Tag Archives: work from home

The One Thing You Need To Do to Stay Motivated When Working from Home

Only the other week at 3.30 am I was shuffling my kids into the shower, wrestling my 4-year-old to wash his hair because his 1-year brother had projectile vomited into his face.

Between cleaning up vomit and gag-worthy poo-ey nappy, my work plan for the week went straight out of the window.

Although I’m grateful my business affords me the luxury to work from home, I also know being productive and staying motivated isn’t always easy especially when the whole family are coming off from a week recovering from gastro.

Being self-employed for 5 years and being a mum of two little boys, I often get asked how do I manage to do it all. So today, I wanted to share with you the one thing you need to do to stay motivated when working from home.

It doesn’t matter if you’re self-employed like me, have a job that has flexibility or a mum building a side hustle, this all applies to you, so read on.

Creating Structure and Routine

Yes I know, this doesn’t sound very sexy but hear me out.

There’s a misconception that having structure ad routine can feel suffocating especially for those spontaneous and people-loving personalities who will contest that it stifles creative energy and workflow. How do I know? Some of those are my clients.

Yet when we establish structure and routine, we create freedom.

We no longer need to carry thoughts that can weigh us down in our short term memory. Instead having structure and routine allows us to put processes and systems in place on AUTO-PILOT.

In other words, it allows your brain to go on cruise control.

I have a client who blatantly told me that structure and routine just isn’t “her thing.” My response was ahuh. But before our coaching journey was done, she’d become a structure and routine queen and here’s why.

She was doing life haphazardly wondering why she wasn’t able to accomplish all the things she wanted to do. She told me her health was a priority but she didn’t know where to start.

So we implement structure and routine and now she’s meditating, journaling and exercising all before her son wakes up before taking him to school because it’s become habitual, she’s on auto-pilot.

Sometimes it can feel very overwhelming on where to start. You don’t need to pull up a spreadsheet or calendar only to look at it blankly. Often removing distractions and things that cause you stress can help you prioritise what needs your attention first. Download this free Stress Audit to help you discover what obstacles could be in your way and then fill in the blank:

Today I’m going to _______________________________________________,

5 practical work from home tips for a productive day

You might have fantasised in the past about working from home but now this might actually be your new reality and realised it’s not all it’s all cracked out to be. Maybe you have the kids at home too, so trying to find the balance of doing productive work whilst keeping the kids entertained is darn challenging or you could be feeling unmotivated to work because your worried about family and given these uncertain times can be quite overwhelming.

One way of coping and making a smooth transition to working from home is focusing on what you can control. One thing is to think about how you start your day.

As a work from home veteran, here are 5 practical things you can do:

1) Wake up an hour earlier to get some work done before the kids wake up. If you don’t have kids, take full advantage and use this time to focus on your health like doing a YouTube workout, meditate or declutter a corner of a room. All this helps boost your health and wellbeing and you’re more likely to feel you can tackle the day ahead, no matter how challenging.

2) Create blocks of time to do productive work with pockets the day for regular breaks. If possible, have a big bottle of water and snacks in your designated office space to stop you going to the kitchen to stare aimlessly into your fridge for hours at a time.

3) Let friends and family know your office hours. Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you have all the time in the world to chat. Being constantly interrupted will have you feeling defeated by the end of the day. So set yourself up for success by setting boundaries and be vigilant.

4) Schedule everything in your diary. Whether you like to use a paper diary or an online calendar, make sure anything that is going to take more than 5 minutes to do is recorded. Our brains have so much to contend with these days, so give yourself some breathing space by not having to remember everything. Use the tools to help you.

5) The Law of Diminishing Intent basically means the longer you wait to do something, the less likely you are going to do it. So tackle the hard stuff as early on in the day as you can. You might choose to do an easy task first to ease you into work mode while you have a coffee but if you have a few calls your avoiding, or a report that’s killing ya life, schedule it in before lunch. Trust me, lunch will taste so much better.

Join to my mailing list for more tips and support, aswell as exclusive offers for my subscribers only. Subscribe

Is motherhood brain-numbing and lonely?

Recently I saw a post from a stay home mum who was saying that she wasn’t afraid to admit that although she absolutely loves and adores her kids, being at home all day everyday can be seriously brain-numbing and lonely. She added that of course, she could be in an uninspiring job working the 9-5 wishing that she was home with the kids, so either way she was doomed!

What I took from her dilemma was regardless of what circumstances you find yourself in, do something you love and gives you joy.

That’s not to say divorce your family or quit your job, instead look for joy in what you do and perhaps incorporate more things in your life so that you do feel fulfilled.

Right now my son JohnnyMax in playing independent with is toy trains, something I’ve been encouraging before Axel was born so he didn’t need mummy so much. Axel is strapped on me in a carrier as I type this. Prior to this he was asleep on the bed and woke up crying as if he had a bad dream. At this moment, instead of being frustrated that I had a moment of “me-time” completely stolen from me, I felt this overwhelming appreciation that I was his safe place. Being able to hold him and settle him immediately, welled my eyes with tears knowing that he 100% relies on me to keep him feeling safe, secure and loved. These are the pockets of joy I’m talking about.

Throughout the day, in-between naps and play, I also get to work on my side hustle which gives me tremendous joy. It gives me the fulfillment of mental stimulation (building a business to fund our family travels and saving for house goals), connection with other adults (my amazing team) and feeling of contribution (financial rewards) whenever it suits me.

In the last 6 months, I was pretty much MIA, busy with the finishing touches of growing a 4kg baby, preparing my home for a homebirth and getting as much family time with our only child before we become a family of 4. It’s these moments when I can step back and still see that my business continues to support our family.

Remember what your focus on grows, so what are you focusing on? If you want more joy, focus on the joy already in your life and you will attract more of it.