First dates can be stressful. And coming up with first date questions without sounding like you are interrogating your date can be tough

There are loads of advantages to working online doing your own thing. The Internet has created an astonishing amount of new industries and jobs that didn’t even exist 15-20 years ago. Actually, some didn’t even exist 5 years ago! But the Internet has also brought us a few bad things, like trolls, abuse and the ability to suck every last shred of motivation out of you.
If you work online, or perhaps you work from home alone, you will understand this. You drag yourself out of bed, sit at your desk and then look at a blank screen for several hours. The only productive thing you manage to do is get up to make a coffee or nip to the loo. You may even answer the door to the postman. You feel like you’ve achieved something if you answer more than 2 emails or not ‘accidentally’ hit delete on all the ones you can’t even be bothered to read. And then you stumble down a rabbit hole of reading a comment thread on Facebook about something you have absolutely no interest in. But the comments just reel you in. Until you realise you just spent 2 hours reading hateful comments aimed at some reality star you’ve never even heard of.
Losing your motivation when you work alone or online can be a nightmare. A bit like trying to climb a mountain in your slippers. So what do you do when your mojo has taken an unscheduled week off and you’ve got work to do?
It’s always good to re-examine your why. Often your why can change along the way and you can lose sight of that main, motivating reason that makes you want to sit in front of a computer for 80 hours a week rather than go to someone else’s office for 40 hours a week. If your why creates some form of future image in your mind of the life you are aiming to have, then create that image somewhere that you can keep it in your line of sight. A simple vision board propped up in your office or on the end of your desk can work wonders. Instead of reading what idiots on the internet are commenting on, overt your eyes and look at the images on your board and remember what you’re aiming for.
But it’s more freedom than any of your suitably employed by someone else friends or family have. You get to choose when you work, where you work, how you work and who you work with. And that is truly a blessing and something to be extremely thankful for. And if you need a little reminder then read more blog about what I don’t miss about working for someone else.
If you aren’t feeling motivated by what you’re supposed to be doing then ask yourself some serious questions. Is it just that you’ve had a couple of bad days, perhaps a client annoyed you? Or you accidentally stumbled into the comments section of the Daily Mail and it made you feel bad about the world? But is it that your industry has changed and you no longer love what you do? Or is there something else you’d prefer to be doing?
If you don’t love what you do then stop doing it and stop wasting your precious time. Life is too short to not be doing what you love.
If you find that after 30 seconds on Facebook you are suddenly wanting to start an online war with the high school friend you haven’t seen or spoken to in 20 years because of their casual racism postings. Maybe don’t go on Facebook in work time! And if you have to, like really have to, then don’t scroll. Just go to what you need to. And if you don’t want to unfriend those that annoy you or suck up your time, then just mute them so they don’t invade your newsfeed.
There are thousands and thousands of really good motivation videos on YouTube. I know a YouTube binge isn’t very productive, but create yourself a playlist in there of videos that will give you a kick up the ass and get you fired up and ready to get working again.
The whole point is to know what motivates you. When you feel your motivation trying to get away from you, have your go-to, foolproof methods to hand to get you through your slump and back on track.
What motivates you? How do you overcome your slumps? Let me know your tips in the comments.
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First dates can be stressful. And coming up with first date questions without sounding like you are interrogating your date can be tough
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