Today, Kristin Mullen is going to help us learn how to start our day right so that we can beat procrastination and boredom.  Kristin is an author who writes guest posts on the topics of business, marketing and personal finance. 

Procrastinating can be a very easy thing to do when you’re supposed to be working. I know this from personal experience, because I work from home and don’t have someone looking over my shoulder to make sure I’m being productive.

On the other hand, I also know that working in an office or other place of business can also be distracting. No matter where you work, you might find it hard to stay motivated every day. The following are just a few tips that have worked for me in the past. They may not all apply or work for your job, but my hope is that you find at least one of them to help you stay motivated at work.

1) Start Your Day in the Right State of Mind 

As soon as you wake up in the morning, think of something you are looking forward to that day at work. This will start you off in a good mood that should last throughout the day. With motivation, attitude is everything, so if your attitude toward your work is positive, it is much easier to stay motivated.

From there, get out of bed and get ready to start your day. Even if you work from home, you should still get ready, take a shower, and put on nice clothes. When you wear your pajamas or sweat pants to your home office, you really aren’t preparing yourself for your work day. Most people will need to put themselves in the right state of mind in order to work properly.

Also, start off with a good breakfast to keep your energy up. When a person skips breakfast, they are much more likely to lose their energy throughout the day, which usually leads to a lack of motivation in the afternoon. A large breakfast and a healthy lunch will be much better for your energy level than those 5 hour energy drinks or countless cups of coffee.

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Finally, make sure you take a few minutes each morning for you. Watch your favorite morning show, read a book, or hop on the treadmill. Take some time to do something you enjoy and don’t think about work until you are finished. If you do happen to think about work during your morning activities, try to make those thoughts as positive as possible. Thoughts like I really don’t want to work today will only cause you to dread the day ahead of you, and this will usually end in an unproductive day.

2) Create a Comfortable Work Space

No matter where you work, you should make sure you are comfortable there. Don’t make it so comfortable that you want to fall asleep, but make sure you are happy when you sit down at your desk. Put up pictures from your latest vacation and set a few knick knacks on your desk, but make sure your decorations aren’t too distracting.

If you work from home, crate a space that is used for work and nothing else. That way, when you are done for the day, you can leave your work in its proper place, which leads me to my next tip.

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3) Leave Your Work at Work

This can be especially difficult when you work from home, but that is why it is so important that you have your own work space. When you try working from your bed, for example, you condition your brain to think that the bed is a place for work and not necessarily for rest. Then, when you go to bed at night, you may find yourself thinking about work instead of sleeping. Find a place in your home where you can work comfortably, and then, at the end of the day, shut the door and leave those tasks for tomorrow.

Sometimes, bringing work home with you can also make it hard to stay motivated at work. When you set outrageous goals and aren’t able to get them done in a day, you might feel defeated and decide to take work home with you to finish what you have started. If at all possible, you should avoid this habit. Your home should be a place of relaxation.

It may not feel like this all the time, with kids screaming, laundry to do, and dinner to cook, but those are the tasks you need to finish at home. When you stay motivated at work long enough to reach accomplishable goals, you can leave your work for the day, and come home to what is most important: your family.

How do you stay motivated at work?