During quarantine, it is hard to keep certain aspects of your daily routine in good shape. Almost everything you do is in the same room. This can become quite demotivating after a while. I also struggle with it to a certain extent. But to every problem, there is a solution!

What do I do to prevent myself from getting demotivated?

In quarantine, I often find myself in the same environment. I study, eat, sleep, and workout in the same room. This can be incredibly frustrating from time to time. Typically, you must go somewhere to get something done. For example, if you go to the library to study, you will find yourself in a more suitable environment to learn. The same goes for the gym. If you commit yourself to go to the gym, you will do and finish your workout. Since this is, in most countries, at least, still not possible, I found out that the only thing that works for me is in concept simplistic, but it works.

Physically write a daily to-do list

What helped me out is to physically write a daily to-do list. Do not type it on your smartphone or laptop. Just write it on a piece of paper. Stick to it! Give yourself the satisfaction to cross through the things you have done off the list at the end of the day. When I get things done, I feel more motivated, and most likely, I will do the other items on the to-do list as well. The moment I stopped doing this for a month, it had an extraordinary effect on my productivity and motivation.

Cut yourself some slack, but do not fall in the self-pity trap

In quarantine, it is okay to not be as productive as you usually are. Remember, you have plenty more time in each day because you do not have to travel to work or anything related to that. It is okay to have some moments where you are not doing anything. But be careful, do tell yourself it is okay to do not do anything the whole day and binge Netflix and eat pizza every evening. Cut yourself some slack, but stay productive to some extent. Self-pity leads to a vicious circle that is very hard to come out of.

Do something new

In the last two weeks, I have been having some motivation issues, so I reduced my gym routine, and I started to go running again. Currently, I am in maintenance. I am not trying to gain muscle, but I am planning to just maintain it for now until the end of quarantine. Running gave me a totally new feeling of accomplishment. It is a new challenge that I am up to conquer it. When the gyms reopen, I might still run from time to time, but I am not sure what the future brings. A new thing does not have to be related to fitness. You can also spend one hour reading, or learning a new language. Doing this often leads to you feeling more motivated in general, and this will lead you to work out more!

In the end, I, of course, hope the end of quarantine is nearing! But we got to make the best of what we have to our disposal now.

I hope you use some of these tips. It really helped me out, and so I hope at least one thing will help you out as well.

Stay healthy,

Fred