Working from home has many challenges. Unfortunately, we don’t become aware until the day that we have to either remotely work from home or start our own business.
The first day I quit my 9 to 5 JOB was very challenging indeed!
You see, until then I had a daily routine scheduled.
It used to go like this: wake up at 7 am, get washed and dressed, help kids get ready, commute to work on autopilot and go through the day at work like a robot. Return from work and prepare dinner and late at night work on my business.
Everything has changed when I became my own boss. My routine got totally messed up. I had no one to tell me “Do this or do that”, after all, I was in charge and wanting to run my business at my own terms, I started to neglect the so needed routine in my day.
So, the pitfalls of working from home started to appear in my life:
1 – DILLY DALLYING
I soon realized that if I don’t keep the mind and body active, I would start to be more overwhelmed and start procrastinating. I would find cleaning the house more attractive than calling prospects and selling my services.
I would postpone certain tasks or even just ignore them as if they would go away! Unfortunately, they didn’t go away, my daily tasks and building my business was still there the next day. I used to try and find every single excuse to NOT DO my work.
That wouldn’t happen if I was still in corporate, right? I used to have a schedule and religiously follow it. The opposite started happening and I started to “dilly dally” so I had to find a way to reduce the vicious circle of PROCRASTINATION and that is why I implemented the exercise below.
Here’s an exercise for procrastination that you might find helpful. This is an exercise that I use myself if I’m struggling with anything either in my life or biz.
Example…the common”procrastination” state that we found ourselves in.
🔎I START by digging deeper into it…and I asked myself.
Q: Why I’m procrastinating?
A: To avoid doing my inner work.
Q: Why am I avoiding doing my inner work?
A: Because of what I might find.
Q: Why is finding “It” a problem?
A: I might need to release it because it’s not serving me.
Q: Why is it not serving me?
A: Because it’s making me play small and don’t show up my power.
Q: Why is playing small a problem?
A: Because I will miss opportunities and hide.
I do these why questions exercise often but maybe not as often as I should. Then I visualize the opposite of “playing small”. How would it feel to “play BIG”.
Visualisation is powerful because you start to send messages to your brain of what you want to see and achieve. You start to reframe the old story that you have been telling yourself. The story that doesn’t serve you anymore will become the dream vision that you so want.
2 – FINDING THE BALANCE AND SELF-CONTROL
If you still have a corporate job or you need to do remote work, finding the balance between that and building your own business can be hard. When you work remotely, one of the emotions that you need to face is the feeling of being guilty if you don’t perform your job tasks like you are required.
Many companies allow their employees to work remotely. I agree 100% with this practice but they must allow for their employees to do the work autonomously and trust.
However, they employees are aware that these activities are being monitored, so they feel guilty if during the day they take their eyes off the screen or God forbid take a break from their computer screens and stop reading emails.
If you work in your 9 to 5 remotely you are so exhausted by the end of the day that you can’t find the strength to work on your own business. I get it! I’ve been through that myself. You feel that you need to report the work done to your executives but all you want to do at the end of your working day is to put your feet up, watch a movie, read a good and relax with a nice glass of wine. But you can’t unwind, right?
Having a daily planned schedule and taking regular breaks will help you to find the balance between working your JOB and working on your own business.
One of the tools that have helped me to find my balance and reduce my stress has been to learn how to meditate. There is no right or wrong when we start meditating. The key is to allow thoughts to come to you and vanish for a while so that you can find inner peace and rejuvenation. Breathing deeply and exhaling your worries during your meditation sessions has been proven to calm you down.
3 – R.E.S.P.E.C.T. MY SPACE AND I WILL RESPECT YOURS
Working from home comes with building boundaries, not only with yourself but also with others. Your boss (or your clients, in case you already become your own boss) don’t know for sure what you are doing all day. So, they assume that you are available for questions, last-minute calls or the endless emails with progress tracking.
I asked one of my clients how does it feel to work remotely and still find the time to launch her business. This was what she had to say:
By the time you get ‘off work’…which nowadays my boss calls me way after my ‘off-time’….the brain and nervous system are too tense and drained of creativity and energy to then focus on creating something inspiring and valuable for your own project, and target audience.
It feels exhausting and draining doesn’t it? It feels like you are on call 24/7. This is the quickest road to burnout.
Creating boundaries with others and with yourself will enable you to own your space and your sanity. Let others know that “this and that” will be done and give them a time when you’re intending to do it. In this case, you are allowing yourself some space to breathe and meeting their expectations.
4 – MESSY WORKPLACE, MESSY LIFE
Your outer space is a reflection of your inner space. I truly believe that when you surround yourself with a clean and beautiful environment, you feel happier and joyful for longer during the day. Little things can put a smile on your face such as fresh flowers, listening to music playing in the background or even having an organised and clean workplace.
I love to listen to music when I work. It’s funny because sometimes I just put my headphones and suddenly I’m humming so loud that my husband starts looking at me in a weird way as if I am from a different planet. It surely helps me to learn. I remember when I was studying, in my early teenage years, I used to play my favourite 80’s music. I knew that I was completely engrossed in my studies and totally focused when the tunes would disappear from my mind. That is weird, don’t you think?
5 – WORDS ARE POWERFUL
During your day there will be quite a few things that are going to upset you. Maybe some tasks are not going the way you want them to go. Possibly some client(s) or even your boss has upset you or undervalued your work. You feel angry and frustrated.
Thoughts and images are running wild through your mind. Eventually, you lose control of the words you say to yourself and to others. The words you say to yourself are powerful and determine the vibration and energy that you carry so watch your words carefully my friend. Have you heard of “You are what You think”?
“The phrase ‘you are what you think’ is so true & in fact our life actually stems out only from what we think, say & do. I am a firm believer that whatever we think & feel at any given time is basically our request to the universe for more of the same. Remember, your universe just responds to whatever energy you are creating & it gives you more of the same. That is why it is so important to make sure that you are sending out signals that resonate only with what you want to be, do & experience. Do not transmit anything which engages your own angels against you & your world. If you only focus on lack & remain negative, anxious & stressed then the energy of your thoughts will repel the universal force against you. You have to be very careful with your feelings, intentions, thoughts & actions by choosing to manifest only those which work towards your benefit & cultivate your highest good. Let my today’s message push your brain to form new clusters of positive thoughts so that you can break patterns of negative thoughts & actions in order to make your universe to endow you with the abilities to turn all your wishful thoughts into your reality soon. Let all your blessings continue to multiply. Stay Positive, Passionate, Joyful, Appreciative & Optimistic!”
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Curious to know what takeaways you got from this blog article. Let me know in the comments what other good practices to put in place to avoid falling into challenges of working from home?
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