Places like this keep me motivated to work for myself...
First thing is first. I have to thank each and everyone of you who made last Thursday the biggest single day for traffic in the history of Location180. With over 40 comments and hundreds of page views for “My Last Day” I am absolutely humbled and amazed at the amount of positive feedback I have received. In a time that is as uncertain as this is for me, to have such a strong support system is the best thing I could ask for.
Now with that being said, it is a week later and I am still here. I am not dead, I have not been swallowed up in a black hole of self pity, I am here and as motivated as ever to pursue the life that I was meant to live. So let that be a lesson, if you find yourself unemployed the world will not collapse all around you (well at least not in the first week!). Now that I am currently un (self)-employed, I have had to completely shift my thinking regarding what constitutes work and how to go about it. In my past life I had a boss to dictate what I needed to do and when I needed to do it. There was no question about when I would be in the office. Monday through Friday I was to be there from 7:30 to 5. That isn’t the case any more. My hours are now whatever I make them, and my office, well it has been Sip & Kranz coffee shop on _________ in Portland, Oregon. So how do you make this adjustment? It has actually been an easier transition than I might have anticipated. The most important piece of wisdom I can impart on you from my 5 days of working for myself would be to:
Set a schedule, and STICK TO IT
I told myself from the beginning that I wasn’t going to allow myself the chance to slack off. And while I might not have worked as many hours as I probably should have in this first week, I have done a pretty good job of sticking to the schedule I have laid out. I still strive to be up around 7 o’clock, followed immediately by a work out. I can’t tell you how good it feels to sit down at my computer around 8:30 and know that I have already gotten my exercise for the day. This is something that I am not sure I have ever experienced in my life, and I love it. By identifying things as priorities, and not letting yourself fall victim to your own lazy tendencies, you will see success in whatever it is you are trying to accomplish.
Ok, so I have a schedule, great. Now what? Well one of the first things I have learned, and am still having trouble getting a hold of, is what exactly constitutes work? Do sending emails to readers and bloggers count? How about applying for new health care? Or cleaning out my car as I prepare to sell it? All of these things that used to be after hours activities are suddenly at the forefront of my days. At the moment I view all of these things as work. Sure they may not be making me money directly, but when working for yourself, that won’t always be the case. Doing these things now are an investment in my future life, and I will eventually be better off for having done them.
Society and my own experiences have ingrained into my head that if I am not sitting at a desk for 10 hours a day, I must not be working. Absolutely not the case.
As I am slowly embracing this change, I am slowly becoming happier and happier with the realization of what I am doing. While sooner rather than later, I am going to need to make money a focus, right now I am enjoying catching up on all the things I have been unable to do over the past 2 years. Best of all, none of this feels like work. Whether it has been writing blog posts, my manifesto or various other things to get my life in order, I am really enjoying it. That isn’t to say that in two weeks I won’t be totally sick of it, but thats what this is all about right? Figuring out my passion.
So what else can you do to stay motivated when there isn’t someone there to do it for you? I have found it incredibly helpful to stay in continual contact with people who are doing what I want to do. There are a few bloggers/writers/ass kickers out there who are living my dream life. By constantly talking with them, and using them as resources, I am more confident than ever that I am doing the right thing. Whenever you start to question your path in life, find someone your trust, and seek out advice. I guarantee they are willing to give it.
The coming weeks will be really interesting to see if I will be able to stick to my plans, and stay as motivated as I currently am. However, with all of you out there watching intently, there is no doubt in my mind that things are only going to continue getting better from here.
How have you gone about keeping yourself motivated during tough times and times of change? Tell us about it in the comments!
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Sticking to a schedule is definitely important! I work from home about 90% of the time, and I need a strict schedule or I will get really off track. I completely separate my “real job” activities with things I do for my online business(es).
What you are doing is great, and I think it’s really smart that you are putting off the money focusing time until a little later. If you can afford to do that by all means do it!
I’m with you also on staying in contact with people living your dream life to stay motivated. My Google Reader gives me all the encouragement I need each morning.
Nice post!
Sean, are you finding it difficult or easy to stick to the schedule you’re setting for yourself?
The internet’s a noisy place and sometimes I have a hard time staying on task even when I’ve laid out a schedule for myself.
Hi Sean,
Congrats on your last post–that was a great message to share with so many!
I’ve been doing my own thing for several months and I don’t live by a schedule so much as a loose structure. My day starts at the same time or I feel a little lazy. I really make sure I keep an active social calendar–even if we’re just talking coffee–because it can become a little to easy to become a hermit. It was weird going from an office situation were it was so easy to pass by someone’s door and see if they wanted to go to lunch if 5 minutes to a situation were I needed to be more proactive with the social stuff.
With the projects I work on, I set a firm end date and I find that helps keep me on track.
But, for me, part of the joy is not having a firm daily schedule. For me this is a gift in exploration and I’m working to keep it maleable.
Looking forward to reading more about this next chapter!
Take Care,
Jill
Good to know you aren’t dead or wallowing in self-pity! Good first step, haha. You are totally in the sweet spot right now where everything seems possible and YOU are the one in charge of things. Work doesn’t seem like work and everything is less about getting tasks done than exploring what you are meant to do. Enjoy it.
