Want to Be More Productive Working from Home -- Try Daydreaming
By Christina Sanders
Since COVID happened I have spent a lot more time at home. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics found that Over 32% of U.S. workers that used to commute switched to working at home by April of 2020. It is likely that working from home has become permanent or semi-permanent for many. With this transition, it is more important than ever to know the challenges of remote work and how to find success in your career at home.
Working from home has benefits of course; I love my comfortable chair and plethora of snacks for instance. However, once my workspace and my living space became the same place, I have found that my days are less structured, and I have more little tasks to complete. Not only are many of us dealing with more emails and phone calls, we have taken on being full time janitors, animal attendants, lawn care workers, and chefs 24 hours a day. The challenges often increase when sharing a space with other people. It’s hard to concentrate on a paper your writing when your roommate is watching a movie 20 feet from you, or when your cat is laying on your lap yelling at you to pet her.
If you are like me, you might increasingly be finding yourself staring out the window daydreaming about a warm beach or watching a movie with friends as a way to escape the house for a few minutes. Alas, the daydream is broken with a “sigh” and return to the to-do list that never ends. Well, what if I told you that those daydreaming skills you have been cultivating might be an important piece of the path towards you accomplishing your goals? Daydreaming can be compared to a specific form of visualization that psychologist have found to produce successful results in accomplishing goals; Mental Contrasting and Implementation Intention (MCII).
MCII works by creating motivation and a plan of action that works for you. Mental contrasting is what creates motivation through helping you visualize yourself attaining and benefitting from your goal and visualizing what roadblocks you might encounter on the way. Implementation Intention is where you create a plan for how to navigate through your obstacles. This technique (really a combination of two techniques) has resulted in a wide range of goals being achieved such as increased book reading , long term physical activity, and decrease in problematic drinking .
Try MCII for yourself through these 4 steps
Define a specific and realistic goal
Specific and realistic: “I want to stop interrupting people in meetings”.
Not specific, and probably not realistic: “I want everyone at work to like me”.
Visualize yourself attaining your goal
Do not just think about your goal. Actually imagine what it would be like if you achieved it. This is where those fun daydreaming skills come into play!
When thinking about achieving your goal, ask yourself questions like: “How would I feel?”, “How would I feel better about myself as a person?”, “How would my life be different for the better?” This is my favorite step because it creates POSITIVE motivation. Remember, this part should feel good! If you need a refresher on visualizing, check out this site https://psychologia.co/types-of-imagery/.
Visualize the realistic obstacles in the way of you attaining your goal
Do not dwell on your fears and all the reasons you haven’t accomplished your goal. Instead really ask yourself to look objectively at your possible obstacles. Ask yourself “Knowing myself and my life, what is most likely to happen that could make it challenging to accomplish my goal?”
Create a plan on action for how you will navigate through your obstacles
You only need to create this for the obstacles that are likely to happen in your life. Be realistic with yourself. Sometimes an obstacle is as simple, and challenging, as “I don’t feel like it”. What can you do that will work if this obstacle arises?
Do ask yourself questions about your obstacles like: “How can I use my strengths to get through this?”, “Who can I ask for help?” , “What are ways other people have gotten over similar obstacles?”, “What are some trusted places I can research about how to overcome this?”
Some of us will have the same goals, but very different obstacles. You are the pioneer of a path no one else has gone down because no one else is you. But that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for help if you get stuck. Mental Contrasting and Implementation Intention is a tool that many people have used and gotten excellent results with. I personally love this technique because it inspires people into action by creating motivation and reducing the fear of the uncertainty of how we can get what we want in life.
References
Types of imagery and how to use visualization to achieve your goals (n.d.). Psychologia. https://psychologia.co/types-of-imagery/
Brynjolfsson, E., Horton, J.J., Ozimek, A., Rock, D., Sharma, G., & TuYe, H. (June, 2020). Covid-19 and remote work: An early look at US data. National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w27344. DOI 10.3386/w27344
Wang, G., & Gai, X. (2016). Combined effect of mental contrasting and implementation intention on college students’ book reading. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 44(5), 767-784. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/10.2224/sbp.2016.44.5.767