Keeping yourself motivated working from home
I’ve found that it’s very difficult for me to stay motivated on projects from home. At work there is a boss breathing down your next, but at home you don’t have that pressure. Sure, no boss is one of the benefits to working for yourself. But having a boss certainly helps to stay motivated.
What else can you do? What are some tricks that you can use to stay motivated?
Dress the part
Even if you wake up and walk down the hall to your home office you still should get ready for work. For me that means getting some exercise, taking a shower, and dressing for work. Doing these things help put me in the mood for work.
Make a to-do list
When you turn on your computer you need to know what you need to accomplish. I like to work out what I need to do the next day as the last thing I do each day.
Track your to-dos
Along the same lines, it really helps me to keep track of what I get done each day. Working on web projects it’s easy to lose track of what you do each day. Some of the projects I’ve worked on are so involved that I can spend days working on some minute little part, a PHP class for instance, that doesn’t outwardly do much but took a lot of time.
Set deadlines
As much as we don’t like deadlines, they help keep us motivated. So set one for yourself. You don’t have to be quite as brutal as your boss would be but having an end date does keep you on track.
Know why you’re working from home
Remember why you left the office life? Didn’t like your boss? Didn’t like the commute? Keep those things in mind. That’s what you’ll have to go back to if you camp out on the couch eating pizza and watching The Simpsons.
Take breaks
This is a little counter intuitive, but taking breaks helps with motivation. I often find myself coding for hours on end without taking a break. Sure, I can get a lot done in those hours but the next time I need to start coding it’s hard to do so thinking ahead to a 12 hour coding session. Knowing that I’m looking ahead to several one hour sessions with breaks in between helps to get started.
…and…
How do you stay motivated? Anyone who successfully works from home obviously has some tricks, and I know I missed a few.
Question, Comments...
Do you have more questions. Please either leave a comment below or join us in our new forum.
Thought of another one, and it’s really important for me to stay motivated. Keep a clean workspace. If I have to shuffle through papers to find a work surface I’ll just give up. If I have space to work I’m more likely to stay working.