Working from home: feeling unmotivated give yourself the day off

February 5 2010 , Written by thediversetraveller Published on #DiverseTraveller, #DiverseTraveller.com - Women Who Travel, Write, Snap & Share, #Ola Fagbohun, #self-employed, #working from home

Working from home especially when working for yourself may seem like a perfect career choice; but when you do it day in day out, the disadvantages are consuming. For me yesterday was such a day.

Being mistress of all I survey was not making me feel superior to the 9 to 5s battling both the cold weather and commuter time public transport. Instead I was feeling claustrophobic, the walls of my large office, or today cluttered sitting room, were closing in, baskets and green, blue and pink plastic boxes full of work waiting for my attention. I was not in the mood to work, instead I was envious of the 9 to 5s, at least they leave home to work and hopefully have other people around for motivation and inspiration.

Yesterday, I yearned for company and inspiration. Despite my work-load I was feeling uninspired and unproductive. Not even a large cup of espresso strength coffee, and the breakfast banter on BBC Radio 5 live, Katie price got married again, kindled the desire to work. Determined to shake off this feeling, I took a deep breathe, and booted up my PC.

After two hours online – Twitter and the News of the World, I couldn’t muster the motivation to get any work done. Two more coffees later, I abandoned my PC, switched on the TV, and watched a marathon of Upstairs Downstairs, Law and Order, and my afternoon favourite Diagnosis Murder. Still nothing, this was not going to be a creative or productive day.

questions2 Perhaps being at home was stifling my creativity, so I decided to look for inspiration outside, Asda or Avatar? On this day of lack of motivation and inspiration, the decision was a hard one, so I left it to London transport, if the 226 bus came first it would be Asda, if the 487, then Avatar.

You’d be surprised how Asda, or any supermarket, can be a source of inspiration for stories and a reminder of things that need to be done. Asda is where I get my quick people fix via in-depth conversations with staff, e.g as I scan the baking aisle, not that I’ll be doing any baking. However, I wasn’t really feeling in need of an Asda day, what about the cinema to see Avatar. It was clear I was not going to get any work done today, I concluded travelling to the land of Avatars and marvelling at James Cameron’s creativity would serve to fuel my own.

I love working for myself and mostly love working from home, but sometimes it can be hard; lonely, too many distractions and most of all you have to motivate yourself. But don’t let me put you off, because when you do feel like this, do what I do and give yourself the day off. Go out and take advantage of the many discounts available, plus the lack of crowds, when visiting places before 6pm. Hopefully, the next day, when returning to your home office not only will you be motivated and productive, you’ll also be grateful you work from home