Stir Up Some Enthusiasm !

Stir Up Some Enthusiasm !

By Craig Ritsema

The advantages of working from home are many. However, you may find that once the initial euphoria of working from home – of not having to wake up early, face traffic jams on way back from workplace, or be answerable to your boss – is over, a kind of languor sets in that sometimes makes it difficult to keep your spirits flying high. You find yourself down in the dumps, see no motivation to work hard, and miss the spirit of healthy competition that exists when you work among colleagues.

And working from home means you don’t have a boss standing over your shoulder and motivating you to work by dangling the carrot of some extra bonus in front of you. Well, you chose to be your own boss, and you have to find ways to motivate yourself into getting your work done on time.

To find your motivation, start with a recollection of all the reasons why you opted to work from home – wanting to spend more time with your family, being your own boss, flexible time schedules, more time for hobbies, etc. Jot these down in your diary, and let it stay near your workplace. Going through your diary whenever you are feeling low will give you instant motivation to not only kick-start your work but also derive pleasure and satisfaction out of it.

Working from home can be particularly lonesome if you are used to working in a large corporate environment with lots of interaction among colleagues. The Internet can help fulfill this urge to interact with peers by providing a platform to network with people who are in the same boat as you. Through various message boards and forums, you can interact with and share your thoughts with other people working from home.

You are sure to find at least a couple of people who think on the same wavelength as you. You can meet these friends in a chat room or on a conference call and exchange notes about how the work is going on, and all that. You can congratulate each other when things are going great guns and help each other find solutions when any problem pops up. You may even pose to each other weekly challenges that will keep the spirit of friendly competition and motivation alive.

Rewards can act as a great source of motivation to work. But just because you don’t have your boss to dangle carrots in front of you doesn’t mean you can’t have these carrots – just dangle them on your own! Reward yourself each time you achieve a challenging goal. It could be anything from a night out to a day of rejuvenation in a spa – anything that leaves you feeling refreshed and ready to take up the next challenge.

It also helps to keep track of your progress. Whenever you feel yourself lacking in enthusiasm to do work, take a look at all the good things you have accomplished and the raving reviews you have received from your clients. You would get instant motivation and feel all energized to meet new challenging goals.