Daily Motivation

[Bren]

If you were in a situation where you stayed home and did things around the house and online everyday and were the only one around, what would you do to motivate yourself to get up or make each day special instead of a bore?

Yeah, I'm the bum who has that situation.

[American Eagle]

Random pro tips:

• Find an online news site for your city and keep informed daily.
• See if there is anything in your area you can volunteer at. Try your church activities or find something on http://www.unitedway.org/
• Make a schedule of what you're going to do each day. You can use Google Calendar or http://rememberthemilk.com/ (which is what I use). Even if your schedule includes stuff like "Browse the ToO for an hour" or "Watch cartoons", at least you're planning out your day.
• What are you interested in? Podcasting? Internet programming? Search Google for "free lessons" in whatever interests you and learn as much about it as you can. The internet has so many free videos and tutorials on it. You can literally become as smart as a college graduate in a lot of fields.

[Jesus' Princess]

I'm semi in that situation, Bren. (I'm home everyday, my family's home too, so I'm not alone, but I have to get the work done on my own) I'm in over my head on a project with a deadline, and what I'm basically doing for these next 2 months is working on the project (on the computer), making phone calls, handling emails, and running a website. It can get to be where you're like, "But it's so boring to just sit in front of the computer all day!!!

A couple things I like to do:
1) Make a list. I've found that it's really helpful if I make a list in the morning of everything I want to accomplish that day, and then cross them off one by one. Any emails, phone calls, specific things I need to do for that day. Otherwise I can slip into the habit of refreshing my FB page over and over while I'm waiting for something to render, instead of making that phone call or whatever

2) Get up early. As much as I dislike doing this one, I make myself do it. It seems like when I sleep in, it's really hard to be productive the rest of the day. When I'm up and working on stuff by 7:30-8:00 am. It's way easier to focus. (Hey, this might just be me, but you asked )

3) Schedule yourself. Say from 8-11 I'm going to work on this project, then at 11 I'm going to get on the ToO until 11:30. Then I'll do this other project until 1, I'll have lunch then, and etc.. It's way easier to keep on track with stuff if you've got an end point in sight

4) on the flip side of #3, I've also had days where i'm like "I'm not eating lunch until I get this task done" and holding myself to that. Sometimes all it takes to be motivated to finish something is to be hungry.
*note: I don't advocate that this approach be used too often, it's not the most pleasant. Especially if you're having technical difficulties.


5) Work on a project, or make a goal to learn something new. Find something you're interested in, and learn more about it. You'd be surprised what you can find on google!

[The Kings Daughter]

Kind of off what AE said, you could find a online individual Bible study thing to go through so much each day:) That way you can be learning something, and have a consistent day to day plan:)

[Humby]

I'm in that situation too, Bren. Only I've got my family elsewhere in the house. My dog makes me have to do certain stuff. I have to take care of her.

[The Top Crusader]

Let's trade places, Bren! I'm great at staying home all day but rarely get the opportunity!

[Bren]

Let's trade places, Bren! I'm great at staying home all day but rarely get the opportunity!

How much pay are we talking?

[Carrie Ingalls]

Personally two sites that I find interesting and motivating are:

http://www.boundless.org Focus on the Family's Young Adults and Singles ministry. They have a lot of articles and nearly 300 episodes of their podcast to get you thinking about different topics.

http://www.artofmanliness.com Another fun site with a lot of how to articles (and some videos) if you are wanting to learn a new skill, as well as challenging articles too. The idea of the site is that it is a mens magazine that gets to real issues, and useful things while completely avoiding the 6 pack abs articles and scantily clad women (the norm for most mens magazines these days). Disclaimer: I'm not a guy, but that doesn't mean that I can't still enjoy the site and maybe learn a few "lost arts" along the way.

I echo what others have said, lists are good as well as goal setting. Planning weekly (more generally), and daily (more specific: lists, etc) can be very helpful. It is also good to evaluate how you are doing with your plans to see if you need to make any further adjustments.

They say it only takes 21 days to develop a new habit. What is a habit you'd like to have or one you'd like to try and get rid of and replace with something else?

Routines can be good, even mini one like a morning routine and a before bed routine. I know it sounds cheesy, but it can be very calming to have some consistent structure to the day. The night before can really set the tone for the next day.

All these things are far easier to say than they are to actually do, I am in a somewhat similar situation.