Depending very much upon your business and your profession, but if you are somebody who works from home, or somebody who is in charge of their own schedule, there will always be times when work is the last thing you want to focus on. One of the key factors to having a successful business is to stay motivated, and in some cases, a lack of motivation can have serious consequences on your monthly income. Sometimes we even start looking for distractions that we can use as an excuse to get out of progressing further, and we always hate ourselves later for wasting the time in retrospect, especially when we are forced to catch up during a time when we should be enjoying some time off. Here are a few tips for creating and maintaining motivation, that can also help you to manage your time.
Manage your time off - Time out of production may seem like a waste when you are driving to create a new business, but if you don't take time out to relax and to rejuvenate it will have a larger negative impact on your productivity and time. Make sure you build some time into your schedule to sit back and to relax and to do whatever it is you enjoy doing. When you do go back to work, you will return with a fresh mind and spirit and feel more motivated to push forwards with what needs to be done.
Do the hard thing first - Is there a big problem that is intimidating you and making you dread going back to work? Is it looming over you every minute of every day, following you around like a little rain cloud? Get it done! The quicker you can get that problem out of your way and out of your life, the better you will feel about working and the easier it will be to progress on with everything else. If you leave this until later and keep putting it off, not only will it bring your mood down, but it could hinder the rest of your work and productivity.
Work in the morning - Get up, have breakfast and go! Much like procrastinating larger problems, procrastinating your productive time means you are more likely to let it slip away and to just not bother in the end. If you start early and keep pushing through, you will feel a more positive vibe and feel more motivated to finish.
Avoid the impossible - Some things just can't be done, but if we hang onto these and convince ourselves that they are possible, we will just continue to hit brick walls. It seems obvious, but it's amazing how many people persistently insist that some things can be fixed. Focus on what you can achieve right now and get that done. This can all be done while keeping a larger and more difficult goal in mind, but the only way you will attack the bigger problems is by using small steps.
Stay healthy - Maintaining a healthy lifestyle in terms of regular exercise and food helps you maintain a positive mood. If you have a positive mood, you will feel better about attacking problems and large workloads. This goes hand in hand with ensuring you spend some time on yourself and doing what you love - a happy worker is a better worker. Staying healthy also ensures you minimise the chance of sickness and unscheduled time out, which can be a real killer when you are running your own business.
Make your bed - This is a bit of a strange one, but if you can visually represent to your subconscious that you are starting the day and leaving behind your sleep and the idea of being counter-productive (lying horizontally and sleeping being the opposite of getting work done) it can have a very positive effect on the mind. Generally speaking, being neat and tidy helps us keep a clean and tidy mind which helps when trying to organise thoughts.
Make a schedule - And most of all, stick to it! Manage your time in hourly blocks, but do remember to be reasonable and not to put too much pressure on yourself that you reject everything. Also make sure you schedule in time for scheduling time, which sounds ridiculous, but otherwise you will be behind before you've even started.
Reward yourself - You've completed some tasks. You've been productive. Give yourself a pat on the back! Self rewarding is a way to motivate yourself, and depriving yourself of little joys until you have finished what has to be done (providing you have the willpower to resist) should help you through big tasks.