While some of us may be transitioning back into the office, many of us have come to terms with working from home as the new normal, which comes with its benefits and caveats.
If you’re one of those individuals that’s in desperate need of motivation in a remote environment, you’ve come to the right place! Here are a few motivational tips to utilize in your everyday work life.
Work in a Comfortable Space
When you’re uncomfortable, you’re less likely to be productive and more likely to get distracted. While working from your home office from 9 to 5 may sound like a great idea in theory, if you find the desk environment uncomfortable, you should adjust your workspace.
For example, if you’re sitting at a desk all day, you’re bound to burn out before noon. Don’t be afraid to bring in a standing desk, sit on an exercise ball, or even relax into a beanbag chair. Your comfort is the key to productivity, and it shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Switch Locations if You Have To
That being said, some individuals just enjoy working from their desks, even though they begin to feel uncomfortable after prolonged desk use. If you fall into this category, the solution may be a change of scenery.
Simply having a desk and a home office doesn’t mean you have to spend the entire workday secluded in that area. Instead, utilize your whole house to ensure you’re not bored by your surroundings. The stimulation you experience by moving around will keep you on task and likely help you naturally work in those small breaks you should be taking anyway.
Helpful tip – create timed section areas. For example, from 9-11am, plan to work from your desk. From 11-12, move to your bean bag. Break for lunch, and then from 12:45-3, plan on completing work from your dining room table. Then from 3-5, move to another spot you enjoy being in in your house. Having a schedule like this can help you feel more organized, and make you feel like you are not sitting in one spot the entire day.
Keep It Organized
We can’t say this enough; organization plays a major role in how motivated you are to work. If your workspace is cluttered and disorganized, it can feel like a pain to even get started. By creating a clean, organized space, you’re setting yourself up for success.
There are a few ways that you can go about making your workspace a creative hub for motivation. Stack those papers you have laying around, utilize some cute bookshelves, and maybe even add some nice plants to your office to make your at-home workspace look put together and ready for the day.
Eliminate Distractions
While decluttering and organizing your space can help eliminate distractions, if you’re easily distracted, you’ll have to do a little more to stay focused. Whether you’re a sedentary worker or an individual that needs continual changes of scenery, one thing is for certain: distractions are all around you when you’re at home.
The easiest way to combat constant distractions is to set hard rules for yourself during the workday; i.e. don’t turn on the TV, put your cell phone out of reach, and keep a to-do list to stay on task. These rules will be specific to you and the way you work, so pay attention to the daily distractions that take you away from your work and begin setting rules for yourself to ensure you’re as productive as possible.
Create a Realistic To-Do List
As mentioned previously, to-do lists are a great motivator in addition to being an effective tool for staying on top of your tasks. Creating daily to-do lists should be a part of your schedule, but it’s important to only create realistic to-do lists. Setting the bar too high can lead to you feeling discouraged if you’re not able to meet the demands of a rigorous to-do list.
On the one hand, you don’t want to take it too easy on yourself and limit your list, as this leads to a higher likelihood of losing momentum at the end of the day. On the other hand, you don’t want to overwhelm your list with items that can’t possibly be completed in a day, as you’ll quit well before you reach the end of the list since it’s not realistic. Find the happy medium, and you’ll achieve your optimum productivity.
Don’t Deprive Yourself of Breaks
Last, but most importantly, don’t deprive yourself of breaks throughout the day. That doesn’t just mean your lunch break. You should be taking a break every hour, for a minimum of 5 minutes and a maximum of 15 minutes.
These breaks help your body (i.e. joints and eyes) in getting you away from the computer screen and also help you to mentally decompress and avoid feelings of burnout. Working for 10 hours straight sounds great in theory, but in practice, it’s not maintainable or healthy for your body and mind.
Working from home can be a challenge when you have difficulty staying motivated, as the distractions are plentiful. That being said, with motivation techniques like these, you’ll not only be on top of your to-do list, but you’ll also have plenty of time left over for a little R&R.