t mean that you have to throw the baby out with the bathwater and do away with the old, but rather make a temporary change to your usual routine to see a different way of operating. This could be as simple as studying at a new coffee shop instead of your room or going on a walk outside instead of the treadmill. Also, don’t be afraid to move your attention to something else for a little while to regain inspiration. Motivation moves in ebbs and flows, and something I’ve had to learn the hard way is that there isn’t any use in feeling guilty over not having the energy to see a task to completion the moment you start it. Many things in life aren’t linear, so don’t expect your attention span to be either.

What Depletes You Isn’t for You

Lastly, if you find that continuously doing something, going somewhere, or being around someone inhibits you from thinking creatively, then it probably isn’t meant for you. Creativity is one of the greatest gifts we get to use as humans from how individualized it is to each of us when we choose to express it, so don’t live out a situation that doesn’t serve your best interests for too long.

Staying inspired and motivated in such an information-heavy world is harder than it looks, so show yourself some grace and do everything you can to learn how your body works. I hope these tips helped – until next time!!

💘 Hanna