Last Updated on February 29, 2024
If you are a telecommuter like me, then chances are, you enjoy the freedom working from home gives you. No need to get up and drive to the office in rush hour traffic and sit behind a desk counting the hours, minutes and seconds till you can drive back home in rush hour traffic…again. No need to get suited up and to sit through hourly meetings, to go on quick-lunch breaks and limited coffee breaks.
Such is the life of a telecommuter. You have the freedom to work whenever you feel like working, as long as deadlines are met and submissions are up to par. You also have the freedom to decide whether to work in your home office, in the kitchen, in the living room or in a nearby coffee shop with free wifi. You can even choose to work either during the day or at night, whenever your creative juices allow you to.
As ideal as this scenario may be, I have to admit – there are days when I find myself struggling to get up and start working. This is probably the bane of most telecommuters, particularly those who work on their own and are highly trusted by their bosses to do what needs to be done without too much supervision. We sometimes find ourselves succumbing to laziness every now and then, and have to tell ourselves to get up and get things done.
When I find myself falling victim to such a situation, I usually find ways to motivate myself to get up and get moving. Having a job that I can do from home should be motivation enough, if I were to really think about it, but hey, I am only human after all. So, when I find myself in this kind of a rut, here are some of the things I think about whenever I need that extra push to get me out of bed and in front of my computer:
- My Family – I know this may sound like a cliché, but hey, I love my family. My kids have become my main purpose for carrying on with life. I have a son and a daughter and thinking about meeting their needs helps get me out of bed and tapping away at my keyboard ASAP. Being a single parent, you have to take care of a lot of things and are expected to shell out for every expense that two people are supposed to be sharing. Thinking about not being able to provide for my kids helps motivate me to get work done…and fast!
- Bills, bills and still more bills – These are things you need to take care of and, while it sometimes sucks to be the responsible one, I know the responsibility for paying bills in a single parent household falls to me. I mean, who else is there? (LOL) Thinking about keeping up to date with credit card payments and other similar concerns can (and will) get me out of bed since I do not want part of my hard earned money going to interest rates that are incurred with late payments and such.
- My reputation – work from home people, like me, have to keep their reputations intact in order for them to retain clients and to be assured of getting other clients in the future with the help of sterling referrals from previous clients. Screw up your work reputation and you can say goodbye to your chances of more telecommuting jobs in the future.
- I remind myself that I am lucky – where can you find a job that lets you do what you love doing (in my case, writing), and without a boss that constantly badgers you for updates, revisions and other stuff? If you are as lucky as I am, you simply need to show your boss that you can do the job real well and they will let you handle things without having to constantly look over your shoulder to see if things are getting done (because you are getting things done).
These are just a few of the things I use to motivate me to kick the laziness bug goodbye and to get things done. These all work for me and get me to go through what is required of me without my boss having to worry about not getting things finished on time. How about you? What motivates you to get up and get to work?