Do you find yourself procrastinating when you’re working from home? Scrolling social media? Distracted by the news? Making your 5th cup of tea by 11am?! Not many of us were ready or prepped for this erratic and unsettled year of ‘work-from-home/home-schooling’ way of life, but from what I have personally learnt you can make your days really productive and enjoyable (okay I mean ‘bearable’ because, #lockdown3). Here are my five ‘tried and tested’ ways to stop procrastinating at home during your designated windows of work productivity…
- Review your week every Monday and Friday: what worked well last week, what are you going to continue to do in the next week to keep you motivated.
- Talk to your connections and make new ones: Whether that is via LinkedIn or through virtual online networking meetings. By connecting and talking with people who are living a similar life you can each “offload” and also share ideas on how to pick yourselves back up on those down days.
- Exercise: Even if it is just a walk round the block get yourself active! For me there is nothing better to give me a boost than going for a run, using our new home spin bike or doing an online work out. I’d like to say taking the kids out on their bikes also clears my head but not always with the way my 4 year old son rides his bike
- Stay off social media and the news: Scrolling endlessly is a waste of your time, I feel quite addicted to scrolling but am trying my best to wean myself off. I have started deleting my social apps on a weekend and I also have a timer on my social apps so they switch off if I have been on them too long. Let’s be honest, the news is very scary and brings you down quickly at the moment which in turn can be very demotivating, I try not to watch it and let my husband tell me what I need to know!
- Make extra time: I love getting up early and getting things done. In our house, the hours between 6am and 9am are generally quiet as the kids are still sleeping or chilling out watching TV and having their breakfast, so their demands don’t really start until after 9am so I know I have a window of peace to really focus and get things done.
What do you do to stay motivated and reduce your procrastinating time? I’d love to hear in the comments.
I hope this article has been helpful, if it has please do give it a share.
Thank you!