When you are done work, you may be tempted to crash on your couch, watch your favorite show, and order takeout from your favorite restaurant. However, that does not leave you any time to do extracurricular projects for yourself such as starting a business, finishing an exciting book, or start a project for your children or pet.
Here are 5 ways you can remain productive and motivated even after a long day at work. It will take perseverance and a change of habit to remain productive at home after you’re done work, but it can be done!
1. Plan project for once you arrive home
Right after you walk in and greet everyone who lives with you, put your stuff down, use the bathroom, and get right to work!
It does not have to be a long period of time that you devote yourself to the project. It could just be an hour before dinner just to at least start or continue a current project. Try not to wait until after dinner because you will usually be tired and stuffed from a delicious meal to want to work on your project.
2. Just devote a minimum of 15 minutes to the project
Even if you do not have a full hour to devote to your chosen project, just give yourself 15 minutes per day after your shift to work on it. According to Forge, Siobhan Adcock worked full-time and was a mother to a seven-month-old child at the time that she committed to writing her first novel in just 15-minute blocks per day.
If she can write a novel by just doing 15 minutes per day to finish it, then you can use the same tactic to get done one of your desired personal projects.
3. Only work on projects that strike your passion
Work on a project that strikes your passion. If it is something in which you are highly interested in doing, you will have no problem jumping in and starting it after a long day at work.
If you love baking, you can get in the oven right before you get dinner started, so that the dessert is ready for after you’re done eating dinner.
If you’re training for an upcoming marathon, taking a half hour to one hour jog to work up an appetite before dinner will be no issue at all.
This is all because you are finding projects in which you are passionate about.
4. Have a change of scenery
You may get bored of constantly working on your project inside the same 4 walls at home. Consider to have a change of scenery and go out some place different to work on your project.
If you want to work on writing a blog, take your laptop, drive to your local library, and hook up to the Wifi to get some work done. While you are there, if you love to read, pick up some books that you can read at home when you are not blog writing.
5. Instead, sleep early to rise early
While it may sound counterproductive to you at first, sometimes it’s beneficial to just stop work after your shift, relax a little at home, and get to sleep earlier than usual on some days. If you go to sleep a couple hours earlier than you usually do, you can rise a few hours earlier to work on that desired project.
Sometimes it’s better to focus on a project when you have first woken up and have a fresh mind than forcing yourself to do it after you have already tired yourself out working all day. Besides having extra time to work on that project once you wake up early, you will also have time to get ready for work without rushing. Take a longer shower or enjoy that cup of coffee just a little longer with your extra time.
