How To Keep Yourself Motivated When Working From Home

Whether you work from home for yourself or an employer – staying productive and sane while working from home can be tricky! Here are some realistic ways how to keep yourself motivated when working from home and help keep your mind active and focused.

 

Get Ready For The Day

Having a good morning routine is so important in how to keep yourself motivated when working from home. It will make such a big impact on the rest of the day!

But…

Not everyone can fit a full morning routine into their day.

By “can” I don’t mean won’t. I know that in theory everyone could get up earlier but some people have babies or puppies that are up a lot in the night. They may suffer from insomnia, have depression, or a chronic illness. There are many other reasons why getting up an hour earlier is just not feasible at this stage of their life.

 

Do what works for you.

 

Doing what works for YOU is the ideal here. If you aren’t ready for a full morning routine and would rather just incorporate a couple of steps to help feel set up and ready for the day then absolutely do this. You can work up to a morning routine. Noone says you have to have one straight away.

If you can fit in a full morning routine, then that’s amazing! Whether your routine lasts 20 mins or 2 hours, you are consciously taking that time for yourself to give yourself the best start to your day. Drinking water, doing yoga or a workout, picking out a cute outfit and doing your hair and makeup – whatever makes you feel good and more productive – do this! 

 

If you aren’t ready for a full routine then I would advise incorporating a few smaller steps that may only take 10-15 mins, but make you feel like you have started our day off right.

 

If you are struggling with lack of energy or focus in the mornings, just do a couple of things. Try consciously drinking a big glass of water, get dressed and put perfume on. Suddenly you will feel like actually maybe today won’t be so bad. You’re hydrated, not in pyjamas and smell amazing – already off to a good start!

 

Pin for later

 

 

 

Working Hours

Working hours will depend a lot on if you are working set hours for someone else, working completely for yourself, or a mix of the two.

If you are working from home for someone else and are on fixed hours, for some this adds a good bit of structure to the day. 

 

Working for yourself and setting your own hours can be tricker…

 

It can be hard to know how to keep yourself motivated when working from home?

A lot of people will tell you to set your own working hours (if you can) and to just stick to these. Say for example, decide to work 9-4pm and then stop and do no more for the rest of the night.

While I agree having a good work/life balance is important and this is a good approach to have, I personally feel that this only really works for those who are already into the swing of things, can focus within those specific hours, don’t have many distractions during the day, and who are most productive within these hours.

I don’t think anyone should work all hours of the day, people need breaks and to switch off, plus should have time for family and friends and doing other hobbies and things they enjoy.

 

But…

 

I know from personal experience that sometimes setting yourself a “work day” can almost backfire. What if you have a really bad night and really need that extra hour of sleep, then suddenly you feel bad as you’ve already lost an hour as it’s already 10am. Suddenly you already feel like you’ve failed as you’re already an hour behind. This is not setting you up for success! 

Listen to your own body. If you are most productive between the hours of 6-10pm, then use this time for your work.

What I found helped me was to write out how many hours I wanted to work in the week. Then just fitted those hours into the week when I felt up to it. This meant if I was having a bad day I could spend the time on my own mental or physical health. Plus I then didn’t feel like I had failed as I knew the hours could get put in throughout the rest of the week.

It’s important to push through any “can’t be bothered” feelings or you will never get anything done, but it’s also important to realise that people need rest and some days your body is really telling you it just isn’t up for things today and just needs a little more care than usual.

 

Working Space

Having a designated working space can really help you focus and get into the right mindset.

All you need is a table/desk space where you can work from and you feel like is your own space to get into the zone and work away.

Keeping this space clean, tidy and clutter free will instantly make you feel better when you sit down to work.

Similarly, keeping things that you find inspirational and motivational in easy view can also really help keep your mind focused on the tasks at hand.

If  you are in a busy household and just need to focus and aren’t able to close the door over, if you are able to, you can use a pair of noise cancelling headphones and get in the zone that way.

Self-Care

Looking after yourself is so so important, but especially with working from home when it’s far too easy to just not bother. Similar to what I mentioned earlier regarding getting dressed making more of a difference to your day than you probably realised.

You don’t need to have full-day pamper sessions at the end of the week if this isn’t something you would enjoy or don’t have the time. But adding in smaller pamper acts during the day/week can make a big difference. 

If you do have the time for that then absolutely go for it! 

Self-care doesn’t have to mean a 2 hour work out followed by an hour long bath and then another hour spent on lotions and all of that wonderful stuff.

Self-care can literally mean having a dance around the kitchen to your favourite song. It can mean putting a face mask on in the morning to give your skin that lovely glow for the day, sitting in the sunshine while having your morning coffee (or water!) if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with sunshine (I live in Scotland… this one is tricker for me haha).

 

Adopt Some Healthy Habits

Like with the self-care – healthy habits don’t have to be huge. monumental things. I’m not going to tell you to run for 2 hours a day, only eat vegetables and sleep 16 hours a night.

What you could try is trying to get better sleep by going to bed a little earlier. Or no screens an hour before bed. Maybe swap coffee for water (not every time, I certainly don’t lol). You could try eating healthier snacks rather than sugary ones that probably just give you a sugar crash.

