The recent pandemic has made working from home the new normal for people around the world. Most people find this new routine of working remotely quite difficult to adjust to.
Whether it be the piles of dirty laundry or screams of kids in your house, there are tons of distractions when working from home. Additionally, it can also be difficult to motivate yourself when you are comfortably seated on your lounge sofa in pajamas as opposed to your office chair in a suit.
So, how do you counteract all such distractions to make sure that you stay motivated to work? Here are a few strategies that you can use to stay productive when working from home.
1.Set up a dedicated workspace
Image Credits: Pexels
When working from home, you will often be tempted to work in bed. Because after all, it is the most comfortable space you have in your house, right?
This is a counterproductive approach because it then makes it difficult to separate your work routine from your household routine. For example, if you associate your bed with work, you will be either tempted to sleep during work hours, or you will find it difficult to sleep in the same place after you complete your work.
Therefore, the best strategy is to establish a dedicated workspace in your home. This can be anything from the kitchen table to a desk in the corner of your living room. Here are some things to consider when setting up a workspace:
- Pick a quiet space that has minimum activity from your family. For example, if you set up a workspace in the lounge, it can be a distraction when family members come in or go out.
- Make sure that everything you need is accessible so that you don’t have to leave the workspace unnecessarily. This means that anything you need for work (stationery, laptop charger, etc.) should be available at your desk.
- Organize and decorate your workspace to look and feel similar to your office desk. The similar your workspace to your office environment, the more motivated you can be to be productive.
Here is an example of a neat-looking home office setup from @home_office_. You can browse their Instagram for more ideas on how you can set up your workspace.
2.Use inspirational posters in your workspace
An excellent strategy for staying motivated is to watch a motivational video or read a motivational book. Don’t have the time? The next best alternative is motivational quotes.
Nothing motivates you more than an inspirational quote you love hanging right in front of you when you are working. It does not have to be a quote from a famous author or speaker. Instead, it can be any quote, phrase, or picture that inspires you to work harder.
This is where you consider getting yourself some inspirational posters that you can use in your workspace. Not only do you feel motivated when you see the poster every day, but it can add to the overall aesthetics of your home office as well.
However, you will not always be able to find the inspirational posters you are looking for on the internet. Sometimes, you won’t find the quote or picture you are looking for. At other times, you may not like the design of the poster itself. Fortunately, PosterMyWall can help you out with this.
PosterMyWall is an online poster maker tool that you can use to easily create customized posters for your workspace. No matter what quote or image you want to add to a poster for inspiring yourself, you can do so with this design tool.
The best part is that you do not need any design skills to create an eye-catching, professional poster for your workspace. With thousands of poster templates to choose from, you can create and customize your own inspirational posters in no time.
3.Do more in small bursts
When working from home, the outcome of your efforts matters a lot more than the amount of time you spend online. This is the reason you should aim to do more in small blocks of time.
Block out small slots of time and dedicate each slot to specific, small tasks that give you a sense of progress. If you have a single big task to accomplish, divide it down into smaller action items that you can spend time on.
Let’s assume you are tasked to prepare a 10-slide presentation before the end of the day. You will feel much more motivated if you tell yourself that you need to finish 1 slide in 30 minutes than you will when you look at the entire task that needs to be done.
This strategy also helps you hold yourself accountable. Since you are now doing small bursts of work in a limited time frame, you are less likely to get distracted. Moreover, once you have already started working on something and have made some progress, it becomes easier to stay motivated and continue working on it.
4.Don’t forget to reward yourself
Setting a small (but worthy) reward for yourself on the completion of a task can be a great way to motivate yourself to get work done. If you are finding it difficult to finish a project on time, set a reward for yourself so you feel motivated to push yourself harder and remain productive.
The reward can be anything from a cup of tea to a long, hot bath. But the catch is that you cannot reward yourself with the same thing outside of work if you are not productive or don’t complete a task on time.
For example, if you set the reward so that you can watch an episode of your favourite TV show, you can only do so if you meet the tasks you set for the day. This will make sure that you get a sense of accomplishment when you finish a task on time.
Start the journey towards productivity today
It can be quite challenging to work from home, even under the best of circumstances. But by following the strategies we have shared in this blog post, you can keep your motivation levels high.
The most important part though is that you should cut yourself slack even if your productivity is not very high. Rather than beating yourself for not being motivated enough, be a little compassionate towards yourself. This is important so you don’t demotivate yourself even further when you have a bad day. The goal should be to steadily work towards a routine that can help you stay productive.