I love the tip about finding people who are doing what you are trying to do and keeping in contact. I’m trying to do that now as I’m realizing the kind of life I want to live. Those bloggers/writers/ass kickers are the people I’m trying to find and learn from too.
Staying motivated to do the cool stuff has never been the problem. But with any job comes tasks that you don’t enjoy as much and would rather put off. That is where you will probably have a bit of trouble first without a boss around to force you to push through those tasks. My best advice for that is to just do those things first. Once they are out of the way you can focus on the more exciting parts of the work and life you are living.
Things really will just keep getting better from here. How exciting!
Sean, the schedule part is important and sounds like you are already part way there to it becoming a habit. Well done. Some other things I have found useful are:
1. Be accountable to some-one other than yourself. Give a friend the right to abuse you (for lack of a better term) if you don’t do something. Announce a task to your readers and that way the deadline becomes public.
2. Follow a strict publishing schedule for your blog posts and do everything within your power to stick to it. This is an underlying theme in more than a few interviews I have listened to with successful bloggers.
3. Change your attitude to the word work. Not everything has to be immediately capable of earning you a dollar. Many things are investments in future earnings. Soon you’ll find yourself not ‘working’ at all because the word work no longer conjures up thoughts of doing things you don’t really enjoy. Heck, I call sitting on the beach listening to business related podcasts work just so I can tell my friends I did some work today.
4. Make sure you celebrate your successes. This is probably more difficult as a solo entrepreneur because you might not have worked with anyone else to complete the task. In the past I’ve found it useful to shout some friends to dinner and call it a celebration. They don’t need to understand what you completed, just that you did achieve something important to your own well being.
5. Find a way to get in the zone where you become so engulfed in the task you forget the time and just keep working. Have a think about when you work the best, such as early morning, late afternoon, middle of the night. Adjust your work schedule so you are not fighting the urge to do something else. Better to spend the less productive time doing leisure activities where you can enjoy them without beating yourself up for not sitting at the desk working.
Hope that helps.
Congrats on the Last Day and all the Big Changes to come. I am two months into my newly acquired unemployed self-employed lifestyle. I cannot believe how hard it is to stay motivated with all this new found freedom.
I am giving myself a few months to ease into the new lifestyle – such an exciting time. Good luck and I can’t wait to hear about your journeys.
I find working in short blocks with tight deadlines to be a simple way to keep myself motivated. It gets me in the “flow” so I can complete tasks much quicker than usual, giving me momentum.
Hi Sean.
and how your first self employed weeks been. It is great that you are enjoying your time and to hear the things that you have been dealing with. I think society does have an idea what work is, and maybe with this new lifestyle design it is about re-inventing for ourselves. I am not where you are yet, although I am down to 4 days in my main job but am saving some tips for that day. 
Great to hear you’re still alive
All the best
Jen
I think the keys for me to be motivated are to not only have passion for what I’m doing, but to see that if I DO work on a task, it will eventually lead me to a good place in my life and work.
Cheers,
Dayne
Great stuff. I hadn’t heard from you for a few days. I guess I expexted more frequent posts post job.
Setting a schedule is a necessary evil, and sticking to it is difficult.
However, I’m sure with working for yourself there will have to be a good balance between work that’s just for you and your lifestyle, and work to make some money so you can keep pursuing that lifestyle.
@Jonathan There will probably be a few more posts as things go along. However, the last week I have been surprised at how busy I have been! Some of that has just been catching up on other writing projects though. I have a big project that should be released by the end of the month, that I am really excited about finally getting off the ground. But keeping a good work/life balance is definitely going to be key moving forward
@Dayne I couldn’t agree more. The times where I have actually stayed on task and gotten a lot done, make me feel great. I just need to keep remembering how that feels!
@Jen 4 days!! Congratulations on that. What is the plan after that?
@David That was the biggest problem I had at my old job. I had to work from 7:30 to 5 straight. I couldn’t work in blocks, which is how I am most successful. Now I am able to work when I am motivated to and take breaks if I need to. It is much more effective…
@Amiee Congratulations on your new lifestyle. If you read the comments on this post, as well as from My Last Day there are some excellent pieces of advice for how to stay on task. But I know how you feel, it is something I am just now learning how to deal with
@James Excellent advice James. I think if there were 5 things that I need to focus on at this time those would be it. Especially celebrating the small victories. There are going to be (and has been) so many ups and downs, that taking time out to give yourself credit when something goes your way is really important. Really appreciate the thoughts.
Ah! Schedules are the bain of my existence! Not really, I’m just terrible at sticking to them. I do much better with loose ideas and tight deadlines. But you mentioned some great suggestions here that I will have to test out…
Awesome Sean, you’re really doing it! Love reading this. I’m always a big proponent of calendars, there easy to change around, can remind you before something happens and can easily be dug down into one day or view a whole month. Staying on task, actually wanting to do what’s on the “list” or “schedule” or what have you is the tricky part…
I just wrote something on this…about rebooting your brain…constantly look at tangible goals will help…don’t let that get away from you. Don’t have the thought, I want to write a great article next week, or build a sweet book next month, instead have the thought, I will publish something next wed at 8pm, or I will complete phase 1 by Nov 10th…its amazing what the difference is to your brain and staying on task! Great stuff, keep it up!
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