Working from home, (while the perks are great) has it’s challenges. Those challenges are magnified times 10 when you are pregnant! You’re nauseous, sick, exhausted, and distracted. So how are you supposed to get any work done when you feel like that??
I remember feeling the same way when I was pregnant and worked from home. It was really hard to get motivated or stay motivated when I was feeling so horrible. I ended up working from home twice while pregnant so I want to share the best tips I’ve tried, (and that work!) for maximizing productivity when your pregnant self feels like crap!
How To Be Productive When You Work From Home While Pregnant
Drink an energizing beverage when needed. I’m not talkin’ red bulls or monsters or even massive amounts of coffee! But there are teas with caffeine that are safe for pregnant women, and if your doctor approves, a certain amount of coffee can be ok too. When I was pregnant with my first, coffee made me sick so I drank a lot of black tea because that had the most caffeine and was safe for me to drink per my doctor. With my second pregnancy I drank black tea again, but that wasn’t cuttin’ it! (Could have had something to do with having a small toddler running around). So I had one cup of coffee a day too, which also was ok’d by my doctor. Make sure you’re drinking enough water too!
Take a nap! Seriously do it…When you get to the point where you are so exhausted you’re falling asleep while trying to work, you’re not being productive anymore and your work is suffering. If you let yourself take a break and nap for a half hour or even hour, you’ll be much more productive once you wake up again. You’ll feel more refreshed instead of trying to push through that horrible, exhausted, sluggish feeling! If you have another kid at home with you, try napping during their nap time so you don’t have to worry about what they are doing when you’re resting.
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Find activities for your kid or kids to do. If you have kids at home with you, you will need to something for them to do while you work. Check out some of my favorite activities to keep kids busy when you work at home!
Set a goal for yourself. How much do you want or need to complete today? By figuring this out you can then plan out your most productive parts of the day to buckle down and get a lot of work done! You’ll start to notice when you feel better or more energized at certain parts of the day. Take advantage of those times!
Eat snacks and meals throughout the day. When you are pregnant and you feel nauseous sometimes you can avoid that feeling by eating smaller snacks more frequently. When I was pregnant with my first, I didn’t have much of an appetite and would get nauseous because my blood sugar was low and then didn’t want to eat because I felt nauseous so it was a never ending cycle. Once I learned to snack while I felt ok, I felt less nauseous. This helped me be more productive while working because who wants to work when you feel like throwing up??
If you don’t have a boss that gives you a deadline, create a deadline for yourself. This helps you hold yourself accountable. It can be easy to think, “oh, I’ll just finish this tomorrow”, or “I really don’t feel well so I just won’t work today and pick back up tomorrow.” While maybe every once in awhile that is ok, you don’t want to make a habit out of it! It can be easy to get sucked into procrastinating and then becoming overwhelmed with the amount of work you need to do at a later date.
Use a sick day if needed. You may or may not have an actual sick day to take. If you work for someone else, let them know you can’t work. If you work for yourself call it for what it is and allow yourself to rest. Don’t try to push through it if you are feeling really crappy because your productivity will be way down and your work will likely not be its best. The next day, re-set your goals for the day and week to keep yourself on track!
Use your goals as a motivator to continue even when you feel less than stellar. For example, I knew I had to work to get paid. I needed to get paid to save up for the baby. Therefore, I used that as my motivation to continue to get my work done everyday. You can create a vision board of your life goals, or maybe you want to hustle and accomplish a certain amount of work before your baby is due. Perhaps you don’t want to work after your baby is born and you’re trying to save up money before you leave work. Whatever your motivation is, use it to push through those tough times!
Get up and move around! When you feel tired, sometimes it helps to get your blood pumping by walking around the house for a few minutes. You could try some light stretching, (if approved by your doctor) which also helps to re-energize you.
Conclusion
Working from home while pregnant can be really challenging. It may be harder to keep yourself on schedule because you feel tired or sick. You may feel like sleeping in or not getting around to all the work you planned to do.
But finding those productive times during the day will help maximize your work quality and output. Also don’t push yourself too hard when you’re feeling really bad or your work will suffer and it may take longer for you to feel better. Keep in mind the ultimate reason you want to work from home as this can help motivate you to continue!
These are tried and true tips that I have used that work to keep you motivated and productive while pregnant and working from home!
What tips for productivity have you used when you were pregnant working from home?
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