Once an hour or two, put a good song on and dance/stretch/workout for just those few minutes.

Make your bed when you get up first thing. Similar to getting dressed, it’s a habit that only takes a few minutes but makes you feel like you are starting the day off right. It also makes you feel you are ending the day right when you walk back into your bedroom to a fully made bed.

 

Make Decisions

This is a trick I learned a while ago and has been one of the biggest lesions for me in terms of staying relaxed and not feeling guilty for NOT doing work. It also helps me to enjoy the things in my day that aren’t work.

Make the decision.

You need to make the decision if you are going to work or not.

If you don’t feel up to working or doing a chore at this moment in time, the worst thing you can do is not make the decision not do do those things, while also wasting time or doing something different.

For example;

You want to get work done for an hour but really don’t feel up to it. 

If you keep thinking you should be working but don’t actually get any work done, and then do something else – say play a game for example – but never actually make the decision that you will play that game, you will spend that hour not enjoying playing the game because you are feeling too guilty about the work you’re not doing, so at the end of the hour you will feel worse!

As you can see, this method serves no one. No work was done, and no enjoyment happened, only feelings of guilt. 

The goal here is to be and feel productive and good, not the opposite!

 

So make that decision!

 

You don’t feel up to working for that hour. That’s okay. You should just make the decision that you are NOT expecting yourself to work for that hour, you are CHOOSING to play the game instead,

Suddenly you will find all the guilt (or at least a lot of it) goes away. You will realise you can enjoy the game and at the end of the hour you will be feeling good. Maybe good enough to work the next hour.

Whether you are choosing to work or not, doing chores or not, or anything else you may not feel up to at times, just make the decision whether you are or aren’t going to do it there and then and then follow through.

This keeps your mindset a lot more positive. It also gives you confidence in yourself back that you are choosing/planning your day. You’re not just faffing and coasting through, getting nothing done but feeling guilty about the lack of progress.

 

Take Accountability For How Productive You Have Been

Sometimes you will find that you have been a lot more productive than you think you have.

The opposite can also be true!

Every time you complete a task, make a note of it. Check in with yourself regularly and be transparent with yourself as to how productive you have actually been. 

It’s far too easy to think you have been working for 2 hours, when in reality you have got very little done, aside from watching youtube videos and scrolling facebook, with the odd note written in between.

I think nearly every person has faffed about while thinking they were being productive. Sometimes it’s not recognisable at the time but when you look back you realise that not very many things actually got ticked off your checklist.

 

Checking in with yourself and keeping a list of tasks to be done that day can really help alleviate this problem as it gives you a clear cut look as to what you actually got done.

 

On the flip side of this, it can also be too easy to get more done than you realise! You feel like you’ve been constantly busy but don’t feel you’ve got much of any substance done, but sometimes you just need to take a step back and note down (or make a mental note) of all the things you actually did get done.

To do lists can be an amazing tool, but can also backfire! Sometimes tasks take a lot longer than planned. Sometimes other tasks pop up that you get done but as they weren’t on your list it looks like you only got one or two things done as opposed to everything you actually did complete today.

 

Have a think every so often about what tasks you have got done, and give yourself credit for it! 

 

Having a to do list and not ticking things off can make you feel disheartened or like a failure, whereas writing down the things you got done AFTER the time, will make you realise just how much you are getting done in your time.

I do love a to do list and I prefer pen and paper when writing anything down. But when it comes to tasks that aren’t urgent to that specific day, I prefer to use Trello so I can literally fling the task from one day to the next and can keep a running list of all the things I have got done. This could be an idea too!

 

Love What You Do

Finding ways on how to keep yourself motivated when working from home is easier when you love it.

This last bit is the most important part. Depending on the situation you’re in just now it may not be feasible, but loving what you do means it won’t feel like work. It won’t feel like a chore. You will be excited and want to work and get all those tasks done and watch how productive you are.

 

If you have a job where you work for someone else and you aren’t completely happy, I would highly recommend having a hobby on the side to really focus on and get that enjoyment from.

Even if it’s just a hobby blog to write about things you love while connecting with other people who also love that topic.

Having an outlet to keep your mind busy and off of other things, and something where you can be productive and have a creative outlet can be a magical thing. And who knows, it may turn out to be an additional income stream.

The thing to remember is that the time will pass anyway. Whether you do the things you want to do or not. Watching Netflix for 5 hours or working for 5 hours on your own blog is the same amount of time. However you will feel a hell of a lot better after one than the other.

 

Now imagine you do that 2-3 times a week, how much do you think you could get done?

 

I’m at the point I now choose this over Netflix!

Don’t get me wrong I still watch my favourite shows and love a good binge. But more often than not I choose this as this is where I’m happy, this is where I feel good.

And you should feel good too.

 

What are some of your most important tips you have learned while working from home?

Let me know in the comments below way you have found as to how to keep yourself motivated when working from home, as I would love to read them!

Speak soon!

Katherine

📌 Pin for later 📌