10 Ways Remote Workers Can Stay Motivated to Work

This is a guest post by James Adams.

Although life as a remote worker at home has its rewards, it can also be difficult to stay motivated. You may, for instance, feel either bored or overwhelmed. Sometimes there is not enough work to hold your interest while at other times, you’re under pressure. Working alone can also be lonely because you have nobody to bounce ideas off. The following 10 tips, however, will help you enjoy the time you spend working on the computer and over the phone.

1. Set a Single Goal – As a remote worker, you may have taken on too much and find it difficult to stay on task. The way to remedy this is to simplify. Prioritize all the things you have to do for work and in your private life and select the most important to focus on in each category. Instead of looking at goals as a mass of things to get done, you are now looking at working on goals sequentially, which will give you a sense of perspective and focus.

2. Make Clear Plans – The biggest source of stress is not knowing what to do and when to do it. This ambiguous state leaves you feeling restless and confused. A simple solution is to make clear plans. Break your plans down by tasks and schedule each task into your day.

3. Schedule Your Chores Around Breaks – Working from home can sometimes be difficult because of the need to maintain your chores. For example, you may have to wash your clothes, clean your dishes, check your bank account balance, pay certain due bills, and call your insurance agent about the leak in the ceiling. By knowing that you have set a time to do everything, you will get rid of unproductive worry.

4. Break Your Work Into Chunks – Chunking is a time management strategy to help cope with overwhelming tasks. Rather than feelings intimidated by the amount of work you have to do, break your work into smaller tasks and set time limits for each task. You will begin to feel successful as you work because you will consistently achieve sub-goals.

5. Reward Yourself for Accomplishments – Reward yourself for reaching your sub-goals and for completing a major project. Rewards can be anything you like. For example, if you like video games, you can reward yourself by slotting in some time to celebrate the completion of a sub-goal. If you have completed a major project, reward yourself with an entire day of self-indulgence. For example, spend an entire day shopping, going to the movies, dining out, and visiting friends. A meaningful reward will give you joy.

6. Develop an Accountability System – Accountability means telling someone that you will do something and then get it done. The person may be your client or your spouse. It may be a commitment to deliver at a certain time or it may be a commitment to complete a certain portion of the work within a specific period. Knowing that you have to be accountable to an external source will help you to stay goal-oriented and task-focused.

7. Stay Inspired – Sometimes it is difficult to stay motivated because of fatigue. Fatigue can be due to physical effort or emotional overwhelm because of too many obstacles. For example, if you are designing a computer software program from home, you may encounter technical difficulties and feel frustrated. The way to renew your energy is to take time out to get re-inspired with your original dream. Perhaps you are a remote worker because you believe it is the best way to be prosperous in your industry since you have no ceiling on your paycheck. In this case, your dream is to be independently wealthy. By listening to motivational speakers or reading inspiring rags-to-riches biographies, you will re-ignite the dying embers of your dream.

8. Focus on What is Working – In any project, some things will work while others will not work. In addition, some clients are easy to get along with while others will complain no matter how well you have completed the assignment. Instead of getting discouraged by all the things that are not working or all the clients who don’t appreciate you, choose instead to feel encouraged by all those things that do work and by all those clients who do appreciate you.

9. Build on Your Success – The next level to focusing on what is working is to build on it. While it is a common philosophy that we learn much from our mistakes and little from our failures, this is not quite true. By focusing on what works and building on it, you will stop spending time theorizing and testing and optimize what has been proven to work.

10. Stay the Course – In his epic book, “The Road Less Traveled,” M. Scott Peck became famous for his statement that life is difficult. The paradox is that by realizing that something is difficult, it takes away the frustration of wanting things to go smoothly. Once you accept that certain remote work projects are difficult, it eases the pressure you put on yourself of expecting things to always go your way.

This guest post was contributed by James who writes at one of the UK’s leading online shops specialising in ink cartridges for printers. Go to CartridgeSave to read more of his writing.
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