When working from home during the COVID-19 crisis, many of us can find ourselves losing motivation, which can ultimately affect our productivity levels. To improve motivation while working remotely, there are several things we need to do.
Following through with these suggestions can help us significantly improve our productivity while allowing us to find the balance we need between working at home and enjoying our home life separately.
Set Up Your Home Office
Your home office is going to be a crucial element when it comes to working from home and knowing when to get back to your home life. Having a dedicated workspace is important and helps you draw that line. In doing so, you know that while you are in that specific area, you are there to work.
The space should help eliminate other distractions you may have at home and keep you motivated to accomplish what you need to do for the day.
Follow A Schedule
Just like if you were working in an office away from home while working remotely, you need to make a schedule and do what you can to stick to it. Organizing your day can help motivate you and increase your productivity. Your schedule should start the moment you wake up for the day.
Set a time each day to get up and a time to be at your desk in your home office. You can then schedule the work you need to complete along with your meals, breaks, errands, and everything else you need to get done within the day.
After some time, the routine will be ingrained into your mind, and you won’t have to write it down daily.
Build A Creative Environment
Additionally, when working from home, you want to build a creative environment that is conducive to big ideas and spurs motivation. This means dressing properly, making sure you have comfortable seating, and adjusting the temperature of the room according to your preference. This is just the beginning.
You should have a fair amount of visual stimulation in your home office as well. You can use this stimulation to draw inspiration throughout the day.
It is also good to have objects that you can touch. Keeping your hands busy allows your mind to think more freely. This is known as embodied cognition. It allows you to distract your mind so you can free your thoughts and find better connections, improve productivity, and think more creatively.
Praise Your Accomplishments
When working from home, it is also important that you praise your accomplishments each day because this can keep you motivated to do the same thing the next day. While it might be easy to check items off your to-do list or scratch things off your schedule, you can easily become burnt out. You may feel like you are doing a ton of tasks but accomplishing nothing.
To combat this, figure out a structure that can showcase your progress. Plan out all your work and reflect on everything you accomplished that day.
Practice Self-Compassion
Finally, self-compassion is more important than ever as we navigate these uncertain times when social distance work is a must. Everyone has an off day once in a while. That’s why we need to be realistic about our goals and learn to be self-compassionate if we’re not having such a good day. When you are in this kind of funk, you may need to take a bit of time to decompress away from work and permit yourself to take a break.
After your break, you may feel more refreshed and productive and be motivated to get back to work. This is just one healthy way of responding when you find yourself in a slump and lacking motivation.