How disciplined does a person have to be to start and operate a home-based business? Wrestling with one’s ability to stay on task and stay disciplined can be a big deterrent for many who would otherwise love to start a home-based business. Without the guaranteed structure of the more traditional job, many people fear they just couldn’t stay motivated.
Even though I have plenty of things to keep me motivated–a family to support as a single parent, a strong, creative drive to succeed, a moderately high energy level–I still don’t always feel like the most self-disciplined person. In my idea of the perfect work-from-home world, I would get up in the morning and be able to stay at it–working, focused and productive–for at least 8 hours–if not more. I tell myself, what’s the point of working from home and running my own business if I can’t get in more work, and work more efficiently than if I was working full time for “the man?”
The truth is, if I get in 3-4 straight, hard, focused hours of writing work, I’ve had one of my most productive days. I’m not bragging either, and there are some days when I don’t even get that much productivity out of a day. Still, I do have to admit that my self-discipline had improved and “seasoned” since I’ve been working from home. I’ve learned over time how to avoid some distractions, and when I need to take a break and do something else in order to return–fresh-brained–to the tasks at hand. The point is, I think that even if you wrestle with self-discipline issues, just running your own home-based business will actually help you improve your discipline. Maybe the fact that you don’t have fully-developed and strong self-discipline isn’t because you CAN’T do it, but because you haven’t HAD to do it working a more traditional job with built-in structure and motivation. You might find you have more self-discipline that you thought!
See Also: Maintaining a Positve Outlook and Attitude
Do Challenges Keep Us Interested?