Psyche!
Lisa Gates mentioned a freelance writer who gets in her car, backs out of her driveway and pulls right back in. It’s her way of getting “psychologically ready” for work.
How much trouble do you have getting psyched for work? Yes, you have the desk, the equipment, the time and maybe even the clients. But how much does your mindset factor into your productivity?
Tricks like what Lisa brought up are actually better than you think. Here are a few things that I’ve tried that have worked on those days when I couldn’t muster up the energy:
– Dress for work. Dress pants, a dress, a nice shirt, shoes. Whatever makes you feel ready for work, wear it. I’ve been known to put on jewelry and spritz on some “day” perfume.
– Office hours. I’ve had some success with setting specific start times on days when I couldn’t be bothered. I don’t enter the study until starting time, and I go out for lunch.
– Lunch. Take one. If you worked for The Man, you’d be taking lunch, right? Don’t work through it. Set a specific time frame, perhaps 12:30 to 1:30 and get off that chair.
– No errands. Hard as it may be to avoid them, on days when you feel particularly unmotivated, do not run errands. What happens next, in my experience, is what I call errand-induced guilt. Instead, spend that idle time looking for new projects or learning more about Word or Excel. That’s your development time.
– No personal calls. Oh, this one’s tough. I have a chatty sister, and it’s all too easy to just waste an hour on the phone. However, instead of picking up the phone, I try to convince myself that I can call her on my lunch break. Usually, I forget all about it, or I covet my time to myself so much that I don’t call until after work hours.
– Have a to-do list. Nothing motivates me more to stay on task than a list, prepared the day before, of things I can address in the morning. Too often on days when there aren’t too many things going on, I’ll feel a bit adrift and waste time thinking of what to do instead of actually doing anything. A short list of things to dive into keeps me on track.
– Pull out of your driveway. Hey, if it helps, do it. Make a ritual of leaving the house, even if it’s to get a cup of coffee, and returning to your office. Make it a short trip. After all, the reason we work from home is to avoid that commute, right?
I don’t have much trouble getting psyched up for work because I simply love working at home.
But I have found it takes guts to be a self-employed person. You’re the whole ball of wax. Boss, employee, sales team, marketing director, accountant, receptionist,and secretary. This can be a reason why some have a difficult time getting in the right frame of mind.
Your list of tricks is right on target. I once read about a successful author who made a point of getting dressed for work every day and walk to her office down the hall each morning.