The Lone Worker – 8 tops tips to stay motivated
Another day at the kitchen table looms, or perhaps you are lucky enough to still be getting out and about with your work, but work mostly alone? This is certainly the case for most of my clients and with the absence of a boss, a board or a team (which is also the case for me personally) how does one stay motivated, engaged and energised?
1. Prioritise mental and physical well-being
Maybe now isn’t the time to strive to achieve or overachieve on your goals? Make sure that looking after your mental and physical wellbeing is the absolute top priority. Ensure all the essential tasks get done and consider lowering your expectations of yourself temporarily during this time.
2. Revisit your vision
When you get bogged down in the nuts and bolts of running a business, or project, it’s easy to forget to dream and even remember your original vision.
Make sure you regularly revisit your vision and check that you have clear goals attached to it.
Does your vision need revising or changing? Has it been met already or if not, are you making clear steps towards it? One lovely way to do this is to create a vision board using words, phrases, photos or hand drawn pictures that represent where you want your life and your business to be.
If you can find a vision board buddy to do this with, it can be more powerful and fun!
3. Goal setting
The best way to achieve a dream is to break it down into lots of small, achievable goals and tasks that work towards delivering your vision.
Use your vision board (or some other preferred visioning technique) to redesign or update your goals.
Ideally, set some longer-term goals over 3-5 years, but create some detailed ones for the year ahead. Break those down over a month and then create some goals that feed into those overarching goals at the beginning of every week.
Are your goals SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timebound) and do they need to be adjusted due to the current climate or put on hold for now?
4. Create a positive mindset
I love this story…A traveller on a long journey sat down to rest at the side of the road next to a man chiselling stone. He looked sad and the traveller felt moved to ask, ‘‘What’s the matter?,’’. ‘’I’m so sad’’, replied the man, ‘’this is what my life has come to, all I do all day is chisel stone, it’s so monotonous…’’. Further up the road, the traveller stops to rest again next to another man chiselling stone. He is whistling and smiling to himself. ‘’What makes you so happy?’’, the traveller asked. ‘’I’m building a castle”, replied the man as he chipped away minute pieces of stone off a huge block.
I remembered this story on Thursday morning this week as I sat at my desk, my mind drifting once again, feeling like I’d achieved nothing… ‘’surely, you’ve done something’’ a voice in my head responded. So I drew up a chart and wrote out the first achievement that came into my head from the week, which was having a great session with my own business coach. Up on the chart it went, then another little task I’d completed popped up…it was small …’’creating a good social media post’’, on it went and before I knew it, I had generated 15 achievements from my week and they all went onto my wall. After completing this exercise, my mood lifted 20 notches and I started writing this piece! Keep chiselling!
5. Praise yourself out loud
This might sound cheesy, but congratulate yourself out loud. As children many of us didn’t get the appreciation and praise we needed when we achieved something and find it much easier to identify what we’ve failed at. Don’t be afraid of giving praise to yourself, it actually makes a real difference if you do it regularly.
6. Build your plane on the way up
When I felt I didn’t have all the skills I needed to build my own business, a wise coach told me to ‘’build the plane on the way up’’. We can often feel we don’t have all the skills we need to do what we’ve set out to do. That may or may not be true, but if it’s true, it’s ok, we can still start out and gather the skills and experience we need on the way, a bit like an exciting quest.
I’ve started my business, but I’m still constantly training, receiving coaching, reading new books, listening to inspiring podcasts and updating my mindsets. Stay inspired and keep building your plane!
7. Build your dream team
If you work alone, you still need to have some kind of team around you. When you hire an accountant, communications person, website designer, administrator or coach, make sure they are who you would want on your dream team and that they are fully aligned with your vision and mission. Only accept the best people who you can inspire but will also inspire you. If you are in an organisation where you can’t find a senior college or co-worker who inspires you, look outside of your organisation for a coach or mentor and ask yourself ‘am I in the right place?’.
8. Meet yourself at the coffee machine
In the days of office working, employees would have up to four tea breaks a day and meet at the coffee machine (or a kettle in a less glamourous setting) for a hot drink and a natter. This would still be counted as work because you were chatting to a colleague. These days, those of us working 9 – 5 can feel guilty about taking time away from the desk, even when their concentration has waned. If you lose your concentration, get out and go for a 20 – 30-minute walk, take a cat nap or read a novel. Your work won’t suffer and you’ll come back more refreshed and focused than you would have done from all those coffee machine breaks!
These are just some of the tips and methods I share with my coaching clients. If you’d like to find out how coaching can support your goals at this time, contact me for an exploratory call.
