Flexible Working | Simple tips to stay motivated

It’s safe to say this year has taken a toll on everyone, not only have studies shown an increase in anxiety and stress levels across the world, but the current pandemic has certainly shed new light on the importance of mental health. In a Twitter Insiders survey, they found that 54% more people agree that “my mental health” has increased in importance compared to the previous year. Between 2016 and 2020 conversations that used the phrases “well being” and “self-care” increased by 225%.

Whether you are working from home, a coffee shop, a flexible workspace like ours or on the go as you commute, staying motivated and with positive mental health is essential to our overall wellbeing, productivity levels, creativity and relationships, both personal and professional. In support of World Mental Health Month this October, here are some quick tips to stay motivated whilst working flexibly or remotely.

Create a routine

By creating a routine and sticking to it, you can improve your productivity and reduce the number of distractions around you during your working period. Your routine may include getting up early just as you regularly would commute to work, and even to just to change your clothes and put yourself into the working mindset.

Take breaks

Take short breaks between long sittings of work to stretch your legs, stay hydrated and to rest your eyes. It’s not a known secret that giving your mind respite from a task can often bring you new inspiration to tackling a problem.

Find the source of distractions

When we are in the flow and engaged with a task that we are doing, often we can lose track of time amid the work – something that Cal Newport describes as ‘Deep Work’. However, when we are prone to distractions, it’s often because we are facing adversity, challenges and tasks can easily seem to drag on. The current working from home scenario already poses some unprecedented challenges, but if you are feeling incredibly unmotivated, take some time out to review the source of your distractions. Perhaps take a leaf out of Newport’s book, Deep Work Rules! And figure out which part of your work constitutes ‘Deep’ and ‘Shallow’ works.

Look towards the future

One of the things that can help you stay motivated is to look to the future and prepare for it. If you discover you have more spare time on your hands than expected, then reviewing your regular working practices. Make adjustments to your work routine; experiment with new methods of working or collaborating; search for new apps or technologies that could help offload or automate tasks; create a new filing system. The future of work is flexible, and the more agility you equip yourself today, the higher the chance and bigger the edge you give yourself to succeed tomorrow.

Video chat over calls

One of the challenges of working from home is isolation and loneliness, which can directly impact productivity and motivation. In fact, research has found that loneliness can be “twice as harmful to physical and mental health as obesity.” To tackle this, we encourage setting up video chats for conference calls rather than just communicating through messenger platforms and phone calls. According to Ron Gutman, “one smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate.”

Finally, if you’d like to deep dive into more wellness tips for the workplace, we highly recommend checking out our latest Whitepaper on ‘Wellness Warfare’ that was a unique collaboration by 4 experts in different backgrounds.