Last year, the upward trend that has characterised the UK start-up environment over the last few years reached a new peak. After a record average of 240 new businesses were created throughout 2013. Of those new start-ups, it is believed that around 40% were businesses run from home. Lots of people are now deciding that working from home is for them.
In addition, the increasing number of telecommuters who use communications technologies to operate away from the office has created an army of home-based British workers. However, to make the most of the associated benefits of working from home, you must have a plan. One must be able to generate the optimum blend of discipline and self-motivation. It’s not always easy to find outside the structure of an office setting.
If you’re also struggling, then check out our tips on how to stay motivated when working from home.
Create and follow a daily routine
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The appeal of working from home is the ability to roll straight out of bed and get working immediately. Conversely working in this fashion – without structure and a predetermined focus – can seriously harm productivity in the long-term.
Creating a daily routine, and sticking to it, is vital in helping you from the right mindset. Therefore you’ll be able to produce work with the same level of quality and efficiency as before. Your level of productivity depends significantly on psychological factors. Therefore, creating a consistent routine can have a profound effect on building an outlook conducive for work.
Upgrading the quality of your daily routine
Make the most of working from home by using the extra time to improve the standard of your daily routine.
For example, instead of hurriedly grabbing a slice of toast and a couple of gulps of coffee, you can prepare a healthy breakfast. It won’t only taste great but will help to boost your concentration levels for the day of work ahead. Alternatively, you could use the extra time to drop your kids off at school.
However, you choose to upgrade your daily routine, use the improvements as motivation. That way, you’re more likely to maintain the level of productivity needed when working from home.
Dress for work
Dressing for work at all times is an extension of building a consistent routine and outlook conducive for work. It may be comfortable working in your pyjamas. However, for most of us, once we slip into our bedclothes, the only thing we like to do sleep!
For this reason, avoid wearing clothes that put you in the mood for relaxation. They’re not the best way to motivate yourself for a day of work. This doesn’t mean you have to put on your best suit. Especially if you’re unlikely to encounter anyone else. But simply changing into business casual clothes can help you to transfer from home to work-based mindset.
Sometimes you’ll need to discipline yourself
If the majority of your work is performed via a computer, then the internet can provide a major distraction. It’s full of your favourite time-sinking websites. Procrastination, it’s the enemy of productivity and something that affects everyone. And yes, that means even those who are considered the world’s go-getters.
In an office environment, some managers will instruct their administrator to impose filters that manage (prohibit) the access to commonly used time-sinking sites. If you are struggling for ways to stop procrastinating, there are a number of apps and programmes that you can use.
StayFocused is an add-on for Google’s Chrome web browser that allows you to limit the amount of time you spend on your favourite websites for an allotted amount of time, helping you to focus solely on work-related tasks. Mindful Browsing and LeechBlock offer similar equivalents for Safari and Firefox respectively.
Create an office-like environment at home
The home: in most cases, our homes are geared towards rest, relaxation and somewhere to shield us from the stresses of the outside world. Hence many of your favourite distractions. Be it the aforementioned box set and book, or something else entirely. Regardless, they are all within reach and tend to be a lot more tempting.
As a homeworker, it is very important that you create an environment that enables you to maintain a suitable work-life balance. The best way of achieving this is by dedicating a space solely for work. That way, you are able to mentally ring-fence your job from home life.
If you have space, dedicating one room in the within the home as an office will have the desired effect. Alternatively, if you have the outdoor space and a larger budget to play with, there are a now a wide range of prefabricated garden offices that provide a range of benefits and all the features needed to create an environment that is suitable for striking the correct work-life balance.
Remind yourself how lucky you are
For most, the prospect of working from home is a ‘dream.’ However, if you are lucky enough to be in that position and you abuse it, that dream will soon come crashing in around you.
If you run your own start-up from home and you don’t put in the hours required to make it a success, it will fail. Similarly, if you’re a remote worker and your boss doesn’t see the required level of output expected, you’ll soon find yourself hauled back before your old desk.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t take advantage of the associated benefits sometimes. As long as you remain disciplined enough to stick to your routine for 99% of the time, then it’s okay to take an hour out to do whatever you want every now and again. If you remind yourself how lucky you are by having that flexibility, then finding the extra motivation needed to sustain that working lifestyle shouldn’t be so hard.
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