This one comes up a lot in career coaching. People from all kinds of roles and industries — senior leaders, high performers, dedicated professionals — find themselves battling low motivation at work. They’ve lost the spark they once had.
They’re good at what they do. Often, they’re great at it.
They deliver, they care, they’re respected by colleagues and managers.
And yet — they feel flat. Low energy. A growing sense of disinterest.
The spark that once lit them up has faded. What used to excite them no longer does. They’ve forgotten what it felt like to look forward to work, to feel energised by progress, by people, by ideas.
For some, the signals of low motivation at work are subtle at first — a bit more silence in meetings, a bit less contribution. It can show up as a slight shift in mindset: more scepticism, quicker to question or criticise, slower to engage with new ideas. Others feel it more deeply. A sense of resentment. Bitterness. Self-doubt. Tiredness. Exhaustion.
And being the conscientious, capable people they are, they notice the shift — and they worry about it.
This is usually when they find me.
They want to feel different. But they don’t know what’s wrong. And they definitely don’t know how to fix it.
How Career Coaching Helps When You Feel Low Motivation at Work
A common theme in career coaching is the desire to solve something. Fix it. Make it better. Get me back to myself.
And that’s a valid desire. But first, we need to understand what’s going on.
We often start by exploring values (read more here) — what really matters to you, and how your current work and life align (or don’t) with those values. This is a powerful place to begin, because having awareness of any misalignment can be illuminating.
We might also look at your career history: the high points, the low points, the patterns in what brings you to life. It’s not always about identifying what you want straight away. Sometimes we need to be clear on what you don’t want, before we find clarity about what could be next.
From Low Motivation to Clarity, Hope, and Action
In my experience, this exploration — the space to think out loud with someone — is what begins to shift things.
Clients often describe a sense of relief. Of being heard. And most importantly, shifting from low motivation at work to feelings of hope.
Hope that it doesn’t have to feel like this forever. Hope that something else is possible.
The coaching relationship becomes a space to untangle the noise and begin to imagine new ways of being at work. Motivation starts to return — slowly, gently. Motivation to be curious, to consider new paths, to take small steps towards change.
That’s how we move from disconnection and fatigue to clarity, courage and action — one small, supported step at a time.
If this sounds familiar, read some testimonials to hear how other clients have experienced this shift. Or get in touch to explore how career coaching can support your journey from stuck to energised.