If you ask any work from home employee what impedes your productivity in this situation? Most of them will reply, they do not feel motivated. They miss the ‘office ambience’, the in-person interactions even the strenuous commutation! This is very common. Habit is the second nature. Habit is a good servant but a bad master. Here, you need to go for a sort of habit-reversal.

What pulls back your motivation? The first thing that haunts you is the isolation. You feel you are left alone in the work. No known faces around you. No occasional chatting or enjoying lighter moments with colleagues. You will even miss those occasional in-office bickering. Working somewhat turns out to be boring. Plus, there will be initial hiccups in communicating with the team members. Most of them will not be apt in using the tools properly even if you have given/received the best training. Amid all these, a drop in motivation levels is expected.

Let us find ways to overcome these.

Feels like a “day off at home”

Well, you will have to keep training your mind that this is the “new normal” may be for some days/months. Else you will tend to slack off. Coach yourself that the work hasn’t changed but just the location.

Maintain the normal work mindset

It is not a vacation or a holiday. It is a normal full-time working day. You have tasks to fulfill in a stipulated time frame. You need to remind yourself several times a day.

Wake up early and start work early

This can be tough. With no office going schedule and no boss to watch, you might not feel motivated to wake up early. Waking up early and getting into work in a fresh mind can be more productive than your normal routine. Imagine the rush of commutation that you need to take while going to office daily. Make yourself believe that you are saving a lot of time and energy which can be invested in homeworking to keep yourself more productive. You can enjoy a longer afternoon break! Thank your luck for that!

Reward yourself

You can succeed in building up the motivation level to work from home only if you reward yourself after finishing a task in time. Engage yourself in some of your favorite activities which you cannot do normally in the office. Cook a favorite dish, listen to good music, watch a good movie or go out for some sports activities.

Take the help of productivity software

Keeping track of productivity is a must. It can be done by maintaining regular worksheets. Nowadays, easy-to-use productivity software like Focus Booster, Trello etc. are quite helpful. Apart from helping you in productivity tracking, these send you reminders of to-do things.

Train your mind not to prolong breaks

You will feeling restless and get distracted. Your mind seems to be not into the work. Instead of forcefully binding yourself to the seat, take a short break. Just walk around in the room or outdoors. You may feel tempted to extend your break. Here you need some mind control. Come back and start your work after few minutes. You will be able to focus better. You may need few days to train your mind.

Like music?

It is the time to use it to up your motivation. Create diverse playlists that will make your work from home joyful. It would be even better if you can select tunes matching the nature of your work. Lyric-free music helps better to keep you focused and relaxed in work. You can also run a TV Channel (not the news or soap Channel) at the background to keep up your motivation level.

Remove uncertainties – It is a big productive killer

Be active in seeking information. Especially in situations like this Covid crisis where nothing is certain. There is nothing wrong in seeking information regarding regulations/planning/work from home duration in such a situation but do not expect a definite answer. 

Avoid frequent checking of Push messages/notifications

Under normal circumstances, these are big energy drainers. And in such grave situations like Covid crisis, it is a big stress enhancer. It is natural more negative news will be pouring in. The more you consume more you suffer mentally and emotionally. Your motivation goes for a toss.

Stay relaxed

Be convinced that as long as you follow preventive measures and stay at home in hours of crisis, you are safe. No situation outside is going to have a direct affect on you. This should keep you relaxed and focused. Free your mind from all negative news.

Motivate each other – set up team interactions

Work from home does not call for cutting off team interactions. Rather, it should be more. Reach out to your colleagues every day to discuss your day-to-day achievements and sort out shortfalls if any.

You can set up informal virtual coffee chats. Check with TelCo orViCo. Engage in some light-hearted communication. Motivation level of the entire team will be up. Everybody will feel the presence of each other in dire hours.