Working at home is the ultimate dream for many people, but while the ability to choose your own hours and not have to report to a boss might sound like the perfect lifestyle, the freedom can also make it easy to get distracted and lose motivation. The temptation to procrastinate is something that every freelancer experiences, but the following tips should help you to stay inspired and motivated much of the time:

Keep a Diary

Whether you’re a freelance writer, web designer, graphic designer or something else, you will sometimes find yourself short on ideas. At the same time, you never know when ideas can come to you, so it makes sense to keep a diary on you at all times so that you can write down anything that comes to mind as soon as it happens. You should also dedicate plenty of time to reading, taking notes as you go along.

Go buy a small a6 diary and pen and start taking notes. If you don’t feel like keeping a physical diary try apps such as Evernote, which allow you to store your notes in a cloud storage. Your can write notes on any device that is connected to your account too.

Get Up Earlier

When you don’t have to get to work at a specific time, the temptation to spend an extra hour or two in bed can be enormous. However, any freelancing endeavour has to be approached in a similar way to a regular day job, particularly if you are easily tempted to procrastinate. Even if you don’t do so every day, try setting your alarm, and maintain something of a routine, even if you still keep it flexible.

Give Yourself a View

A view can work wonders when it comes to getting inspired. When choosing a location for your home office, give yourself the best view in your home as well as plenty of natural lighting rather than being stuck away in some gloomy closet or recess. You should also take some steps to customize your place of work to make it more comfortable, ergonomic and organised.

I switched to a standing desk and stand next to a full length window. This means my posture is better and I get plenty of natural light. My view over looks my town and I enjoy looking out at the clouds every now and then. It helps relax the mind and gives me a quick break from staring at a screen all day.

Maintain a Schedule

You might think of freedom being the key advantage of working at home, but without any schedule in place, you’ll be leaving yourself open to distractions. When it comes to maintaining a schedule, different things work for different people: some prefer to set daily activity goals rather than assign a certain number of hours per day for work. Feel free to experiment until you find the optimal way to approach your work.

For me it’s setting myself one goal at a time and not doing anything else until I have completed that goal. When you wake up ask yourself “If I could just complete one thing today, what would it be?”.

Get Some Exercise

Having a plenty of short breaks for regular exercise is a must both for your health and your levels of motivation. Spending all day, everyday starting at the computer screen will burn you out quickly, so make sure that you move around a bit as well, whether this entails a short walk outside or some other physical activity to help break up the working day.

If you need help being reminded, use a break timer on your PC that will notify you when to take a quick break.

Close Facebook

Distracting websites like Facebook can take hours out of your working day, and that’s a good reason why many employers ban such activities in the office. It is extremely important to discipline yourself to the extent that you never open distracting websites while you’re working and if you lack that discipline, consider installing a plugin that will restrict access for you.

Check out the chrome extension Stay Focusd, it’s great for doing exactly this.

Change Your Surroundings

A simple change of scene is sometimes all that you need for that spark of motivation to return. If you have a laptop, considering doing some of your work at a local café or restaurant or other venue where wireless Internet is available. Although such places are often full of distractions in themselves, the occasional change of scene might be just what you need, even if it does mean a temporary drop in productivity.

I find places like this more productive for me as all I have is my laptop and nothing else to distract me. Just remember to take some good quality noise isolating earphones and you won’t hear a thing.

Redesign Your Home Office

Taking your work away from home is not the only way to get a change of scene. If you want something a bit more permanent, now might just be the perfect time to redesign your home office with some new furniture and a coat of paint on the walls. Try adding some homey accessories to your place of work while encouraging thought and inspiration by customising it with some artwork and ornaments.

Do Something Else

To make your working day seem like less of a drag, It’s always good to complete some other tasks around the home. You’ll no doubt find that there are plenty of other things that you can do if you want to take a break while still doing something productive. A good side-project may involve some home decorating, a daily workout or any other hobby that you can consider productive.

Give Yourself a Break

While you should be having plenty of short breaks away from the computer throughout the day, sometimes a longer break is the only thing that can help you to recover from burnout. Whether it takes a day or even a week, shifting your focus away from work might be just what you need to get those ideas flowing again, particularly if it involves a weekend away or something like a little bigger.

Last year I hiked the beautiful mountains of Chamonix for 6 days with my girlfriend. It did wonders for our stress levels and helped me re-organize my busy schedules by having time away from everything and just thinking about my path in life.