5 Motivational Hacks for Working From Home
Technology means that working from home is practically very simple to do. However, staying motivated during home working can be very tricky, especially when managers aren't there to monitor your progress and offer a helping hand.
The modern workplace has been forced to adapt at an unprecedented pace in recent months. Fortunately for us, new technologies, tools and software have already been developed to make working from home a simpler and smoother process.
Of course, there are countless articles out there that explain to us ‘how to work from home’. These are certainly helpful but usually, focus on the practical processes needed to physically undertake your role from your own home.
In this article, we take a look at one of the biggest challenges of working from home – motivation. Offering a few hacks which you can use to draw inspiration and stay driven during these new and challenging times.
Create a Dedicated Area
Creating a dedicated ‘office space’ in your home is a great way to ensure that you build a solid balance between your work and home life.
For example, if you are lucky enough to have a spare or guest bedroom, this would be the perfect location to create yourself an inspirational office. This will allow you to physically shut the door at the end of the day and forget about the stresses of work.
If you can see the tools you use for work (laptop etc) during non-working hours, it offers a physical reminder, making it difficult to fully shut off.
Of course, not everyone has the space to create their own dedicated office. But that doesn’t mean you cannot take steps to separate work from life. For example, even if you find yourself working from a kitchen table, you could fully pack away all your equipment at the end of the day or even cover it with a sheet to create a physical barrier.
Doing this means when you open the door, unpack your stuff or peel back that sheet in the morning you will get in the habit of mentally switching into work mode, ready to tackle the day.
Create Little Rewards
Our homes are full of distractions such as TVs, pets, kids and chores. This can make it difficult to fully focus on your tasks, especially when no one is around to ‘monitor’ what you are doing.
Self-discipline becomes significantly more important when working from home. One way to promote focus is by breaking your day and your tasks into smaller chunks and rewarding yourself once you hit each target.
These do not need to be big things. Even a quick walk around the garden or a quality cup of coffee can be a good motivator to hit the next target.
Connect With Colleagues
Working from home can become lonely for some. Especially those who are used to being surrounded by their colleagues on a daily basis.
Scheduling time to connect with colleagues is a good way to add a social element to your workday. This doesn’t necessarily need to be work-related chat, in fact a purely social call can be more beneficial for motivational purposes than making it purely business.
If you don’t have the time to make a personal call to your colleagues, make sure you engage in a little casual chat at the beginning of each work call. You can also take this time to check in on them and make sure they are all doing ok.
Learn
The vast majority of us have a little extra time on our hands at the moment, especially during the workday. Using this time to learn can be a good way to inspire and motivate you.
Reading marketing blogs, taking business courses or even learning a skill from a colleague can give you some great ideas for ways to take your business and career forwards.
Relax
It is easy to get lost in all the content around the lockdown. It seems like every day we are seeing people ‘getting in the best shape of their lives’ or ‘doubling down on business’. This sort of pressure to do something more at a time which is already stressful can be toxic.
Spend some time to work out what your priorities are, both in work and life. Then make sure you meet these. Other than that, it is ok to relax and take some time for yourself.
With seamless software, simple communications and easy to transport computers, practically working from home is very simple. Yet remaining motivated during these periods can be a tricky task. Follow the hacks in this article to help keep you driven and focused on what matters during this difficult time.