Today, we want to talk about job motivation. It’s been almost a year since most of us transitioned to remote work, and in research conducted by PWC, 59% of Canadian employees are working remotely now. While there are many benefits to working remotely, it may feel hard to stay motivated.
If you’re struggling with staying motivated while working remotely, here are a few tips to help:
Adjust your Schedule
One of the great things about working from home is the room for flexibility in your schedule! If you’re feeling demotivated, try adjusting your schedule. If you’re more productive in the mornings, wake up earlier to get a head start. If you’re a night owl and need the extra sleep in the mornings, start later (just be mindful of meetings). Adjusting your schedule to when you are most productive sets you up for success to get more out of the workday.
Plan your Schedule
Planning a schedule is extremely useful when you’re feeling demotivated. At Envol, we like using the time block method on our Microsoft Calendar App. To use this method, simply write down a list of tasks and projects you’re currently working on, prioritize what needs to be done first, and block out time on your calendar to complete these tasks. Remember, don’t overload yourself and only schedule in what’s reasonable for you. If you’re not a time block person, making a list of priorities might help. Some of us at Envol thrive on crossing tasks off a checklist, so try it out! If you’re not feeling the time block or checklist method, check out our other article here on productivity tools you can use to organize your tasks.
Prioritize Human Connection
When working remotely, you want to be intentional about maintaining human connection. Make sure you have daily touchpoints with your team – whether that’s simply sending a “Good morning” message on Slack to your team on the days you don’t have meetings, or starting the day with a virtual morning huddle. It’s important to stay connected with each other! Maintaining the human connection helps with fighting the feelings of isolation.
Stay Active – Take That Walk.
When you’re working from home, it’s hard to stay active and get any form of exercise in if you’re not being intentional. Say it with us: walking downstairs to the home office or to the kitchen during your lunch break is not enough! Set some time throughout the day to get up and stretch, or even take a half-hour walk around the block if needed. Fresh air and movement are important to keep your body awake and focused.
Don’t Stay Stagnant – Continue to Learn new Skills and Improve on Existing Ones!
This one is important. Whether you work remotely or not, it’s easy to become complacent when it comes to learning and developing your skills. When you’re stagnant, it can be hard to stay motivated. The upside of working from home is being able to save time you would use up normally for activities like commuting to work, so, if you work remotely, allocate some of that free time to develop your skills! For some organizations, there are budgets in place to support professional learning and development – so take advantage of that if you have access to these programs. And if you don’t have access, there is a wealth of affordable virtual courses online today you can choose from (a lot are also free).
For more productivity tips, check out our blog on our favourite productivity apps here.
Envol is your partner is growth. Looking for more ways to expand your business? Reach out to us at [email protected] to schedule a discovery call with us today!