Work-from-home has become a favorite style for many people. It’s convenient, it gives you control over your own time, and it eliminates the stress of commuting. What’s not to like?

As wonderful as it is, people are increasingly concerned about how to work remotely without losing motivation. As a remote worker, you may not be under the pressurizing eyes of an inpatient supervisor, but you surely have your deadlines to deal with.

In fact, contrary to what many people think, remote workers have been reported to put in more hours than traditional workers. Most remote jobs are productivity-based and paid accordingly, meaning no work, no pay. With that kind of model, there’s hardly any room for slacking.

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Why Is Remote Work Harder?

Remote work is difficult in its rights. More precisely, the following factors contribute to the difficulty in staying motivated.

At-home Interruptions

• From a crying baby to a neighbor’s knock to borrow your lawnmower, there’s no end to the kind of interruptions one may have to deal with while working from home. If your family doesn’t fully grasp the concept of your work style, they may think it means you’re available all day and that is keeping you away from work.

Loneliness

• Many people working from home have reported loneliness as one of the cons they face. For traditional workers who practice 9-5, they have better face-to-face interactions– something remote workers often miss.

Stress and Burnout

• With remote workers having to put in more hours than 9-5’ers, burnout is quite common. Unlike at the office when you know it’s time to go home by 5 pm, remote workers don’t find things that straightforward. They often extend their work hours till they’re done finishing their work.

Social Media

• A double-edged sword that it is, social media is whatever one makes it. For remote workers, it can be pretty easy to overuse social media.

13 Work From Home Tips To Stay Motivated

As an answer to how you can work remotely without losing motivation, we have put ten helpful tips together for you.

1. Choose Work You Enjoy

It’s easy to get frustrated while working from home if you don’t enjoy the work you’re doing. If you’re doing the kind of work you love, that’s already some motivation to get up early and make the hours count. Are you working a job you hate? Start working on a change if you want to be motivated while working.

2. Set Up Your Own Office

As you may have heard people’s advice, your own office is crucial to your productivity when working from home. The ideal office should be a dedicated work area that’s used for nothing else but work. When you go in there, your brain clocks that it’s work time and you’ll be motivated to get on with it.

3. Surround Your Life With a Variety of Activities

Working from home may get boring if your activities are monotonous or repetitive. Apart from the work you do to make money, get involved in other interesting activities that can intercept the week with some fun. For example, you may be a data analyst but also have a Substack page where you write about fashion trends. You can also consider joining a virtual class to learn new things. Variety will do you some good.

4. Prioritize Meeting Friends

Don’t work long hours and ignore meeting your friends. You may think you’re being productive but eventually, loneliness may set in and make you miserable.

5. Stay Connected Through Chat Rooms

Chat rooms help teams to stay in close connection in real-time. A chat room that meets all your needs is an important asset in your working from home life because, with it, you’ll know you’re not alone, you’ll be motivated to complete tasks quickly, and will enjoy collaborating on projects with coworkers.

6. Use a Perfect Schedule

What do we mean by a perfect schedule? It means a schedule that plays by your strengths. Setting your workday to begin by 7 am when you’re not a morning person may be demotivating.
Setting work hours at midnight when you’re not a night person can equally be unproductive. You should set work hours that fit well into the time you prefer getting things done.

7. Prioritize Self-care and Try Digital Detox

Learn to take breaks from technology at some point during the day. You can use this break time to practice self-care by putting your gadgets away, getting some fresh air, and drinking water to refresh yourself. Be mindful of not just your physiological health but also your emotional, mental, spiritual health, and other life areas.

8. Use Breaks and Vacations to Reward Yourself

Schedule break time during your workday to keep your motivation up. Vacations after a period of working are also great ways to reward yourself. You’ll always have something to look forward to as a form of reward for working so hard.

9. Dress for Work– Comfortably

Motivation is higher for remote workers when they dress up like they’re actually going to work. Many people recommend it. You should give it a try. Although make sure you’re comfortably dressed, after all, being able to dress comfortably is one of the perks of working remotely.

10. Break Down Your Work Into Small Chunks

A huge project may feel daunting and scare away your motivation to sit down and grind. So what do you do? Break it down to Stay motivated while working. The smaller chunks are easier to handle and they won’t squeeze out your motivation.

11. Cut Yourself a Little Slack

If you don’t feel motivated to work on a particular day, maybe you can be more sympathetic with yourself instead of being angry. You may be stressed or worried. Take it easy on yourself and find out why you feel the way you do.

12. Don’t Stay Indoors All Day

It may be tempting to just lock yourself in all day but believe this, the sun is good for you. Come out to get some heat at some point during the day. You’ll feel better and it keep you motivated while working.

13. Truly Be Your Own Boss

Finally, truly be your own boss. If you could choose a boss, what would their character be like? Become that boss for yourself: love yourself, appreciate yourself, keep yourself disciplined, pay yourself, and hear yourself out. You’re going to enjoy being the boss you always dreamed of having and it’s the only thing that helps to stay motivated while working.

Bottomline

Working from home has its pros but it’s easy to lose motivation if you’re not doing things the right way. Endeavor to consistently motivate yourself to improve productivity and enjoyment in your chosen lifestyle.

~cmx