as with anything, remote work has both pros and cons. In this article, I’ll give you my best suggestions for working remotely — either from home or while travelling.
While not everything is perfect, there are some major perks to working outside of an office.
Things like: decreased daycare costs, no commute, wearing pyjamas all day, enhanced productivity, and the freedom and flexibility to be available for family and pals whenever they need you.
Ultimately, the ability to work remotely allows us to establish and achieve a better work-life balance, which is vital for those who value both a profession and a life.
Whatever your desire is for working remotely, just understand that there is a learning curve to being productive and getting your work done — especially if you are a full-time traveller moving from place to place, or are new to working from home.
I’ve been a remote worker for 2 years now and in this article, I’ll share my best suggestions for working remotely, which will help you:
Be aware of the challenges of working from home.
Increase your productivity, so work gets done.
Know what to expect so you can do #1 and #2.
Have the availability to pay attention to your family.
Manage your health and wellbeing.
Here we go, these are my top 10 suggestions for working remotely!
Obsah
1. schedule Out Your Day
2. create Purposeful Off-Time
3. create an environment Conducive to Work
4. plan a Time To finish Your work (and stick to it
5. set boundaries With Your Family
6. Take enough Breaks
7. Take care of Your mental and Physical Health
8. plan Social Time
9. embrace Your “Zone of Genius”
10. eliminate Distractions When You work Remotely
Bonus! #11. keep Track Of Your work Time
What do these remote working suggestions imply for you?
1. schedule Out Your Day
Having a structure to your workday can go a long way for your productivity as you are working remotely.
We all have those moments when we start to lose focus and get distracted by things around the house. who knew that tackling unfolded laundry would sound much more appealing than finishing that online project?
Creating a schedule – and sticking to it – can help you jump on the work wagon best out of the gate each morning.
When you have a schedule with deadlines mapped out, you know when particular tasks need to be accomplished so you can meet those deadlines.
If this sounds like a lot — break it up by weeks or by days!
Make a weekly goal to hit, and from there, start mapping out each day, and what it will look like so you can meet those weekly goals.
I recommend making a schedule the night before or even at the end of your previous workday, so everything is fresh in your mind.
If you are new to remote life, don’t worry. opakovanie je matka múdrosti.
Once you establish how long tasks take, you ought to be able to allocate them within your schedule accordingly. and you know what? in some cases your scheduled tasks might overlap. and that’s okay.
Having flexibility can be incredibly valuable when you make a schedule. but don’t be so flexible that your schedule goes to waste. try to stick to it when you can! just be prepared for those days when things don’t always go as planned, and you need to regroup.
Personally, I’m a paper planner lady.
I write my schedule out every single day.
I have one column that holds my list of tasks I need to accomplish that day and another column that irons out my daily schedule (down to the half-hour).
My husband, Nick, on the other hand, inputs his schedule straight into Google Calendars. Not my thing. just find what works for you.
2. create Purposeful Off-Time
It’s one thing to create and follow a strict schedule work; it’s another thing entirely to make sure you also schedule in ‘off-time.’
By ‘off-time’ I mean, going for a run, meeting up with pals or family, setting aside time to cook a good dinner, pick up a hobby, or just do something that is not related to your work.
Maintaining your mental health with “outside of work activities” is so vital for achieving that work/life balance I discussed earlier.
One terrific suggestion I’ve heard (for those who make their own work schedule) is to plan in your off-time or leisure time and then schedule in your work around those activities.
If you want to meet a pal for lunch, schedule that and accommodate your work tasks around that lunch.
Don’t forgo this particular time with a pal for work when you can do both.
If you need to take your child to the doctor, schedule the appointment first. then fill in your work around it.
This may not always work for everyone, but it’s worth a try if you do have the flexibility for this.
Working from home comes with the challenge of switching work “off”. This is especially hard when your job is sitting only a couple of feet away.
Just execute a few of these tips, practice and stick to a routine, and observe what works for you and your situation.
3. create an environment Conducive to Work
This is one of my top pieces of guidance for working remotely.
Don’t set up your office space best in front of the TV, or in your kid’s playroom, or in some area of your home where your family typically congregates. find a dedicated space that allows you to zone in and focus on your work.
But, don’t worry about having the ideal work environment.
Unless you have a sweet set up, that Pinterest worthy home office won’t be attainable for a lot of people, including you. just make sure that the place you designate as your work area is just that: your place to work.
Having your work located inside your home can sound exciting. and yes, at first, it might be fun, working from the couch, having a pantry full of snacks a short walk away, and a TV readily available to turn ON during your breaks.
So how do you resist these temptations each day?
Tip #1:
My first suggestion on this subject is to avoid working from your bed, from a couch, or from anything you could potentially lounge on.
I know it’s called a laptop, but I recommend that you try and keep your computer out of your lap as much as you can.
First of all, it’s awful for your posture. If you can set your screen up at eye level, that would be optimal and take the pressure off your neck.
Tip #2:
You want to clearly define where your work actually takes place. It can be a coffee table, your kitchen counter, or anywhere that you can set up shop.
Show up to that space with your computer, planner, notebook, coffee, or anything else you need to get to work. Your productivity within that space is what makes it your home office.
Tip #3:
Lastly, it’s vital to have breaks during your workday — but don’t distract yourself with TV, your phone, or other addicting devices that can easily trap you into bingeing the most recent Netflix series or losing hours of your day scrolling.
Instead, consider your breaks like you would if you were in a regular office — go outside for a quick walk, make a meal, or call a friend.
