Waking Up Motivated During A Lockdown

Image courtesy of @brucemars via Unsplash.

Are you struggling to get out of bed before midday whilst in lockdown and practising social distancing?
Are you getting addicted to the snooze button on your alarm?

Like most people in the UK, I’ve been working from home and social distancing for just over 2 weeks now - rarely leaving the house.

To be honest, I’ve quite enjoyed working from home - I’ve found an increase in my focus and been able to channel the extra time gained from not commuting into my passion projects.

However, during my first week of adjusting to the working from home lifestyle, without the need for my usual commute, I found myself getting up later and later.

For me, it felt like I was wasting the time I would use on my commute - usually a 20-30 minute bus ride. 

I would always try to use that time to read, check in with social media, put together my plan of attack for the working day ahead, or catch up with my bus-buddy colleagues.

Without that time commuting, it was easier to hit the snooze button and doze my time away listening to my radio alarm.

On around day four of the UK lockdown, during one of my radio filled dozing sessions, I had a wave of guilt flood over me as I thought to myself “am I wasting this time?”

The short answer - yes!

As I lay in bed, warm and cosy, I began to think of the reasons why I was doing this…

I realised the time I spent in my normal bus commute was a sort of forced mental warm up, a set time to get myself pumped up and motivated for the day. 

Without this, I was losing an important part of my usual morning routine.

Having motivation is half the battle!

So, I came up with two strategies to help me jump out of bed in the morning full of motivation - ready to start the day.

If you’re looking for an added boost of motivation to get the most out of your time in lockdown, check out my tried-and-tested methods:

Image courtesy of @ralics via Unsplash.

The Percolator Method

Finish each day on a tricky or difficult task - don’t start it, just plan it out. 
Read through the brief, but don’t commit to any solutions.

Download all the information you have into your head, then put down your tools.
Switch off the computer, and grab your favourite beverage of choice.

Let the problem and potential solutions percolate in your mind. 
Think to yourself “how am I going to solve this problem?” or “how do I overcome this sticking point?”.

There is a reason people say ‘I’m gonna sleep on it” - this same thought applies here. 
Overnight, your mind will process the problem, even if it's subconscious. 

It’ll begin to piece the solution together.

By the time you wake up, you’ll be jumping out of bed yelling “eureka!”
All pumped up with motivation ready to dive into work, eager to find out if your percolated ideas or solutions will work. 

Curiosity is a powerful motivator!

Strategy number two, my personal favourite…

Image courtesy of @milkovi via Unsplash.

The Carrot on a Stick Method

Finish each day knowing that you are going to start the next day with a fun task - dangle that carrot in front of yourself.
Before you down tools for the day, remind yourself of your carrot task or project.

This should fill you with motivation for tomorrow!

You’ll be thinking all evening: “I can’t wait to start this tomorrow morning!”
Remember, the carrot doesn’t have to be part of your day job. 

It could be part of your side hustle or your passion project. 

The idea is to get your juices flowing, before you start your normal working day - like doing a warm-up before exercising.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll jump out of bed - ready to feast on your carrot-task, thinking to yourself “I can’t wait to work on this project”.

If you go to bed with motivation, you’re more likely to wake up motivated, so you’re more likely to get out of bed and avoid the morning snooze-fest.

These methods are great for those of you working from home, quarantining, or self-isolating. 

I hope these two techniques help you stay motivated over the coming weeks of social distancing, and avoid feeling like you are trapped in a work-filled groundhog day!

As with all my blog articles here are my nudenotes I created in preparation for writing this blog article:

Let me know in the comments below what techniques you have come up with for staying motivated and getting out of bed during your lockdown.

Shout out to #nudenotes fan Louise McSharry (@2funki4wheelz) for inspiring me to process my thoughts on this topic over instagram chat.

Stay safe, everyone!