It’s counterintuitive, but I have found that things related to motivation usually are. When you’re having a bad day, when you fell slow and unproductive or even when you feel miserable, a good option that you normally wouldn’t think about is to try and find someone that you can help.
If you spend these kind of day trying to find ways to help yourself, you will only find more reasons to be disappointed. That’s how mood distorts our perception.
I have found that if you instead try and find someone you can help, it can do wonders for your motivation and your mood, if you approach it with the right attitude. If you see it as a burden or as people getting in your way, then it will only make things worse. However, if you reframe it as an opportunity to do something valuable on a day when you’re feeling “off”, it can turn around a bad day.
If you’re going to be slow and useless on your own stuff sometimes, it could be worth it to change gears and help someone else instead and likely the satisfaction of helping others can pull you up from the pit.