The pandemic has brought a huge shift to our ways of working with many people finding themselves working from home at least a few days a week if not full time, but not everyone finds it easy to stay motivated when in a home environment.
There are many reasons that people often find working from home to be more challenging than working in the office. Usually, when working from home you’re surrounded by more distractions, some people experience loneliness and miss the social aspect of the workplace that they may thrive on, and others find it difficult to find their ‘get up and go’ when it comes to rolling out of bed and starting work for the day.
If you have found it difficult to keep yourself focused on the task at hand when working from home and you are looking for tips on how to keep yourself motivated when working from home, then this blog post has been written with you in mind.
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| Working on the sofa might feel comfy, but it's not the best way to stay motivated when working from home |
How To Get (And Stay) Motivated When Working From Home
Dedicate an area of your home to work
Whether you’re working at home as a result of the pandemic, or you run your own online business, the very first thing you need to do if you’re trying to keep yourself motivated and organised is to dedicate an area of your home to work.
Ideally, turning your spare room into an office would be the best way to achieve this, however, this isn’t an option for many. So instead, focus on finding a peaceful and calm area that you can convert into a practical work area. Perhaps your dining room has room for another desk, or maybe there’s some additional room in your bedroom that you can use in order to create a small office area.
Wherever you choose to set up your workplace, it is helpful if the area will remain undisturbed by others. Dining room tables and living rooms aren’t ideal as you’ll find that often things will get moved around and you’ll lose track of papers, pens, and important information.
Get dressed in the morning like you’re going into work
When people ask me how to stay motivated when they work from home, one of the first things I tell them is to get dressed!
Getting dressed as if you’re heading into work makes you feel like you’re ready to get up and take on the world. Although staying in pyjamas can be tempting, there’s something extremely motivating about getting dressed, doing your hair and getting ready for the working day as you would if you were heading to the office. If you stay in your pyjamas, it’s likely that you’ll start to lose concentration during the day and begin to feel groggy and unmotivated. Some people even walk around the block as a commute to really mark the beginning of the working day.
Organisation is key if you want to stay motivated when working from home
Without proper structure in your day, it’s extremely easy to lose motivation when working from home. It’s time to dust off all those planners and diaries and use them to create a schedule that lists all your deadlines and goals for work.
Write down your goals for the day using paper lists, your Note apps, or even a free organisational tool such as Trello. Creating a list will help you to stay focused and remain on track with your goals and deadlines. Don’t forget to tick tasks off as you complete them - that’s the best bit and helps you feel you have accomplished something.
Take time to chat with your colleagues
It’s likely that if you’re struggling to find motivation when working from home, your colleagues will be too. Take the time to drop them a message, give them a call, or organise a video chat. This will provide a great opportunity for you to all talk about life, just like you would in the workplace.
For many, workplace chat is a huge part of daily social interactions, so give yourself some time to socialise and keep in touch with your workplace friends. After having a catch up, it’s likely you’ll feel more motivated and ready to work.
If you have your own business and don't have colleagues then join a local networking group or a virtual business owners group so you have others you can talk to who will be experiencing similar issues.
Keep track of your goals and reward yourself
When it comes to staying motivated while working from home, there won't always be a quick fix guaranteed to get you into the right mindset straightaway. Even those who still physically go to their place of work have days where they’re just not feeling it.
An effective way to keep you motivated throughout your time working from home is to set goals and reward yourself when you reach them. Giving yourself a reward for getting through a particularly difficult task, or completing your workload for the day, can keep you motivated and ready to take on the next activity.
