10 top tips to stay motivated when working from home
It happens to the best of us. We are striving away running our home based business but one day we get up but find that our motivation has decided to take a day off. We know what we should be doing but the body and mind simply aren’t willing.
Half a dozen cups of coffee later and even the caffeine isn’t helping. All we want to do is crawl back into bed and hide. No amount of staring at the laptop screen is producing any sort of work of an acceptable standard and the clock is slowly ticking away whilst you feel like you are swimming in a vat of treacle.
You scroll through your emails half a dozen times and can’t muster the energy to reply to any of them. They will have to wait until later, or perhaps tomorrow. The phone calls you need to make get left for another day as the effort required to speak to another person in even a slightly engaging manner is simply too much.
When you get a day like this, follow these ten tips to get your motivation back on track and get moving forward once again.
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Have a welcoming workspace
Having a clear, decluttered workspace that makes you feel good when you sit down can help you get motivated to get on and do some work. Only have things that you need on your desk along with a couple of personal items that you love looking at such as a vase of flowers or favourite picture.
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Find an accountability partner
Get someone who will chase you up and make you accountable for getting those pesky tasks finished. Knowing that someone is going to be checking up on you to see what you have done can help spur you into action.
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Review your goals
Take a closer look at your original goals and make sure you have not gone off track which is leaving you feeling somewhat demotivated. Re-define your goals if you need to and also take time to realise how far you have come since you started. This can help make you feel good and give you the oomph to get moving forward again.
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Define your why
Why did you start your business? What was that burning passion that you wanted to fulfil? Go create yourself a vision board of what you want to achieve and realise that if you don’t get off your butt and do some work these things are going to slip you by.
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Network
Working from home can be lonely and it is easy to sink into a lull. Get out and mix with other like minded people who understand what you are going through and can help lift you up again. Find a local group that you connect with and make it a habit to meet once a month to help lift your spirits and get inspired.
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Find a hero
Who do you admire? Who would you love to be like? Go print off a picture of them and pin by your desk. When you are feeling out of sorts and de-motivated, take a look at their picture and ask yourself what they would do. Put yourself in their shoes and model yourself on their behaviour. They wouldn’t have got to where they did by not putting in the effort so think about the action they would take in your position and go do it.
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Get off social media
One of the biggest de-motivators in this day and age can be social media. You constantly see a raft of your competitors who are all professing to be raking in the money whilst sipping cocktails on the beach whilst you are still slogging away trying to make ends meet. Well, stop looking at them! Have a social media detox for a couple of days and start to see how much better you feel.
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Exercise
When you are feeling low and de-motivated, one of the last things you feel like doing is exercise. But just going for a simple walk in the fresh air can help clear your head and make you feel so much better. Doing energetic physical activity releases endorphins – the happy bugs – which give you energy and make you feel full of life again ready to tackle the world.
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Dress the part
Slouching around in your pj’s all day is not going to help get you in the right frame of mind for doing your best work. So get up, get dressed, slap on the lippy and act as though you are going to a high level board meeting or to meet your idol in point 6 above. Dress up and show up! It is incredible how by just dressing the part can help change your mood and your attitude.
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Take a day off
Sometimes the simple fact is that you just need to take a day out to chill, read a book, watch a movie or hide under the duvet with a box of chocolate. Everyone needs a down day sometimes. The world won’t end if you take a day out. Just go easy on yourself, take a break and promise yourself you will get back on it again tomorrow.
P.S. If you really are struggling and would like some one to one support to get you back on track, become a member of The Small Business Kit and let me help you out.
