Seven ways to keep motivated when working from home

The demand for dynamic working has grown significantly over the past few years. In fact, according to our research, the most sought after workplace benefits are flexible working hours at (71%), and work-from-home options (55%). Therefore, it is no surprise that companies are considering their dynamic working offering, in order to attract and retain top talent to their organisations.

If you are someone who is able to work remotely from home, then you will know how difficult it can be to keep up motivation and productivity. There may be distractions, you might experience loneliness, lack of routine, and end up with an invasion of papers, memos, and reports in your personal space.

In order to work from home and be efficient, you need to be disciplined and responsible for rewarding your own successes. If you’re feeling unmotivated and not working to your optimum level, try applying these seven steps to improve your output.

1. Create a working environment

If your idea of working from home consists of sitting in bed or in front of the television with your laptop, it is unlikely that you will be very productive. If you have a spare room or study to use as an office space, keep anything work related in there. Creating a working environment can get you in the right headspace that you need to work productively.

2. Dress for work

Although it can be tempting to stay in your pyjamas, be sure to get dressed and ready for your working day. This will make you feel more awake and ready to tackle the day, after a few hours of sitting in your bed, you will probably begin to feel groggy and less productive.

3. Organise your day

If you set out clear objectives for the day ahead, you are more likely to stay focused and achieve your self-recommended deadlines. Use a paper list or an application like Trello to create a list of tasks that you need to complete, and tick them off as you’ve completed them throughout the day.

4. Manage your workload

If you have a lot of tasks to complete for a large project, or you have administration tasks piling up that you are yet to begin, it can become stressful. If you are working from home and taking this quiet time to get some admin tasks completed, then try to separate them into manageable chunks to complete throughout the day or week. Planning and mapping out your workload in this way should stop you from feeling overwhelmed.

5. Check in with your colleagues

It can be easy to feel like you are working alone when you work from home, however, although this might be true physically, don’t forget about your colleagues who are also working at home or in the office. It is important to remind yourself that you are at work, phoning to update your boss or colleagues about your work or the status of a project will make you feel more connected with what’s going on in the business.

6. Give yourself breaks

Breaks are important to boost productivity. If you don’t allow yourself time to rest and recuperate during the day, you may become burnt out by the afternoon. Be sure to take a full lunch break, and try to stay away from your computer during this time as well. You will feel rejuvenated when you return to your desk to tackle the full working day.

7. Reward yourself

It may motivate you knowing that you need to complete a task and send it to your manager by a certain deadline, but for those who don’t work under anyone, you should try to come up with ways of rewarding yourself at the end of each task or day. This little boost can give you what you need to move onto the next job, and keep up your motivation.

Failing to keep up motivation levels at work can be stressful, and eventually lead to poor performance in your role. It is crucial to recognise when you aren’t working effectively, and discussing any issues that you have with your line manager or colleagues. Whilst working from home is a useful option to have in today’s busy culture, it isn’t for everyone.

Michael Page has over 40 years of experience in recruitment, so we can advise you on many aspects of work life, and work with you to propel your career.