Megan Nichols

I was talking to my dear friend and talented poet, Jessica Lohafer the other day about finding the motivation to do the repetitive, boring work that pops up in our lives. She works on site and I work remotely and I was fantasizing about how nice it would be to have an office to go. Though she didn’t say “fuck off, I’d love to work in my pajamas at home,” she probably should have. The grass is always greener!

At any rate, working remotely does have it’s own set of challenges and despite the fact that I’ve been doing this since 2013, I still find myself dragging to do what I don’t want to do. My house is filled with journals and notepads with “how to focus!” lists and I decided to give myself the gift or organization and give my blog the gift of looking less bare. Will this help other people? I don’t know! Will it help me put off spending two hours in Excel? Yes!

The overarching framework

If I’m chronically not working it’s because I’ve made a major error in how I’m living and I need to course correct. This means, annoyingly, taking a break from caffeine, talking daily walks, journaling, lying outside alone for ten minutes from time to time, cleaning the house, returning any phone calls or addressing any relationship disturbances. If I’m being a particularly shitty friend or I haven’t made a doctors appointment I really need to make, I will not work. Instead, I will frantically suffer until I take care of those fundamental life tasks everyone is always going on about.

Best case work-life scenario

I. have scheduled any meetings for the day in an afternoon block, meaning I can spend my morning generating work AT THE LIBRARY. This is important. I am so much more focused at the library. I imagine everyone is able to see my screen and if I even think about opening up Twitter, my fellow library patrons will admonish my selfish, wasteful Wi-Fi use, know I’m no professional, and will tell everyone in town I care more about literary gossip than making an honest living.

2. I have scheduled repetitive, unstimulating work for after the fun generative stuff. Spending my most creative time on boring tasks is a painful mistake that usually only happens when I have excessively procrastinated and need to get the work done right away. When I am being strategic, and therefore kind to myself, I get the boring things done before the last minute they’re do.

3. I have accomplished the day’s work before 3pm! Oh to be off screens before supper. Nothing fosters the deepest sense of career-resentment and angst within me like working when my son wants to play. Resentment is no good because left unchecked, I’ll burnout and light my finances on fire. Of course, it does still happen that I’ll find myself working after three and though the kiddo is fine and now old enough to spend time with friends or contently by himself, it remains my daily goal to complete client work before the school day ends.

In the moment tricks to get myself to do something

Finally, there are the random things I do to shake myself into action despite how ideal or not my day is going:

• Put on leaving-the-house clothes
• Clean off my desk
• Work in another room
• Open a window
• Light a candle
• Work beside a bowl of fruit (it’s important to not eat the fruit until I’m finished working)
• Listen to brown noise
• If things are really dire, listen to handpan
• Set a timer for 30 minutes and work, break for walk, repeat
• Take the dog for a quick lap around the neighborhood
• If things are really, really dire co-work in a voice/video call with a friend
• Set a timer for ten minutes and all I have to do during that time is reread the assignment or the data – not actually *do* anything with it. (This tricks me into working).
• If I can, I give myself an hour to indulge in whatever other thing I would rather be working on. Usually for me this means drafting a poem or article or helping a friend with their marketing plan.
• If I don’t have time for that, I will at least make a list of the exciting creative possibilities waiting for me on the other side of boredom.

That’s it, that’s all I got. There is no conclusion! Only more work!

It never ends! ❤️