Also, try to set up your work station close to your wireless router or use a wired connection. Not all countries in the world have fast Internet and there’s nothing much more aggravating than waiting for pages to load and wasting precious time.
Stay close to the router, and consider upgrading your Internet to a higher level if you’re in a country with slower speeds.
4. plan a Time To finish Your work (and stick to it
Make sure that you set a time each day to finish work. That implies signing off and closing your computer for the night.
Nikdy viac. PSČ. Nil. Nada. everything else will be dealt with tomorrow.
I know too well that having your office so easily available can be detrimental to work-life balance.
I can’t tell you how numerous times I picked up my computer to rapidly work on a project instead of turning it off and paying attention to my surroundings or my family in the evenings.
There will be times when a deadline is looming or a launch is on the horizon. At those times, all hands are needed on deck. but outside of these intense periods, it’s imperative to keep a healthy balance between your home time and your work time.
One way you can do this is to plan (or objective for) a particular time of day that you want to finish work or sign off.
Planning a time to finish your work is important for breaking through the mindset barrier that distinguishes your “workday” from “being at home.”
In a regular 9-5 job, the commute alone might have helped our minds transition from work life to home life. Unfortunately, working from home can easily muddle these two very different concepts.
One way to combat this problem is to set up your office in a location within the house that forces you to pack it up each day — such as the kitchen table.
Everyone needs to eat, so by the time dinner rolls around, you are forced to log-off, stop work, and clear up your office for the night. packing up your office might help solidify your ability to disconnect from being in the office at home and being at home.
This suggestion for working remotely is to keep you from overworking yourself — which is surprisingly easy to do, especially now that you don’t have an office closing time or a co-workers’ pleasedhodinu na účasť.
5. Stanovte hranice so svojou rodinou
Nie všetci z nás sa musíme starať o hranice, ale môžete zdieľať svoj domov s partnermi, deťmi, rodičmi alebo spolubývajúcimi.
Preto by ste sa mali uistiť, že existujú pozemné pokyny, kedy je to váš „pracovný čas“ a kedy je to „hra pre hranie“ alebo „povedzte mi o svojom dennom čase“.
Nemôžem napätie, aké dôležité je to pre všetky zúčastnené strany.
Teraz to môže vyzerať úplne odlišne od domácnosti k domácnosti, ale spoločným vláknom, ktoré je potrebné stanoviť, je komunikácia. Hovorte o tom so svojím partnerom alebo spolubývajúcim 3-4 Mnoho základných úloh, ktoré potrebujete dnes.
V prvom rade sa tým stanovuje zodpovednosť. Po druhé, ak máte deti, vy a váš partner ich môžete prezerať a uistite sa, že obaja dosahujete svoje ciele každý deň.
Ak máte staršie deti, ktoré sa dokážu zvládnuť, stanovenie hraníc by mohlo vyzerať oveľa viac ako znamenie pred dverami, ktoré naznačuje, že by ste sa v tomto čase nemali narušiť.
Môžete tiež nosiť slúchadlá, ak nemáte fyzickú bariéru, ktorá sa používa ako signál (ak napríklad pracujete pri kuchynskom stole). Je to úžasný spôsob, ako udržať svoju domácnosť v slučke bez toho, aby ste ju zakaždým oznámili na reproduktoroch.
Pamätajte, že nie všetci v dome budú mať rovnaký rozvrh ako vy.
Či už sú to deti, svokry, partneri alebo spolubývajúci, začnite diskusiou o tom, že keď pracujete z domu, nie ste vždy k dispozícii na rozhovor alebo rýchlu úlohu „Môžete mi pomôcť s týmto“.
Pracujete. Ak sa s ním zaobchádza ako s každým druhým dňom v kancelárii, domácnosť (prípadne) spadne aj do radu.
6. Urobte si dostatok prestávok
Teraz viem, že tento príspevok sa očakáva, že vám poskytne návrhy na diaľku, zostanete produktívnymi, vytváraním systémov a prácou z domácich problémov, ale to neznamená, že dostanete zelené svetlo na brúsenie 20 hodín od 20 hodín z deň.
Len preto, že máte nepretržitý prístup do svojej kancelárie … vy. Mať. Mám. Do. Dať. Sám. Prestávky.
Nájdite systém prestávok, ktorý pre vás funguje. Niektorí ľudia si vyberajú, aby vyčlenili 2-3 hodiny, aby sa venovali svojej práci, a potom si oddýchnite a reštartujte si hodinu.
Iní (tí s deťmi, pozerám sa na vás), možno nemajú tento luxus.
Možno pracujete 50 minút, 10-20 minút.
Možno pracujete iba počas napnutia a večer, keď sú deti v posteli. Nájdete drážku, ktorá pre vás funguje.
If you have the freedom to set your own schedule and pace, I recommend setting a timer to go off every 50 minutes or every 2 hours (depending on how long you want to work).
Keď to zhasne, urobte si prestávku. opt for a walk around the block. Stretch. get up and do something with your body.
Pro tip: our bodies need movement – so make sure you accommodate and take care of yourself physically, too.
Which leads me to my next point.
7. Take care of Your mental and Physical Health
You might be amazed to learn that once you get into the groove of working from home, it gets even simpler to skimp out on your mental and physical health.
For one, you have the opportunity to set your own hours — which can in some cases be a bad thing.
When we have work resources at our disposal, it becomes harder to shut off or end your workday as you typically would when leaving an office.
Your computer is always around; your emails are still available to check.
Therefore, it can be simpler than you think to start forgetting human necessities — things like destressing your mind by going outside for a walk, exercising, and socializing.
This mental break can also come in the form of fresh air. Take any excuse to get outside