How to perform well if you’re disengaged

Let’s face it, work can be a slog. And while you might be struggling to engage personally, there’s also evidence that you’re in good company. All over the world we’re more disengaged than we’ve been in years. But even as you’re not inspired, motivated, or energized, you know you still have to show up and perform well.

So how can you be effective when engagement eludes you? There are some unexpected, but powerful strategies that can help you through.

WE ARE DRAGGING

Evidence from Gallup shows engagement is at a 10-year low, globally. In fact, only 31% of employees say they are engaged. These are the people who feel enthusiastic about their work. Only 42% say they know what’s expected of them at work. And 17% of people are actively disengaged, meaning they feel negative and resentful about their work.  

It’s reasonable that we’re not jumping out of bed every morning to show up in the office or onscreen. We’re overwhelmed and fearful, and this can make it difficult to throw ourselves fully into our work. In a survey of 32,000 people in 28 countries Edelman found that 88%–61% of people were afraid of everything from inflation and economic concerns to climate change, nuclear war, or information war.

In addition, there’s a lot of uncertainty today. According to DDI, which studied 11,000 leaders, fully 42% of CEOs were concerned about uncertainty. Moreover, in a GlobeScan survey of almost 30,000 people across 31 countries, 78% said they felt that things were changing so fast, they couldn’t cope and struggled with anxiety as a result.

It’s tough to stay engaged when we’re feeling overloaded, disoriented, or disheartened by so many stressors, but there are ways we can overcome the challenges and bring our best to our work.

THINK LONG TERM

One of the best ways to perform well, despite feeling disengaged, is to keep the long term in mind. Today’s environment might not be great, but doing your best will pay off for a better future. When you perform well, others will notice, and you’ll be more likely to be selected for the exciting  new project or be on the radar when promotion opportunities emerge.

In addition, tough times can be great for learning. If you have a subpar manager, you can observe, reflect, and cement your opinions about how not to lead (or how you’ll lead better someday). Or if your work doesn’t fully consume your capacity, you may have extra time to take a class or join an association. You can look at challenging times as opportunities to build your knowledge and resilience for the next phase.

Focus on how the work and learning you do today will be an investment in your future.

LINK WORK TO YOUR IDENTITY

Another lesser-known way to enhance your performance is to link your activities to your sense of yourself. It’s healthy to get a sense of identity from your work. In addition to your family, friends, volunteer activities, and personal pursuits, work is one of the ways you express your talents, make a contribution, and reinforce what makes you unique and important.

By focusing on who you are, you can find more meaning in your daily tasks. You don’t have to do the project just because your boss said you must, you’re completing it because you’re a brilliant performer. You don’t show up for the meeting just because you’re on the team, but because you’re an innovative thinker and they need your ideas.

Thinking of who you are and linking it to why you’re taking action, can help you feel motivated by what you value, the value you deliver, and who you are.

CULTIVATE A SENSE OF TEAMWORK

Another way to increase your motivation to perform well is to remind yourself of how your work impacts others. It’s one thing to complete a task and check it off your list, but knowing how it will feed others’ work can be make a difference to your morale.

Even if your responsibilities are largely individual, all work includes some aspects of interdependence. Your coworker is waiting for output from you so she can take the next step. Your colleague needs your input to work on his project. Or there’s a customer down the line who will benefit from your portion of the process.

We all have an instinct to matter, and knowing we have obligations to others can be motivational when we consider our impacts.

MANAGE YOUR WORKFLOW

You can also ensure you perform well in the face of less-than-ideal engagement by using tactics that make the work seem more manageable. For example, you can break down a larger responsibility into smaller tasks. Instead of simply telling yourself you have to write the report, consider sub tasks that you’ll need to accomplish. Give thought to how you’ll need to research the key topic, summarize the primary ideas, write each chapter, and create recommendations. By separating work into components, you’ll make it feel less daunting and more doable.

You can also be sure that you’re focusing on one thing at a time. We lose a lot of time with pings, dings, and interruptions, because multitasking creates the need to reset repeatedly as we shift from one thing to another. But if you can, turn off notifications or change your status to “do not disturb,” for a period of time. Doing so will help you focus and get things done more effectively.

Another surefire way to enhance performance is to plan your tasks based on your own rhythms. Many people are better at analytical or detailed work at the start of their day, when they’re fresh. And then they are stronger with creative or divergent work in the afternoons when they’ve been at it for a while. Consider how you work and, as much as possible, plan your tasks based on your energy levels and your assessment of when you can do your best work.

You can also boost your performance by taking breaks. Getting away from their desks or taking short brain breaks after finishing key tasks improved productivity for people in studies published in both the Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis and in the Journal of Applied Psychology. And breaks can also increase your energy and reduce fatigue, based on another study that was published in Psychological Reports.

REDUCE THE PRESSURE

Overall, we may put pressure on ourselves to be always-on and supereffective all the time, but we’re wise to reduce the burden we impose on ourselves. No one is perfect, and it’s unrealistic to think that we’ll be constantly achieving. This expectation can cause us to feel trapped by unrealistic standards.

But if you can remind yourself that no one is flawless, and that you’ll have good days and bad days, it can help your mood. In addition, you can give yourself permission to do just enough during a period where your work is less engaging.

There’s an old saying that if you’re trudging through a swamp, it’s best to just keep going. Challenges with engagement are like this, too. There may be muck and mosquitos right now, but you can get through to the other side. Keep at it, validate your efforts, and team up with others to support each other. These will help you survive and even thrive.