How do you stay motivated when you work from home?

How to stay motivated when you work from home? 

Firstly, I'm rubbish at this!  

As I write this, I realise I promised my best friend I'd send this blog to her 4 weeks ago! 4 weeks?!!? I've realised I wasn't even motivated enough to write it..... I get the irony! 

So today panic set in. I went to see my tax advisor and I realised I'm not as motivated as I should be in lots of areas. 

If in doubt...Google it.

I googled "how to be motivated working from home" on the Internet and hundreds of sites came up. I'm just going to give you my version of what I learnt and what I'm going to do to make the changes for me. 

1. Turn off Facebook, Twitter, Netfixs. 

It's obvious, but it's never just one episode of House of Cards. For me, it's never just one text or instant message. We all get chatting and that's half my morning gone. 

Turn it off. Put the phone down and back away. 

2. Get dressed for the part. 

I have to get the kids dressed, argue about putting their shoes on, then their coats, then their bike helmets etc etc. Sound familiar? So I take the kids to school by bike and that's not the easiest things to do fully suited and booted. 

But in the UK, I've worked in a suit for 15 years. It's a habit. My working zeal returns when I have a suit on. 

A suit it is then. 

3. Do exercise. 

This one is easier. I have scheduled time with friends and classes to make myself do exercise. Guilt free and ready made exercise is essential. The days I do it, I'm so much more motivated already. 

.....Maybe more exercise then. 

4. Have a schedule. Have goals. 

Have a plan on what you want to complete that day, that week. 

Your to-do-list can be endless but without self imposed deadlines you'll never do anything. 4 weeks remember?!?

5. Give yourself rewards. 

This is the best advice I found on the Internet:

I'm going to tell myself to do the work for 10 minutes. If I still hate it or I'm not getting anywhere - I'll do something else. In reality, I'll have got into it by then but I do have some rewards I want to use! 

Katy 

be honest, be brief, be positive.