There are a huge number of advantages to running a home-based business. You’re able to set your own schedule, there’s no need to deal with office politics, and if you want to stretch out and relax then you’re free to do so.
However, as with most things in life, where there are positives there are also negatives. Thankfully, the positive benefits of working from home tend to greatly outnumber the negative – but there is one negative that tends to be particularly problematic: continued motivation.
The average office day
If you work in an office, the day is broken up into a natural cycle. You have scheduled break times, a lunch hour, and a definitive finishing time. When you run a home-based business, however, your day doesn’t have the same rhythms. Many entrepreneurs have a tendency to sit down at their desk and work until they’re done, while others will try to mimic a standard working day with a little extra flexibility built in.
However, every owner of a home-based business will be all-too-familiar with a period of the day that we’re going to call the “mid-afternoon slump”. Whether you work to a schedule or just try to get everything done in one, the mid-afternoon slump can be extremely problematic. You’ve worked all morning with engaged fervor, making progress and being productive – but all your motivation saps away as the afternoon progresses.
Why does this happen?
The mid-afternoon slump is not unique to home-based business owners; people who work in conventional office environments can also experience the issue. However, conventional office workers tend to be forced to overcome the issue – they have a boss watching their every move and targets that they need to hit, so they have to power on through.
When you run a business from home, the flexibility of the way you work can turn against you. You have to motivate yourself out of the slump, which is far easier said than done.
So what can you do about it?
If it’s the middle of the afternoon and you realize your productivity and engagement has fallen dramatically since the morning, then the most important thing to do is to acknowledge the issue. Admit to yourself that you’re slumping, and that you’re going to need to proactively address the problem if you’re going to get any more work done.
In terms of proactively addressing the issue, by far the best choice is to change your location. This can help to ‘reset’ your mind and re-energize you, and the more dramatic the change is, the better. By far the best choice would be to go for a drive; you can even use car diffuser air fresheners that dispense essential oils to give you a mid-afternoon boost. You can drive for the sake of driving, or head to a coffee shop to finish off the rest of the work for the day. The higher levels of productivity you’ll achieve more than justify what you’ll spend on coffee.
However, if you don’t have the time – or inclination – to leave your home, then a small change is also beneficial. Move your laptop to the living room or kitchen for awhile, or potentially even sit outside. Ultimately, any form of change of location is beneficial to conquering the mid-afternoon slump – if you can’t make a big change, then a small one is still better than nothing.
To conclude
The mid-afternoon slump is a real problem for home-based business owners, but by acknowledging the slump and then changing your location, you should be able to conquer it once and for all. Good luck!
