Working From Home Requires Self-Discipline, Self-Motivation
It’s Monday morning, three weeks into the New Year, and I woke at 4am after a night full of very intense work-related dreams. I sat up in bed, threw the covers back and headed for the coffee pot.
For the past several weeks, scratch that – for the past couple of months even, I have had a hard time staying focused and on track with my daily tasks. Actually, that’s not entirely true… my days have been very productive and much has been accomplished generally speaking. But work… well, I have had a very difficult time focusing on anything work-related at all.
Not that I havent tried to stay on top of it, and managed to maintain things to some extent, but my usual passion and motivation just hasnt been there…
I wouldn’t label this recent bout as “burn-out”. More like plain old distraction. Regardless, the solution is the same and I knew what I needed to do to get back on track. In almost 10 years of being self-employed and working from home, this certainly isnt the first time that I have found myself ‘off track’. The key is in knowing what it takes (for you, personally) to get back on track.
I sat down at my desk bright and early, before dawn, with coffee cup in hand… and decided to start with the two things I knew would motivate me the most: commission stats (cha-ching!) and one of the latest marketing-related reports. I wanted something thought-provoking and motivating, and looking over the three unfinished reports on my desk, I chose Michel Fortin’s “Death of the Salesletter“… and picked up where I left off.
I read the report off and on over my morning coffee, between other small tasks, mainly to get my mind back on ‘marketing’. It took some serious concentration, even though the report itself was great. In fact, it wasnt until page 18 that Michel really got my attention.
This is where he talked about “the Ping Factor” – and specifically, how we are constantly being pinged with an endless number of options and messages and… well, you name it. And while I’m all about Web 2.0 Talk and Salesletters and Copywriting, this particular point really resonated with me.
It’s true, and it seems with all of these new options and gadgets to make our lives “easier to manage”… we’ve launched ourselves right into the era of total distraction. At this very moment I have 3 instant messaging programs open, email downloading on my 2nd monitor every few minutes, my feed reader updating with the latest news and notes, messages at various forums and social networking sites to get to, text messages on my cell phone to read and respond to… and a landline that always wants to ring at the wrong time.
It’s enough to drive a woman mad 
. Obviously you cannot allow yourself to be that available and still expect to get any work done. Heck, I can hardly get through a meal around here without something “pinging” me that begs for my attention!
But even when you turn off every gadget and carefully structure your day, there is no guarantee of focus or creative mental energy. Sometimes you have it, sometimes you just dont…
I realize am not alone in having these challenges. In fact, just this morning I noticed an article on Yahoo! News titled U.S. drivers eat, shave, email — oh, and drive. Its that old adage: There just arent enough hours in a day.
At the moment I am simply feeling a little overwhelmed. Add to it that I’ve had limited blocks of time in which to work lately, which dont always match up with ideal timing for me personally, and it can become a frustrating situation rather quickly. When I do sit down at my desk, I feel bombarded by spam from every direction, and of course — endless emails. By the time I manage the basics, I feel like I barely scratch the surface on what I actually sat down to do by the time my block of time has passed.
Enough fussing about it though, its time for a solution. Working from home requires serious self-discipline and self-motivation. Particularly when you find yourself sidetracked, frustrated, distracted… or worse – drawing a complete blank.
I have some goals to reach for the month of February, and with limited time – so I am off to work on a plan to ensure that I am able to get everything done before this month comes to an end. In the meantime, a quick list of ways to get yourself motivated if you find yourself feeling a little sidetracked in the home office (too 
):
- Wake up early, stay up late, or find any block of time where you can work uninterrupted for a few hours.
- Make a quick list of high-priority tasks, and complete them one at a time – before you do anything else.
- Take the one thing that is constantly nagging you in the back of your mind… and just DO IT. A “sense of accomplishment” goes a long way in getting you re-motivated!
- Break things down into small manageable tasks that dont feel overwhelming.
Best,
Tags: work at home, working from home, discipline, motivation, home office
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Lynn,
I am with ya…
There are sooo many options out there….or directions I should say that people can go down online. I struggle with that myself.
Something I heard from Marlon Sanders that keeps me somewhat focused is having my end of the year income goal in mind and working backwards. Kinda what you were saying with “would motivate me the most: commission stats (cha-ching!) “.
Once you have your income goal in mind then work backwards.
For whatever reason, I come back to that statement he made and it gets me fired up again…another one is flat out hating to work for people too. That’s a good motivator.
