Web Worker Daily

For many people, web work can be a very isolating experience. Without the presence of coworkers on all sides, it can be easy to lose your focus on work. While some people find this sort of freedom exhilarating (and others find the potential presence of the wolf at the door more than enough reason to work every waking hour no matter what their environment), it can be tough for the new web worker to actually get their work done. With no peer pressure, no boss, and no structure, how do you stay on task?

More experienced web workers have many answers to this question. For one thing, the surface picture of web work as some sort of all-day pajama paradise has been pretty well debunked; we have structure and peer pressure and even bosses, just like any other group of workers. But we also have our own strategies for staying motivated that fit our unique circumstances. Here’s a selection of ways to get yourself going again on those days when it seems like you’re just staring aimlessly at the screen.

1. End the isolation - Sometimes, just having other working people around will get you back in the groove. Go bedouin for the day at your local coffeeshop, or try out your local coworking facility.

2. Be a Part of the Virtual Office - Sign up for Twitter, Jaiku, or Utterz, follow a dozen or so people in the same industry as you, and let the water-cooler conversation wash over your screen as you work. Sharing tasks, successes, and chit-chat as the day goes by can help you feel more connected. And if you’re having trouble making yourself do something, telling your virtual friends that you’re working on it can bring the added incentive of guilt to the table.

3. Give Yourself Inch-Pebble Rewards -  No need to wait for the milestones; if there’s some huge task that’s sapping your motivation, break it up into tiny bits and have a reward for each bit. Ten M&Ms for each page of report drafted; one game of minesweeper for every five e-mails answered.

4. Use Timeboxing to Substitute for Motivation - Can’t work up the energy for something that you know must get done? Set a timer for 30 or 60 minutes and just do it. Putting yourself in “just do it” mode can get you started, and often you’ll find that it wasn’t such a horrendous task after all.

5. Have a Nap - I know, you’re not in kindergarten any more. But if you’ve reached the point where you’re just staring at the screen and can’t figure out how to get any work done, consider that you might just be overtired. Fifteen minutes with your head on a pillow might be all you need to get refreshed and restarted.

6. Fix the Problem -  If there’s some part of your work that you don’t want to do, ask yourself why. If it’s daunting because you lack the proper software tools, this might be the time to buy the right software. If you’ve bitten off more work than you can chew, do you need to network with others to finish the job, or find a way to renegotiate the contract?

7. Be Flexible - If you simply resent working right now because you’re missing your favorite TV show, can you take an hour off and eat dinner an hour later? As a web worker, you should have some flexibility; there’s no sense trying to work while you’re stewing.

8. Nip Avoidance Behavior in the Bud - If you find yourself suddenly recategorizing all of your filed e-mails from the past year, or downloading a dozen blog editors so you can compare their features, it’s time to recognize that this is probably not on the critical path to getting your work done. These high-tech versions of sharpening all of the pencils on your desk won’t have any long-term positive results, and the quicker you stop doing them and get back to work the happier you’ll be.

There’s a bottom line to all of this, though, that you need to recognize: web work is largely a field for self-starters. Those of us who thrive at it are for the most part people who can find our own internal motivation to get things done, rather than depending on the external trappings of bosses, hierarchies, and time-clocks. With the freedom to set your own hours comes the responsibility to figure out how many of those hours you’re going to use for billable work.