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I find it helps to stick to an office-like routine even when you don't really need to. Like do actually wake up on time, take a shower, perform normal grooming tasks, get dressed in professional clothes, make breakfast, and get online on time.
also go outside for a short walk to simulate the daily commute.
The working from home part I have a lot of experience with:
1. Rituals are an important factor in maintaining a psychological distance from your work and your personal life. Create a concrete, formulaic morning routine! Get dressed in certain clothes for work, wear different clothes in the evening. Listen to a particular genre of music at work that you never, ever listen to in your leisure time.
The goal is to have your brain associate certain behaviours and feelings with particular stimuli. I don't have any papers to cite about the effectiveness of this practice but I've been working from home for years at a time and I can't imagine why I would ever go back to commuting to an office regularly. This has been more important for me when I don't have a dedicated home office!
2. Don't stress about being butt-in-seat. Go for a walk if you get in a rut. Take a 15 minute nap if you get sleepy in the afternoon. You'll get most of your work done during the day and often your subconscious brain needs time to work and it does that when you're not paying attention to things. Focus on getting good quality work time in. Across all industries, knowledge-workers are most productive when they are well-rested and are not stressed out.
3. Talk to your doctor about your sleep patterns if you're not getting enough. Sleep is key.
4. Do not forgo ergonomics. This goes whether in an office or at home but you need a good physical space that is suited to your body type and needs. Don't try to hunch over a laptop at your kitchen table for hours at a time. Get up, move around, try different postures and aim to get whatever funds you can access through your company, government, local network to get proper equipment.
5. Have a local network of folks you can meet up with on the regular. Pandemic times and all but even if you can meet on a corner for a little water-cooler chat it helps build a sense of place and belonging. Lots of people are working from home these days. In non-pandemic situations I'd go for coffee at a regular cafe we'd meet at and had a pass to a local co-working space. Being out in your community and seeing those familiar strangers along the way is a good thing and worth holding on to.
Sounds like you're suffering from mild depression; one of the common symptoms is lack of motivation. If you try powering through your symptom, there is a good chance it will make your anxiety rise. And that's arguably worse. Let me ask you: How often do you exercise? Do you meditate? When was the last time you lost yourself on a good walk? Have you been taking vitamin D supplements (important for us northerners durin…
How do you jump from lack of motivation to a diagnostic of depression?!
Motivation and mild depression can be easily conflated.
A strong sense of purpose in life. When every productive day brings me closer to realising a wonderful goal, I can endure even the shitty client I am unfortunate to work with.
This is the most underrated comment in this thread. Purpose is essential in ensuring one's mental well-being. Without it, you hit burnout or depression quickly.
If it is due lack of social contact (due to working from home), try hanging out with friends or acquaintances everyday. It's a good idea to do that anyways.
Lack of exercise and exposure to sunlight can be a factor. Being outside on a nice sunny morning really cheers me up. Carve out time to walk in a park or in the midst of nature.
If the work isn't interesting, try to see if there are other places you can contribute and ask for it. If you can also identify a interesting problem worth solving then you can own it and run with it.
Lack of appreciation at work or from colleagues can also be a factor. If that is the case, acknowledge that many are also going through a rough time at this point. Perhaps you can help set an example and try influencing the culture a little bit. For e.g. an attaboy on a solid PR to a colleague or engaging in conversations outside of work before start of meetings.
When my workouts, diet, or sleep start slipping, I find working more difficult. When I do all three right, work usually seems easy and enjoyable. 1. Exercising well (45-60 min of strenuous exercise, 4-6 days per week, walks for sun exposure) 2. Eating well (limited junk food, no alcohol, no eating outside of a fixed time window, home cooked, mostly veggies) 3. Sleeping well (8 hours, consistent timing, early to bed,…
Obviously where your home office is matters a great deal. I am occupying whole basement of the house. I can imagine someone in small apartment with kids would have absolutely horrible experience in comparison and I can't imagine being able to concentrate on any work in such environment.
Sometimes I feel mentally wasted and I just go for a bike ride, hike, swim whatever.
Add a pomodoro ticker on top of that, and you're good to go.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the most underrated comment in this thread. Purpose is essential in ensuring one's mental well-being. Without it, you hit burnout or depression quickly.
I don't see how this helps anyone who is struggling. Purpose isn't something that you can just go and get more of.