Lacking motivation

[ladypol]

Hi,
wondering if anyone can help me. I work from home but not for myself. I get a lot of freedom and pretty much all of my work is self directed. Bliss you may think....well, it does have its advantages.
The problem I've got is that i'm lacking motivation to do any work. Because no-one is checking up on me or demanding very much from me I can't motivate myself to do any extra work. I'm not lazy - when there's work to be done I can knuckle down and even enjoy it. I like being pushed and at the moment I can't get the energy to push myself. I guess I'm looking for inspiration!

[knoxy]

I work from home as well, however, I have my own business.

If it weren't for the accountability I feel for my business partner, I think I would lack motivation often.

Do you have anyone you report to?  Anyone you can create goals with?  Any way you can create a schedule where you can enjoy the freedom of working from home - but also handle the responsibility that is given to you?    Really, working from home for an employer is truly a gift - do you think you are sabotaging that gift?

I don't know much - I can only tell you my experience.  I worked from home for an employer before starting my own company - I screwed around quite a bit - but in retrospect, I was sort of stealing from my employer in doing so.  They trusted me to work from home and perform!   It took me a while to realize that and respect the freedom I was given with performance.

It doesn't have to be either or - it can be an AND.  Freedom AND doing the job you are paid for!!! 

XOXO,

Knoxy

(edited to add that I'm NOT a coach and very new to this board - I hope my post wasn't inappropriate!)

[vernon]

Dear Ladypol

No help i'm afraid- I'm pretty rubbish too in that scenario ! And like you i enjoy working hard when the occasion calls for it. Top tips required please

Vernon

[Jay Budzynski]

Hi
That’s an interesting statement “I work from home but not for myself” so you give all your money away?”  cool,  a mind set, that I adopted years ago, no matter if I was working with others, or for myself,  I would always class my self as self employed, now you might have noticed that I said work with others and not for others,  when we work with others a different internal relationship is formed, and having this synergistic mind set,  means that you have to take 100% responsibility for your day to day out put,  which means you can use your none task time to ever enjoy the free time, and sit on you arse all day, or you can add some new skills to your CV,  Brian Tracy who is a fantastic business executive coach, pointed out that if we would just read one chapter of a book each day, read a poem, and listen to one educational CD each day, with in a year you could be in the top  5% of the top earners in your field, the books would be directly related to your field and the audio programmes would be, topics like negotiating, sales, time management etc.
So the work you do in the week, does it come in dribs and drabs? Or you get a weekly task sheet? Could you reorganize, your week in such away, where you would be able to work, for several days flat out, and use the other days to do something creative, maybe doing something that could create some extra passive income.
Lake of motivation is often the direct production, of not having anything to aim for, if you don’t have any goals, then you really don’t need motivation, and you can enjoy this free time.

You can bet you bottom dollar/pound if you set your self a goal/ task the motivation will kick in.

Jay

[Tim]

Hi Ladypol

Try this.
Think about the parts of the job that you do that you enjoy doing or take a personal satisfaction from doing well.
(by the way, if nothing occurs to you then maybe your motivation should be towards a career change)

Just focus on the stuff that interests you and that you enjoy. Then consider what more you could do in this area or what would make it even more enjoyable.

For example, I once had a job that involved a lot of data entry, which I didn’t enjoy, and data analysis, which I did. By concentrating on the analysis side I found myself reading in more data to undertake the analysis that I wanted but feeling more inspired about it.
(This sounds a bit like ‘Sad Confessions of a Computer Basher’, but hey!)

Seriously, focusing on the stuff that you enjoy rather than the stuff that you ‘have to do’ can be a great way to get you moving.

Hope this helps,

Tim.

[ladypol]

Hi ,
Thanks  for the suggestions. Part of the problem is that there just isn't much work at times. It does come in dribs and drabs but I don't have many 'big' projects at the moment and so struggle to get the important but non urgent stuff done. I don't really have to report to anyone either as my manager isn't a very good manager and I feel guilty as someone said about 'stealing from my employer'

Funnily enough after I wrote the original post these are the things I decided to do:
1. reduce my work hours and have one day 'off' a week and make sure that I work flat out the other days/hours.
In order to give myself something to do:
2. I gave myself a project - looking at the stuff I like doing and looking at what I would liek to do. There are some parts of my job that I can do but not very well so I figured I should work to get better at those areas.
3. Make myself report to myself!

I know I am blessed and that this job is a blessing with all its freedom and nice salary. I don't want to sabotage it and so need to prove to myself that I deserve it!

[peterblythspain]

Hi,I work from home and for myself,i did the McKenna,bandler,(and of course Micheals ) course and set up as a pract in Spain(british area)
I got the course fee back within 2 months,and was quite busy
then I moved to where i am now , in the middle of the Spanish hills with very little British...a very different kettle of fish so to speak...
So I get up by my alarm clock each morning at 8am... breakfast...then decide the WORK for today...till 5 mabe 6pm then i stop.........
6 days a week....
Even if theres no work....which there is very little at the moment.. I still think as being at work..........keep disipline etc........

I invent idea's ...some work some i throw away or delete......
as part of my day.......
and i go out and market my skills EVERY DAY...

Ask yourself what do you want to achieve and set a system for it to be a success.........if it isnt change the idea......

good luck
peter

I am planning a NLP course here in remote Spain this year with another NLP,r ........and thats my latest idea... from the top of my head...the best place to look is in your head and then time line it......
and as Micheal says    WRITE IT DOWN.......WRITE IT DOWN >>>WRITE IT DOWN.....
as per his book which is an excellent place to begin(And i rarely advertise for people believe me !!!!!!!!!!)

[bobby04040]

Hi,
I writing, so that's working from home.  Problem is that I don't get paid, so being motivated is nearly impossible.  I found a simple solution.  For example, I have to be at 'work' at 10 am this morning.  Lunch is at 2 pm, but I have to be back by 3 pm.  I can't use the internet, except at lunch, and I can't have the tv on.  The Boss wouldn't like that.  I can have music on (but not too loud to distract).

I am reminded of when I pull up to my paying job.  How I sit there for a second.  I don't want to go in.  But I do.  Because I have too.  So, like I said, I HAVE TO be at work this morning at 10 am.

I also remember the story a polish freind told me about his brother back in poland.  His brother's employeer can't pay him (this was a few years ago, so I hope his situation has changed).  But his brother still goes to work everyday in promise of being paid someday.  Imagine that!  So I try to remember that.  Thank God I have a paying employeer to back up my employeer that can't pay me yet (that's me).  I can also relate because like Poland I also have a struggling economy.

Just some thoughts!
bob