Dave
Hey, waitaminnit…how’d you get into my head??
I’ve been struggling with the same problems, especially smaller blocks of available time. If I get up much earlier, I’ll just bounce off the bed and right back to it.
I have things to change and others to reinforce. Even if focus seems like a four-letter word sometimes, progress can still be made.
What exactly are “very intense work-related dreams” anyway?
Follow me @DanReinhold on Twitter.
Am I the only one that dreams about work?? LOL It was enough to wake me from a dead sleep and make me want to get up and work at 4am
The great thing about my online business is that it continues to run even without me fussing over it every day, so the income remains steady. That said, I have big plans for growth this year, and I really cannot stand to be idle work-wise. I am at my happiest when I am knee deep in a project or working on three things at once!
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Lynn, I am glad to see you back: I missed your posts here.
And I know what you are saying: distractions are everywhere, and sometimes it’s OK to let yourself be distracted for a while: I find a renewed energy and interest for my projects after I’ve been away for a while.
I jsut finished one of those projects that was nagging me yesterday, and I am soooo happy!
Adriana
Follow me @adrianacopacean on Twitter.
Good to have you back! I’ve been thinking, Lynn, Lynn, where you been?
This is a tough time of year, but it’s given me a chance to clear out a bunch of stuff from last year that’s been hanging around – no-brainer stuff mostly. I’m not sure why, but clearing that stuff out frees up a lot of energy to get me motivated for the year ahead.
I’m not a big fan of winter, but I watched “Groundhog Day” last night and that always seems to help lift my mood a bit about the doldrums of winter… I love the line about “Morons, you bus is leaving…” – I think I’ve been stuck on that bus a few times
I am right there with you this year so far. My motivation is almost null, and I can’t seem to get on track. I needed this reminder, thank you.
Seems like the lack of motivation bug has spread very wide. My lack of time doesn’t not help things in my case either. I need serious time management skills
I think you’re right Adriana – sometimes it IS okay. As long as everything is at least maintained in the interim, that is. I will admit that I am making progress on personal goals and that my days have been very productive, as I mentioned in the original post, and those things are all positives.
At this point, it is a matter of striking a good balance across all of the different areas of my life and moving forward across the board.
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Hi Lynn,
No, you’re definitely not the only one who dreams about work. I do, too. I had actually contemplated the idea of putting a notebook on the nightstand in case any incredible ideas come to me in those dreams.
I didn’t think my husband would appreciate me turning on the light in the middle of the night, though.
Either we are very committed or we need to be committed… LOL
Patty
Follow me @pattygale on Twitter.
LOL Patty –
I have ended up in the home office in the middle of many a night, to jot down notes or map out a new project!
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
What a great post Lynn. It seems there are MANY of us having a real struggle staying on task and motivated so far this year.
I am included in the bunch! It’s frustrating because there are sooo many things that need to get accomplished this year. With January already coming to an end I guess it’s time to get back to basics and as you said stick with what we know will motivate us!!
Thanks for the reminder
after reading this post i realize we’re living strangely parallel lives
I’d love to hear more about that, Sandor. Perhaps we’ll meet up again at a future conference. It’s been almost a year now, you know!
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Recently Allan Gardyne talked about this in his newsletter, you can read it if you haven’t already at: http://www.associateprograms.com/articles/539/1/Do-one-of-these-two-things-EVERY-day
He said if you just do two things, you can have success with affiliate marketing: add content every day. get a new link every day.
I think it’s great advice for newcomers and also those of us who have been at it for awhile who get sidetracked with bells and whistles.
That is GREAT advice! Thanks for sharing the link, Carrie. I hadnt had a chance to read that issue by email yet!
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
Oh well, Lynn, I start working from home full time next month and your post nearly knocked me for six. I am looking forward to the change though. I’ve been communiting 200km to work everyday for the past five years so I do need a change. Thanks for sharing.
I am sure it will be a positive change for you. Keep us posted
I look forward to hearing more about it!
Follow me @lynnterry on Twitter.
I will keep you posted on my progress. Watch this space.
Just to share with you all, maybe you guys can visit http://studyofgettingprosperous.com/report to generate some developing of positive attitude faster. You will recieve a free report from the website that is an interview with Bob Proctor(creator of The Secret). In the report, you will learn some useful info like the secret, the law of attraction, how to make more money online, self motivation and self development.
Try it out today!! it’s really interesting!