When you work online, staying in PJs all day will NOT help you feel motivated to make progress in your work.

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Let's talk about being ready for the day... really ready for the day, especially when you work online. Whether you work from home or you travel and work, if you're working online, you're not in an office with people typically each day. For that reason, you have to do some things on purpose to really be ready for the day.

This isn't really about a morning routine necessarily, although what I want to share IS kind of part of a morning routine, and a morning routine is important. For me, my morning routine is something like wake up, take the dog out, get some coffee, read my Bible, pray, meditate / visualize my goals for the future, and usually some additional Bible study or other reading. Then I get to this part that I'm talking about today, which is getting really ready for the day. Exercise might be a part of that morning routine sometimes.😉

I want to encourage you to take some time to think about and plan on purpose what helps you to feel really ready, really on point for your day. Of course I have some suggestions for you, but take some time to think about it for yourself.

What helps you to really feel ready and on point for the day when you work online?

We have all seen the memes that came out in 2020 during Covid when people started working from home who weren't really accustomed to it. I want to share some with you because they're just plain fun and funny. Here we go:

Aren't these funny? You remember all those those memes, right?

I don't know if that mindset is still as strongly prevalent as it was back in 2020, but on those days, I personally chose not to wear sweats and loungewear. I worked from home and online way before coronavirus and it's really a powerful mindset to get dressed for the day.

When you wear loungewear all day or in your pajamas, that's what you feel like doing.. getting back in the bed or lounging and resting.

Here are my 4 simple suggestions on how to be REALLY ready for the day:

1. Dress for the day to feel ready for the day and productivity

I need to have clothes on that I would wear to an office, to a workplace, maybe like a co-working space, or a casual office. Jeans are fine for me, but something more than just sweats and a t shirt or pajamas.

I need to put my makeup on, or at minimum, wear a little mascara on the eyelashes and a little lipstick.

Fix my hair in some way so that I at least feel like I have gotten myself ready for the day.

Are there days that I don't do it? Certainly. Sometimes, I might have a meeting right at 8:00 so I don't necessarily get ready for the day until 2 pm and that's okay. Those days happen.

I would say, for the most part, you want to get yourself ready and on point first thing in the day, just like you would do if you were going to a regular office. That really does help you feel like working, like being productive.

There's an influencer on Instagram I like to follow and she actually changes clothes throughout the day for whatever primary things she's doing. When she's working out, of course she has on her workout clothes. She homeschools her kids so she'll put on one outfit for homeschooling teacher time. Then when she's working in her online business, she changes into what for her feels like her business clothes or her work clothes. She says literally changing her clothes changes helps her to change gears in her mind.

When you're an entrepreneur, you wear a lot of hats. For this woman, it's like the imaginary hat when she changes outfits. She literally takes off her proverbial hat by changing her clothes, and she's physically changed and ready in her mind to switch gears.

I'm not sure that I'll be going to that extreme, but just getting ready for the day in clothes that are professional helps you to feel more productive and ready for the day.

1. Put shoes on

If you've been around the internet for a while you may have heard about or followed "the FlyLady". I don't even know how long she's been around, but I remember 15-20 years ago hearing about her. She helps people to manage their homes and be ready for the day. That's where I learned about this simple idea . When you're at home, working from home as a mom or a dad, if you're a homemaker or you work from home in online business, then put your shoes on.

It does make a difference. Putting shoes on makes you feel more purposeful in some way.

I'll admit, I only do this sometimes when I wake up and I'm just feeling like working. I'll put shoes on with laces and it really does help. I do love my soft slippers though.

I do like to go outside though, take breaks, and walk barefoot in the grass. So sometimes I like to not have shoes on or just have shoes on that I can easily slip off.

If you're having a day where you're just not really feeling motivated, try putting on some tennis shoes, lace them up and you'll be much more motivated in some small way. It's it's amazing!

3. Make Your Bed

My third suggestion comes from the speech from Navy Seal William H. McRaven in his 2014 commencement speech at the University of Texas. It was titled "If you want to Change the World".

It was really incredible and in this one part of it, he talks about simply making your bed. You accomplish the first task of the day just by making your bed. He says that when you do this, you accomplish something first thing in the morning, you've already accomplished something for the day and then that will lead to the next task and the next task and the next.

It's just a very simple thing that can help you feel ready for the day.

My husband and I have an agreement that whoever gets out of the bed last has to make the bed, and that really works well for us. So neither one of us is waiting for the other... whoever gets out of the bed last, they have to make the bed.😄

4. Plan the day the night before.

I am getting better at this one because sometimes I get really tired in the evenings or at the end of my workday. My brain is just really tired and I have a hard time planning the next day. So there are times that I will plan the day in the morning, and that's okay too, but it's not as effective. Typically I want to plan the day the night before decide the top three things I'm going to do for that day in specific categories where I'm focused for the quarter or for my multiple clients.

I propose you set your top 3 in 2 or 3 categories only. That might be how you are moving projects or goals / objectives forward in more than just one category.

Categories for you, if you're a virtual assistant, might be three clients that you have or two clients plus your home making work, i.e. house management work.

if you are, a stay at home mom or dad, then your three categories might be, being a mom + self-care, a part time job, and home management, like grocery shopping or cleaning the living space.

It's up to you, but I encourage you to plan the day the night before so that after your morning routine, whether it's like exercise and coffee, reading a book, whatever that entails, and includes getting dressed, shoes on and making your bed, you are ready to hit the ground running.

You're ready to make an impact and make progress on those goals and objectives you've set.

If you need help with planning your day, I've just recently announced The On Purpose Planner is availalbe for pre-order and I'm super excited to share it with you!

This planner will help you to plan your day the night before with those categories the top 2 or 3 tasks for each category so you can make daily progress. If you need help planning your day the night before, get yourself the on purpose planner.

You can also get a free five day sample of the planner at LimitlessBusinessOnline.com/on purpose planner. That will send you to the page where you can get a free five day sample so you can test out planning your day the night before.

These simple little things like getting dressed, putting makeup on and putting on shoes can help you feel really inspired and motivated to do the work each day.

When you don't do these things, you feel kind of feel kind of casual, super relaxed, and it's harder to get motivated.

I would love to know in the comments, what helps you to feel ready for your day when you work online - whether you work at home or anywhere else?

What helps you to feel really ready for the day?