How Self Motivated are You?

The advent of Internet business has led many people down the path to self-employment and/or telecommuting to save costs and live the American dream of getting to go to work in your pajamas. Working from home is a wonderful thing, but if you're going to make it work you're going to have to be more self motivated than you ever were sitting in an office.

What am I talking about? When you're in an office you have a lot of things going for you when it comes to productivity. First and foremost, your distractions should be at a minimum-your phone isn't ringing all day long, the kids aren't underfoot, the dishes and the laundry aren't calling to you and you've got your boss looking over your shoulder to make sure you're not spending the day surfing the net, listening to music or playing video games instead of working. Take that supervision away and many people get too distracted to get their jobs done the way they were meant to.

For some people self motivation comes easily. The rest of us have to work at it! Here are a couple of tips to help improve your self-motivation and keep you on the straight and narrow when you're working from home:

1) Make yourself a to-do list, and prioritize. When you've got a set list of tasks that have to be done by the end of the day you're more likely to stay on track than if your mind is allowed to wander any direction it chooses.

2) Minimize the distractions. Don't allow yourself to keep multiple browser windows open on the Internet, turn off the television (or make the kids turn down the volume) and restrict your use of Facebook, Twitter and MySpace to before and after working hours. Most importantly, ignore your telephone! Unless there's an emergency, work hours should be for work phone calls only.

3) Decide what time you're going to start, and stick with it. It's hard not to give in to the temptation to dawdle over that last cup of coffee in the morning, but getting a late start almost always means running behind all day long-and often not getting through your to-do list before it's time to stop for homework/supper/baths/etc.

4) Remind yourself of the rewards of a job well done-and the consequences if it isn't. Having an established set of rewards and consequences will go a long way toward helping you stay on the straight and narrow.

Working from home can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be incredibly difficult. Focusing on your self motivation and building up your self discipline will go a long way toward helping you do your job well, even when you're not working out of the office.