Hey Owlets,
While working from home is pretty normal for me, a lot of you have said how going from working in an office to working from home is a real struggle. Even though I'm freelance, I'm used to working in cafes or while I'm travelling, so even I'm struggling a little. If you've read my tips for working from home article already you'll know that one of the most important things that helps me is getting ready for work each morning; even though I'm not going anywhere getting ready for the day physically makes me feel ready to be productive. As I know we're all struggling at the moment I wanted to share my morning routine on a work from home day, to hopefully help you and give you a little inspiration and advice.
The first thing I do is try to wake up and start work around the same time every morning - if you're in an office job you probably have set hours so this is already done for you, but if not it's really easy to slip into bad habits. Before lockdown, I would get up and get ready when my boyfriend had to get up for work, walk him to work and then come back to start my own. Having that routine in the morning really helped me, so I've tried to keep my routine as similar as possible - although I will admit my alarm has slipped to about an hour later! I try to wake up between 9 and 10am, as I find if I wake up at 8am I don't focus as well - try to find your own natural rhythm if you don't have set hours. In all honesty, when my alarm goes off I don't want to get up so while I'm waking up I check my social media to see if I've got any comments to reply to, reply to messages from friends so that's out the way before I start work, and check my emails. Doing this helps get my mind going so I already have things I want to do and planned responses in mind by the time I open my laptop.
It usually takes me about 20 minutes to get out of bed, and as soon as I'm up I make the bed, because in my mind this separates morning and work time. I'll go make breakfast and start to reply to my social media comments and schedule any posts to go out over the next few days while I eat. I like to have a bit of background noise on, but I always make sure to put one or two YouTube videos on so they're quite short, and I queue them so I don't fall into an endless rabbit hole. I usually watch travel vlogs in the morning because it reminds me of the best part of my job and motivates me to want to work, but find whatever works for you.
This next step is the most important - get dressed. When I'm done with breakfast I like to get in the shower to wake me up (I sometimes like having baths in the evenings, but this is more to relax me so I don't recommend it before work!). I make sure to wash my face and put skincare on as I'm not putting on makeup to work at home, then I put on daytime clothes so I feel like I'm ready to work. It's ok to put on something comfortable (I usually work in leggings and a t-shirt) but don't put pyjamas on, because they will take you out of the work mindset. Lastly, I like to throw my hair up in a bun or ponytail so it's out of the way and another distraction taken off my mind.
My morning routine is all about getting myself in the right mindset to work - I find that if I miss something out I can't concentrate, even though I'm not the kind of person that likes routines. If you're still struggling, then take a look at my article on how to get motivated, or my more general tips on working from home.
What do you do to get yourself motivated to work? Let me know in the comments below or on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter
Love and Feathers,
The Owlet 💜
You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest
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