Mindset is always important to anything in your life, from how you see things when you wake up, for example it’s ‘going to be a great day'(!) or ‘just another day’, (ho hum). Obviously it is much easier to go through life having a positive attitude and always expecting the best from others as well as from your own efforts.
However it seems we need a little extra help staying positive and realizing we are still part of the big picture when we work at home alone. Sometimes it does not come at all naturally for people to be alone most of the time and it can get depressing if we let it. As well there may eventually manifest the smothering feeling of ‘cabin fever’ from staying home.
The extra help we may need could be anything as simple as setting a time each day to leave the house to go outside for fresh air and exercise – even just an hour will do wonders; Or it can involve maybe signing up at the local community college to take a course either for business or just for fun, if you really need to be around some people and get a change of atmosphere a few times a week.
Something we do need to realize and that is that rest and relaxation is not slacking. It is part of life and we will be much happier, healthier and more productive if we factor time in that is apart from our work. It used to be more simple when we had hours where we went to work and then we came home or went somewhere after work to relax and enjoy.
So like with many things you need to consider when starting a business working at home, we must replace some elements that we may have taken for granted all the years we worked at a job. An example of this would be self-discipline which would be like having regular hours that we know are time that we work.
While we are free to work whatever hours any time we want to, the fact remains we need to put in those hours as a matter of routine. It’s not optional if we actually want to make money from our business. So we can work a few hours in the morning and then take some time off to run errands or get some exercise or clean the house, or whatever we need to do; and then come back refreshed and ready to put in a few more hours to complete our work day.
Having just this much structure is important to keep on track and to help you to ‘keep your chin up’. Especially when starting a new business, there will be a curve where you may not be seeing results quite yet and it is very necessary that you are able to stay motivated during these periods. Even a not-so-new business has times when sales are slow and we should use that time for something positive – learning more about your industry, acquiring new skills, taking a self-improvement course of some kind to improve your mindset, or just getting some rest and relaxation.