Practical tips when you working remotely

Based on my own experience, research as well as many conversations with other remote workers who spent years doing this I was able to create a list of practical tips which will make remote work not only effective but also enjoyable as well as sustainable.

Everyone who use computer to work can basically work from entirely remotely. These days we have fast internet connectivity, fairly available and accessible computers with specs which will allow us to work wherever we are.

So what would be practical tips which will allow us to be more productive as well as enjoy the work in the process?

Location

Location is really important, even if you don’t need to commute to office every day, you should make it all feel like a separate space. Simply allocate a space where you can work all day and you won’t get any distraction from the outside world. I would not recommend your main bedroom, although I cannot see on why not after you learn on how to do it efficiently, main bedroom is usually used for sleeping only during the night so you could really use it as an office during the day. You can install a small desk setup somewhere in the corner and use one of the fancy, designed screens to partition the room a little.

To start with however you probably want to allocate a different room only for that to trigger your brain into thinking that you actually go to work and when you close the door behind you, that would mean you left work for a day!

When you do have kids at home it is important to set some rules, do let them know when it’s ok to come in and when they should not disturb you. You can use these hotel-style “do not disturb” signs on the door handle. If there is noise in other rooms and it is nothing you can do to stop it, it is time to think about decent, noise cancelling headphones, I have covered a really good ones in one of the previous BLOG posts. Check it out.

Lastly make sure you put some “work clothes”, so again you trick your brain to think and know that you are at work, these don’t have to be actual working clothes but something different to what you wear at home regularly.

This is handy for people who just starting working from home, once you master it as a skill, you will be able to leave many of these little things behind as you will know your own patterns on how to work.

Planning

Having a plan for a day and week helps you stay organised and it is setting up clear schedule helping you to divide your personal life from professional one. Do make sure that the boundaries you make will stay up!

You can use time blocking technique, which I have covered in previous article and make sure that you do your to-do lists.

Keep yourself to a schedule effectively, treat it like a work place, mute your personal phone and do not take any personal related phone calls during time reserved for work.

Make use of your most productive times of a day, focus on work then and make the most of productivity moment.

Your Daily Routines

It is always best to repeat tasks every day so you can develop them as good habits, more about habits you can read in this BLOG post. Make sure your rituals are not neglected. Do not procrastinate tasks like you are not in rush, try to save time when possible. Make use of your daily dose of coffee so it will work on your terms.

Do some meal preparation ahead so you don’t spend time making lunch, last thing you want to do is order unhealthy take away, this would affect your budget and would not bring any positive results to your health system.

You can check my own daily routine here.

Grab The Fresh Air

Try to go outside, don’t forget about your work-life balance. Make sure you make use of your breaks during the day, spends in on the fresh air, meditate.

You don’t want to feel as a prison in your own house so you need to remember to get out of it when you can, even if it is a small 15 minute break. When possible try to do a workout outside before you head to your “remote” desk.

Social Skills

When working away from other people, you simply don’t demonstrate the body language or see other people so good communication is a skill. You can write a message and no one know what your mood is, while talking, you may have a cold and your voice could sound a little depressed, make sure you over communicate.

When you write or speak, make sure you do it more than you would in office environment. Send clear messages, sometimes a point system helps so you can write down in points on what you wish to discuss, that way it is easy to move from first to the second task and do not miss anything. Do not forget about small talk, you don’t want your colleagues to start thinking that you dislike them or you are becoming a robot.

I hope these 5 practical tips will help you to get started. Make sure to check other BLOG posts, especially the one telling you how to be productive when working remotely.

What are your own tips for others? Feel free to comment below.

All the best,
Lucas