6 tips for self motivation during Lockdown 3.0

Here we are again, placed back into lockdown and readjusting to that ‘working from home’ lifestyle we grew so accustomed to throughout much of 2021. During the current pandemic we are in it can be difficult to keep yourself motivated at home – especially if you are working, but also the opposite, too. To help combat this issue we have created a list of tips for you to follow. Let’s all try to keep upbeat, motivated and positive and hopefully we can help.

Create a daily routine

Making sure you create yourself a schedule/routine to follow is one of the key tips for self motivation during this third lockdown. It can be difficult to have a routine if you’re unfortunately not working, however, it’s essential that you design a plan for each day, as it will make the days that pass by much more meaningful.

A simple start to a routine can be waking up and starting the day early. If you end up waking up in the afternoon then the day has gone, it’s been wasted and there will not be much you can do to get your day started. So, get up and at ‘em early with a consistent, regular wake up time. You can even factor exercise into your early mornings, which we will get onto.

Having a good night sleep is crucial to starting the day in a good mood, so by waking up early and getting jobs done throughout the day, your body will feel naturally tired and you will slowly end up falling asleep at a natural time. When your body doesn’t do enough throughout the day it can still be full of energy, and an active mind can keep you awake for hours past a healthy bedtime.

Your sleeping pattern will sort itself out once you create a busy routine for yourself throughout the day. You can create a list of as many jobs as you want. It could be to give your home a good clean and tidy, do a workout (which we’ll get on to shortly, we’re experts!), washing your clothes and so on.. As long as you have activities you can do constantly during the day, the weeks will fly by.

Furthermore, as you consistently keep yourself occupied throughout the days your mind will be activated, therefore you will not dwell on anything and you’ll have motivation to keep wanting to find things to do during this difficult time that we all live in at the moment.

Work out regularly

Without a doubt the best way to motivate yourself whilst we are all at home is by doing a workout. It might seem daunting at first especially if you hardly do much exercise at the moment, but the feeling you get after working out is second to none. When you exercise your body releases natural endorphins, meaning you will feel so good about yourself after you have completed a workout.

As well as feeling good about yourself, when you exercise it distracts you from whatever is on your mind – whether that be work related or something personal. If it is a work or personal issue that is bothering you, by taking part in a workout it can take so much stress off your shoulders and afterwards you will have a much more clearer head than you did before.

If you’re potentially struggling with work during the day and you feel like you need a break, then when it is your lunchtime do a workout and relieve some pressure of yourself. The workouts do not have to be advanced either – there are loads of exercises you can do without any equipment at home, which is very beneficial for everyone considering the pandemic we are currently in.

If you do want to get out of the house, you could invest in an ebike to clock up the miles on the road.

If you’re not sure what exercises you would like to do then take part in our online zoom bootcamps we are currently doing till lockdown is over. Our instructors will lead fitness classes virtually and they will constantly encourage you to push yourself doing their bootcamps. The best way to motivate yourself at home is by working out as the good feeling you obtain after the session will push you to consistently feel this way at the end of every day.

Once this becomes a hobby it will all of sudden become a part of your daily routine, which then leads to you creating goals for yourself, limiting your distractions and aiming to achieve as many rewards as possible.

Set yourself challenges and goals

Setting yourself challenges and goals consistently is a great way to keep progressing forward. Doing this will give you a feeling of accomplishment, and drive to want to do more and get even better. It can be difficult to motivate yourself when you are at home constantly, and you may slowly lose the desire and will power to go further, but by setting yourself work and fitness goals you can squeeze that bit extra out of your day.

If you’re starting work for the day make sure to write down a list of jobs you can and will have done by the end of the day, and to make sure you get them all done let your manager know what you have set yourself as a target. By letting your manager know they will assume that the work you have planned for the day will be done for them to check over.

This is a great way for you to accomplish your goals you have set for yourself as it will provide you plenty of motivation to want to get your work done by the end of the day. This may add some pressure on you as your manager will be expecting to see your work, however, do not let yourself give in to the pressure.

Use the pressure to push your limits as much as possible and when you have finished all your work and completed your goals you will feel on top of the world. Once you have a taste of that you will begin to have the hunger and desire to want to accomplish even more with your job.

