Motivation in a Home Office

amother

Thu, Aug 06 2020, 12:32 am

Anyone else working from home (computer work) have a hard time motivating themselves to get the work done?
I find that from 5 hours in the office I usually get 3 billable hours.
With no one else around its so easy to get distracted - shopping imamother etc Can't Believe It

And I find the more tired/stressed I am the harder to focus....
Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

amother

Cerulean

Thu, Aug 06 2020, 12:39 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

And I find the more tired/stressed I am the harder to focus....
Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

Can't believe someone else is saying this. So happy I work on commission only so no guilt about not working.

mp5

Thu, Aug 06 2020, 5:21 am

Some days when I find it very hard to focus on work, I use the Pomadoro technique. You can download a pomadoro app for free or just use a stopwatch. The idea is, you set yourself a very short time in which you do work and nothing else. No phone, no emails, no open browser. When your mind starts to wander and your hands automatically reach for a distracting website you stop (it's hard at first because habits take time to break) and remind yourself you can do it on your break which is minutes away. Personally I use my 'break' to wash a load of laundery, or quickly do one part of dinner preperation, or whatever. The break can be 5 minutes, 15 or whatever you want - then return to work and repeat the pattern. You can extend your work time spontaneously but not your break. It's often easier to focus for a short amount of time, can help break bad work from home habits and I usually find that by the end of my 'work only' periods I'm more into work so extend it a bit, which altogether adds up to more work on those unmotivated days.
Hope this helps!

singleagain

Thu, Aug 06 2020, 7:07 am

Also do you have a dedicated office space. It sounds like you do. Do you use your "work" computer for all other things?
By that I mean... Do you also watch Netflix on it and lend it to your kids etc?
If so can you buy an inexpensive laptop or tablet to replace the "home" computer and keep the other for work. Or buy a new work one. Depending on your job you might even be able to deduct it for taxes...

Another thing I just thought of.. clear your passwords and make it so it will never save them. It's so much more annoying to go on sites if you have to constantly type your passwords

aussie2

Thu, Aug 06 2020, 10:35 am

I really like the ideas on here as I have the same issue working from home.
(Besides getting distracted from computer-related things I also run to put up a load of laundry,
answer a quick call etc.. While it's great to be able to accomplish those things during work.. after seeing how much time I can actually count as 'work'.. sometimes I wish I hadn't stopped for those breaks..

HakarasHatov

Thu, Aug 06 2020, 10:41 am

Hi, had the aame issue especially during stressful times here are some things that I feel helped.

1) have a dedicated space/ room / computer if possible like the othe posters said.

2) take all non work stuff out off your office ( extra chairs beds etc)

3) I use Toggl app (no e) to track my work. it will record if you go on a site for more than a few minutes. and it automatically turns off when you dont touch the computer for more than five minutes, and you can set breaks also you can track how mich time it takes you to so different tasks, so you can increase productivity in areas your least efficient on ( I take too long to write contracts trying to perfect them so then I can tell myself I have to get it done in a few hours instead of 6 and live with less than 100% perfection. or you can track your non work activity (imamother) and see how much time you have wasted. and you can email reports to anyone hisband, friend, etc to hold you accountable if you really need a boost. if your bold email them to your boss,

4) odd one, face your desk toward the door, and have your back to any window. supposedly effects how you feel and increases productivity

5) have a comfortable office chair, table, keyboard, light, whatever you need make it comfortable

6) have a scedule as if you were in an office, try to be prompt. one mire minite is like chips cant have just one Smile

.

7) ignore personal calls and set boundaries for family members during your work time.

8) I think you can log into the router and create a whitelist of websites that can be accessed, and you can block devises like your phone, or set a schedule. if you create a guest wifi, you can create a white list for your work computer on the main wifi, and set a schedule/ block all your other devices on the guest wifi.

all in all I felel the toggl app helps alot.

amother

Thu, Aug 06 2020, 11:47 am

So many great ideas!

And its so validating to hear from others struggling with the same issue.

I especially like the comparison of time to chips- just one more doesn't work!

Does toggl track desktop apps and programs as well? What about if doing doing paper work - not on the computer- can toggle track that?

Back to work now! My 5 min break is up Tongue Out