The Quarantine Slump: 4 tips on gaining motivation

We had unfortunate news here in the Netherlands this week — the measures put into place for coronavirus will stay until at least 20 May. That means here we have another full month of working from home, social distancing, and general quarantine. And yes, it sucks!

One thing I see a lot of people struggle with, myself included at times, is maintaining or even creating motivation during this time. When you’re working from home and you move from your bed to your couch to work, how can you stay motivated? And how can you stay motivated to work when you’re right next to your kitchen, or Youtube and Netflix is one small click away?

Well, it’s not always clearcut on how to manage this situation and make sure you’re at least motivated enough to do some work, but I’ve put together a few tips and tricks on how to create that motivation you need to work from home.

Don’t work from your bed, no matter how comfortable it is.

A great way to ensure motivation, or at the very least that necessary work and home separation, is to create a designated workspace.

I know, I know - your bed or couch is comfortable and warm, and why not just lay in bed a little bit longer? After all, it’s not like you’re going to miss much at work when your home is your office now. It may be obvious for some but staying in bed to work is terrible for your motivation.

Our brains like to make connections to certain things, for example, your bed means time for sleep. So, what happens when you start working from your bed? To put it simply, you’ll no longer associate your bed with sleep but your bed with work, making you more restless when you try to go to sleep at night. And not only that but you’re also less likely to be productive when in bed, again think of that brain connection — your bed is a place for relaxation, not working, so it’s more difficult to work and focus.

A great way to ensure motivation, or at the very least that necessary work and home separation, is to create a designated workspace — whether that’s at the kitchen table, a home office, or even sitting on the floor. This is to ensure you get up and out of bed, and feel as though you are “going to work” instead of sitting up and working right away.

Routine, Routine, Routine

Creating and maintaining some sort of routine allows you to follow the work you’ve done (feeling productive) and knowing what needs to be done next (motivation).

Being stuck at home all the time and not having a boss to keep you in check makes it tempting to lose that routine you’ve had before the quarantine. It’s tempting to just sleep in a little bit later, what’s the fuss with sleeping until 10:00 instead of 7:00 when you don’t have anywhere to be? Trust me, I get it. Suddenly there’s no one there holding you accountable (whether that is your boss or that person you see at the gym every day).

Maybe you’ve noticed it’s been difficult to get into work when you went to sleep late the night before or slept in that morning. Maybe you’ve noticed a sudden drop in energy, mood, or motivation around lunchtime making you much more tempted to take that 2:00 pm nap. Let’s face it, having some sort of routine (even if you hate it) helps with keeping motivated and keep moving, and lately, it’s been challenging to find what type of routine works best for your particular situation.

All you can do is attempt new routines! I suggest deciding on a routine similar to pre-quarantine and attempting it for at least 1 to 2 weeks, to readjust. Creating and maintaining some sort of routine allows you to follow the work you’ve done (feeling productive) and knowing what needs to be done next (motivation). Sometimes creating a work from home routine can be difficult, so don’t be afraid to readjust as needed. The idea is that you create a routine that works best for you, not your colleagues.

If at first you don’t succeed, try an app

There are dozens of productivity apps and internet blocker apps that are excellent and can help you stay motivated and productive during the day.

We’ve all been there — opening up our laptops, pulling up the internet to look at emails then suddenly BOOM. It’s three hours later and you’ve been watching TikTok compilations on youtube all morning. Then you try to get back to work to only be distracted by Facebook or Twitter or some quiz called “Pick an Italian Meal and We’ll Tell You Your Zodiac Sign.”

Why is it so easy to get distracted at home? And how can you be sure you don’t fall into the internet rabbit hole? Some of us aren’t so lucky to not give in to these procrastination temptations, but fortunately, you can find ways to prevent you from doing so! There are dozens of productivity apps and internet blocker apps that are excellent and can help you stay motivated and productive during the day. I suggest ones like Freedom, which blocks certain websites from being used when turned on. Or, if you want something a bit more strict and you use Chrome, I suggest using Stay Focused. This app will block all websites or particular websites during a set time of day. Let’s say your routine has you working 10:00 to 6:00, you can easily block certain websites that distract you the most for this particular time frame. When 6:00 comes up and it’s time for you to finish working, you can use any site all you like.

Take some time off!

Think of setting up times that you do not work as setting boundaries for yourself, just like you would with people in your life.

When working from home it can be incredibly tempting to work late into the night or on the weekends. Sometimes it’s okay to give in to this, especially if there are certain deadlines or maybe you’ve got a really great flow with a particular assignment. But this does not make it okay all the time.

Think of setting up times that you do not work as setting boundaries for yourself, just like you would with people in your life. Setting up these healthy boundaries not only helps with creating and maintaining your routine, but it puts a time limit on when to work which will (hopefully) encourage you to work hard during your working hours.

When you decide on these working areas, inform others (colleagues, bosses, whoever you're quarantined with) and make it clear when you’re not available. This will help to limit distractions when working and help manage work stress. It can be easy to fall into “work all day mode” when you’re not in an office setting, but working all day can and will lead to burnout. And with generally higher levels of stress and anxiety during this time, the last thing you’ll want to work through is a burnout, trust me.

Working from home is challenging and, at times, it feels impossible to maintain the same levels of motivation you had at the beginning of working from home. In the beginning, it may have been nice and fun to work from home, but I think most of us are ready to get back to work and create a balance between work and home life. Follow some of these pointers and see if it helps improve not just your work performance but your overall mood, and let me know!

Good luck and stay safe.