Staying motivated whilst working from home (staying out the fridge & off the sofa for starters...:-) Our favourite tips.

1.       Have a dedicated workspace.

Whether you have a sprawling home office or a nook in your kitchen, it’s important to have a dedicated office.

We would all love to say that working off the sofa is acceptable, but sadly its not! Those tempting Netflix box series and day time tv shows are all too tempting!

2. Stay off social media.

A quick scroll on Instagram can turn into a major time suck, but there are ways to avoid temptation.

Keep your personal phone away from your working area until you give yourself a break and delete Instagram, Facebook and others off your work phone! They are not going anywhere, you might even find it slightly liberating… (well maybe not liberating.. slightly refreshing maybe!)

3. Dress for success.

While there’s no need for a three-piece suit or a pencil skirt and heels when you’re not leaving your home, there’s a happy medium for getting dressed in the morning.

Wearing your PJ’s to start the working day is not going to inspire you to focus and kick start your day.

Wear what’s comfortable for you. But having a morning routine — meaning brushing your teeth and changing out of your pyjamas — is crucial!

4. Set boundaries.

It’s a common misconception that remote work means you’re hardly working. When a friend invites you for a mid-afternoon movie break or a long lunch, it can be tough to get across that you have to put in your hours, too.

5. Avoid procrastination.

If you think it’s tempting to procrastinate at the office, it’s even worse at home, where there are more distractions.

“It’s easy to put things off to later in the day or first thing tomorrow morning because you are not bound by office hours,” Williams says. “However, this causes stress as you can easily push yourself tight against a deadline, and if something unexpected happens — like your internet goes down, you get sick, or a family member gets sick — you could miss the deadline, which may have grave consequences for your business.”

6. Save household chores for later.

It’s tempting to run the dishwasher while you work or take a break to vacuum but doing so can interrupt your flow and focus.

Keep your day diarised in timings, your day will then flow much easier and your less likely to get distracted.

7. Create a schedule (and follow it!)

Your calendar should work the way you do. That means if you’re a Type A and love to have every minute planned, go ahead and fill up your day, even penciling in break times. If you’re more of a to-do list follower, write up a game plan and cross things off as you go.

8. Take a gym break (or a fitness video/yoga session)

Whatever you like to do exercise-wise, make time for it, it will totally help break up your day and keep you focussed

9. Stay out the fridge (LOL)

We all know how tempting it is to eat whatever is in the house when working from home… Who is not guilty to chomping on last nights takeaway or biscuit jar! Diarise your morning and lunch breaks and stick to them.

10 Know when to clock out.

Set your finish time for the working day, switch off your laptop and put it away. Its only too tempting to keep an eye on emails and re-login if you suddenly remember something. Keep the balance between work and home life…

STAY MOTIVATED..... STAY FOCUSSED.......