Dangling Carrots – how to motivate yourself when you work at home with your own business.

It is probably quite safe to say that I’m not a morning person. In the days when I used to work for other people, I kept a bar of chocolate in the glove box of my car for this very reason. See, I love chocolate. On those dark, winter mornings when getting out of bed and going to work seemed like the hardest thing in the world, that little bar of chocolate made it just a little bit more bearable. Of course, persuading myself to actually get out of the car and into the office (it’s probably safe to say that I’m not much of an “office” person, either) was another matter. I had another bar of chocolate tucked away in my desk drawer for that very purpose…

Now that I work for myself, with my own writing/editing/proofreading business, you’d think I wouldn’t need the dangling carrots. For the first time in my life, the thought of going to work doesn’t make me want to cry. I genuinely love what I do – and best of all, I don’t have to get up at 6.30am every morning to do it – but I still need those dangling carrots to get me out of bed in the morning, and sometimes to get me through the day.

The problem now isn’t that I don’t love my work; I do. It’s that I also love my bed, and now that I work from home, it’s all too easy to say to myself, “well, I could have an extra half hour in bed now – all I’ll have to do is work an extra half hour this evening to make up for it.” This, of course, is true. But that extra half hour in the evening soon turns into an hour (now that I actually enjoy my work, clockwatching is a thing of the past!), and before I know it I’m working late and going to bed late – which, in turn, makes it even more difficult to get out of bed in the morning.

It’s a vicious circle, and one which many home workers fall prey to. One of the things I love most about working from home is that I can choose my own hours, and work around the whole “I hate mornings” issue, but it can also mean that I end up working all day, with no time to relax and do other things. What I need is a few more dangling carrots. Here are mine:

1. Coffee and chocolate.

OK, so I’m not about to make them my staple diet, but the thought of a nice big cappuccino in the morning can be enough to get me out of bed. Once I’m up, the caffeine helps me stay up, too. Now, while I’m not suggesting that you sacrifice your health for your motivation, starting your day with something you enjoy can make all the difference. Your dangling carrot could be gorgeous shower gel, a wonderful breakfast, or just twenty minutes with the morning paper or a good book, but starting your day the way you want to will make that extra twenty minutes in bed seem like a bit of a waste.

2. Love your workspace.

One of the things that made conventional work so horrible for me was the fact that in every job I ever had I was invariably exchanging my bright, warm home for a draughty, miserable office where the temperature was either too hot or too cold and the only view from the window (if I was lucky enough to have a window!) was the supermarket car park next door. Working from home means that you can set up your office however you like. Use bright, cheerful colours and surround yourself with the things that make you happy, whether they be houseplants, music, or family photos; it’s much easier to get to work when you work in pleasant surroundings.

3. Set deadlines.

I’ll be honest, here; when I worked for other people, often the only thing that got me into work was the fact that I didn’t have any choice. In your own home business, you do have a choice – although too much time away from the “office” will obviously make your business suffer. One thing that really helps me is to set goals and deadlines for each day – and not just to set them in my head, but to actually write them down, and tell other people about them. Doing that makes them much more “official” – and makes it that bit harder for me to break them.

4. Remember why you’re doing this.

For me the biggest dangling carrot of all is the memory of how things used to be. Being part of the rat race made me so miserable that when I finally escaped it I promised myself never to go back. I try to never lose sight of how much happier I am now that I work for myself – and all the things I’d lose if I had to go back to “the other side”. If that can’t get me out of bed in the morning, nothing can!

Relevant Reading:
The Shoestring Entrepreneur's Guide to the Best Home-Based Businesses : Robert Spiegel

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