So by doing something as little as creating challenges and goals for yourself throughout the week it will go a long way, and once you get into the habit of it, it will begin to become a part of your daily routine. Your boss or manager will begin to notice and recognise the hard work you’re putting in and once you have captured their attention, it’s only going to get better and better for you.

If you are working, mix up your locations

It might seem a simple thing to do, but making sure you vary where you work around your home can do so much good for you. If you’re working in one constant area for example in your bedroom, then it can be hard to motivate yourself to want to do work. Staying in one area can lower your work ethic drastically as every day you will be waking up and going straight on your computer to start work.

Similarly, you don’t want to crack on with your work after exercise in the same room. It’s all about creating specific spaces for specific activities so there’s a clear mental break off between them.

When staying in your room all day doing work, it can affect your mental health too, especially with the current pandemic we are currently in as we can’t go out as much. You could be in your room all day, every day, five days a week and when it comes to the weekend you’ll be in the house anyway due to lockdown. There’s no separation.

To help resolve this issue try to start working in different areas of your home, whether that be in the kitchen or living room – anywhere but your bedroom will do! Working in different rooms can increase your productivity and by changing environments, you may slowly begin to think of fresh ideas that can be used in your work tasks.

As well as fresh ideas, being in a different work space can also inspire you, too. For example if you’re blog writing, by simply looking outside of your living room window you will gaze at all the surroundings outside of your home and this will lead to your brain’s imagination collecting ideas for a certain blog you may potentially be writing.

Making just a small change like this for when you’re working at home can help a lot with your work and you can really benefit from it, as you will feel more motivated to complete your work, whatever the surroundings may be.

Try and limit your distractions

Woman working on her laptop next to her daughter

Working from home might seem a novelty at first. You don’t have to get up as early as you would to travel to your company’s working environment. The feeling of getting extra time in bed before you need to start work can seem like a breath of fresh air, however, what starts out great will begin to become a downfall.

It becomes a downfall because you’re not in your normal office environment, where you are with your work colleagues and your manager and boss are checking to see how you are getting on throughout the day. With you being away from the office you’re in a much more relaxed environment as you’re in the comfort of your own home and this could lead to potential distractions.

If you’re big on social media the distractions are obvious, and you will not have your manager or boss catching you messaging someone on your phone. With that freedom of doing whatever you like at home can come at a costly price. For example if you start to use your phone more often, this will lead to less work being completed during the day and you will start falling behind with your work.

Another distraction is the dreaded television. In the morning you may decide to watch some TV before you start work, or you might watch some whilst you’re on your lunch break, but if you get carried away with watching a program on the TV this will further halt your work from being completed. If this becomes a habit, your manager or boss will pick up on it, as they will notice a drop in your work form – which will not go down well.

If this is an issue, do not panic – there are paths you can take to prevent you from being distracted. Firstly, if you are popular across all social media channels then at the start of every day log out of all of your accounts before work so that you will not receive any messages from your family or friends.

Put some music on instead, whether that be through headphones or a speaker. This will keep you engaged with your work, as you won’t have to sit in silence, and this can stifle creativity for some people.

Give yourself some rewards

Whether it be a workout, house chores or the day job, everyone can struggle to find that extra bit of motivation at times.Incentivising yourself with rewards to reach those targets and challenges can help squeeze that extra bit of productivity out.

By aiming to achieve a reward you can encourage yourself with a ‘get up and at them’ attitude. Rewards are good in themselves, however, what actually matters the most is the effort you have gone in order to claim this prize.

An example; you’re in the last week of the month with work and you are incredibly busy, with lots left to do. Set yourself a target to have all the work accomplished by the end of the week and if you get the tasks done you can treat yourself to your favourite bottle of wine or a few beers.. It helps add to the sense of accomplishment at the end of a tough time, and we could all do with a pick-me-up at this time.

Having a reward waiting for you at the end of the finish line is a great way of feeling accomplished because you know that you have deserved this reward. You have worked hard for it and it’s what you deserve after a tough week of work, fitness and everything in between.

If you’ve made it this far, you must have really enjoyed what we had to say! Here at Body Mechanics we provide group fitness classes to help people become better versions of themselves, and we’re still doing exactly that throughout the lockdown. To learn more about how you can get involved, drop us a message here. Be sure to check out one of our online zoom classes below!