You may find yourself having a hard time trying to stay motivated while working from home. Working remotely may be something you’re used to or it could be something that is new due to COVID-19. Either way, sometimes it can be hard to stay motivated when you don’t have a team to work next to all day. If you are struggling to stay motivated while working remotely, consider these five ways to stay motivated.  

1) Accountability  

Holding yourself accountable for your work regardless if you’re working remotely or not, is something everybody should do. It will help you stay motivated, as well as increasing your work ethic and productivity.  

What Are Ways to Hold Yourself Accountable? 

Setting reminders is one of the biggest ways to check yourself on your work and give you that motivation to finish that project you have been working on for a while. Let’s say you work from 8 am to 4 pm every day. To hold yourself accountable, schedule a reminder to take a break, or a reminder that you only have “x” amount of hours left on your work. This may seem like you are pushing yourself on something you don’t care about, but I see it more as reminding yourself that being unmotivated sometimes is just a temporary feeling.  

The feeling of being unmotivated can be from not enjoying work, but it also can just be from a huge change in your normal workday. An additional way to hold yourself accountable is to set appointments during the day. This may sound obvious but it is one thing that you can do that will keep you motivated during the workday. It will help you think about the exciting future rather than stressing about the hard task at hand. It will help you stay motivated on the work so that you can move on to the set appointments or other tasks for the day.  

2) Give yourself deadlines 

Setting deadlines on tasks will give you the determination to get tasks done by a certain time. If you tell yourself that you need to get it done sometime this week, you will find yourself stressing to get your work done on Friday afternoon. Telling yourself, “I want to get this done by tonight” will not only help your work ethic but also give you the motivation to get your work done. Setting deadlines for all of your tasks, no matter how large or how small, will help you get it done and reduce procrastination.

3) Proactive thinking mentality 

The biggest thing people tell themselves is, “I can do this tomorrow”, but this mindset allows people to feel less motivated at work. Telling yourself, “Today is a better day to get this done than tomorrow” is a proactive mindset that will motivate yourself to get your work done. Even if you love your job, there are going to be tasks that you have that are not as fun as others. Telling yourself to get your work done today rather than tomorrow will help with those tasks that are not as fun.  

4) Take a break 

Most of the time, depending on the company you work for, your bosses are going to work for the company long-term. Sometimes you can find yourself being unmotivated or burnt out because you are overworking yourself. If this is the case, take a break.  

Your boss would much rather you take a break to recover and take care of yourself, than have you burn yourself out over one task. The idea here is that the leader gets to have a great employee for a very long time, rather than an employee that worked really hard for a short period of time and then quit.  

Breaks are also excellent opportunities to get some water, stretch out a bit, or grab a quick snack. Taking the time to take care of yourself will also help you focus on work after your short break.

5) Remove distractions

Removing distractions is a key way to help you stay motivated while working remotely. If you are working at an office space the number of distractions may be more limited and designed so that you don’t hurt your motivation to work. Design your home work area so that you get the same result. Don’t work next to something that you know will distract, but rather work area that you already know you flourish in. This is a key way to help you stay motivated on your work and succeed while working remotely.  

About the Author

Ben Tejes writes for Ascend Blog where he covers Illinois bankruptcy and Virginia bankruptcy with the goal to help lead people to achieve debt and financial freedom. He also covers topics such as Bankruptcy Means Test Gross or Net Income, Does Bankruptcy Stop Foreclosure, and File Bankruptcy Online. When not working, Ben enjoys going on adventures with his wife and three young daughters.