How to Stay Motivated at Home Office

How do you stay motivated working from home when every day is beginning to feel like the movie Groundhog Day? It has been over 2 months of the same, monotonous routine. Know that you are not alone. The first thing to do is acknowledge that you are moving through a grieving process with the change to your current work environment.

What is the definition of Grief?

Grief is not only connected to the death of a loved one. Grief is defined as the emotion we feel or experience when someone (friend, family, co-worker, pet) or something (job, marriage, worker) we are attached to is no longer as it was (death, care-giving, loss of income).  Loss produces a sense of helplessness in us. It is a feeling that says, “My world has been changed.” Grief is a normal reaction to loss, but as a society we have not been educated on how to deal with it. Grief is an emotion that NO two people experience the same, however there are similarities in the ways that we process grief. 

What are the stages of Grief?

Grief originally had five stages. Elizabeth Kubler Ross was the pioneer in this field.  Recently Dr. Therese Rando, a noted grief expert has coined a new stage – Anticipatory Grief.  This stage refers to the process in which we begin to mourn, past, present and future losses. These 6 stages are NOT linear:

Anticipating Grief/Loss

Denial

Anger

Bargaining

Depression

Acceptance

What current stage are you at in the grieving process? Acknowledge this process and give yourself some slack! https://wwwtemp.motivatedbynature.com/grief/

7 Tips for Staying Motivated Working from Home

I read an article yesterday that covered 7 key tips for how to keep yourself motivated working from home and I wanted to share the key highlights with you. Acknowledge your grief and see how these tips resonate.

1. Take time for yourself every day – Find something that you ENJOY doing and build that into your day.  Ideas include writing in your gratitude journal, hot baths, a cup of soothing tea, dancing like nobodies watching….you get the idea.   
2. Find out what work energizes you – have something to do each day for work that you enjoy doing. 
3. Build in rewards – Reward yourself with something you like to do after doing tasks at work that are a real grind. A quick walk outdoors is an excellent way to reward and rejuvenate yourself.  Find out what feels like a reward for you. 
4. Take stock of what you accomplish each day – Sometimes it feels like we are on a never-ending treadmill and feel like we haven’t accomplished anything.  Review your work at the end of the day to see how much you truly have accomplished.  This is a great way to reinforce that we are adding value.
5. Talk to your boss – Some people are becoming workaholics because they are having trouble dealing with the pandemic. Others are feeling that they are not fully contributing anymore and are afraid of loosing their job.  A heart to heart talk with your boss will help. 
6. Set yourself up well physically – Try not to sit the entire time.  Take breaks every 30 minutes to stand up and stretch.  If you have a sit/stand desk change things up with that. 
7. Practice self-compassion – Many of us are very compassionate with others, yet we don’t give that same kind of compassion to ourselves.  You are only human.  You will have your good days and your bad days.  Cut yourself some slack on the bad days and speak to yourself like you would to your best friend.  Find ways to nurture yourself in a healthy way especially during the bad days. 

Read the original article for more information here: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/13/how-to-stay-motivated-while-working-from-home.html

I hope that these tips help you stay motivated while working from home during this pandemic.  Know that you are not alone and together, we are going to get through this.  Stay safe and be well.