The number of people working from home has increased rapidly over the past few years, is it any wonder with the extensive digital industry we now have? While this is an attractive option for many of us, it has it's fair share of downsides as well. One of the main issues I've found is you can quite often struggle to find the same sense of purpose working out of the house, as you do in a more traditional environment. Not only can a lot of people suffer from loneliness, but there is a myriad of distractions too. So, here are a few top tips to help with increasing the sense purpose that working from home gives you.
Start your day with learning.
One of the best ways of increasing the sense of purpose in a job when working from home is to feel like you're learning something new. The morning time is when your mind is at its freshest and is the perfect opportunity for you to take in new information, whether this is about CMC Markets, or even something as far out as trying to learn a new language so you can expand your business further. Learning is one of the best ways to give yourself working life a renewed sense of purpose.
Leave the house.
Even though you work from home, this doesn't mean that you have to work from home. Sometimes a change of scenery works wonders for your mind and can help spark off your ideas. Staying at home all day can make it difficult to separate your working life and your personal life. Thankfully, most places worth sitting in have WiFi these days so you can turn anywhere into your mobile office for a few hours if need be. I find this one for me, absolutely vital, whilst you'd naturally assume there are more distractions in public - it's truly quite the opposite, I'm not sat staring at a dirty dish or feeling the urge to put a wash load on, it's simply me and my laptop and I can really zone out.
Celebrate your victories.
The lack of camaraderie and feeling that you are part of a team is one of the most challenging aspects of working from home by yourself. You almost have to push yourself to make a special effort and celebrate your wins whenever you can. In fact, it can be incredibly rewarding to realise you don't need the validation of others, you can be perfectly content in celebrating your own achievements the way you see fit. Whether you head out to drinks with your partner that weekend, open a bottle of something fizzy at home or simply clock off early and spend an evening with trash tv - whatever works for you.
Stay disciplined in your working schedule.
Staying on task is one of the most difficult aspects of working from home on a regular basis. Since you have the freedom to dictate your own hours, you aren't rigidly stuck in the 9 to 5, which can be a double-edged sword. Setting yourself some clear office hours can help you out when it comes to separating your working and personal lives. Of course, you have the freedom to vary these hours as you like but many people find that establishing a sense of consistency is helpful.
There is no doubt that working from home is a fantastic choice for many of us, but you need to work that little bit harder to find balance and that sense of fulfilment that we naturally find when we leave the house to work. Leaving my 9-5 (more like 7-7) job to work for myself, from home, was and still is the best choice I made and now almost a year in I couldn't imagine going back to that life but it definitely takes a little while to find yourself in the swing of things.
*This is a collaborative post
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