Boom! You’ve got that remote position you’ve been looking forward to. You are able to work from your living room, your bedroom, balcony or even from the beach for that matter. Amazing, right?
However, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns. People who have been working remotely for a longer period of time know this – you can also meet some bumps on the road at the very beginning of your “remote career”.
Sometimes, it’s not easy to focus while sitting on your sofa. Sometimes, you feel like it takes you ages to do a simple task. Sometimes, you need to separate your private and work life – also when it comes to the physical space you’re working from (and not everyone can afford a home office 🙂 ). Sometimes it is hard to organize your time. Or you just miss having your colleagues around.
If you’ve noticed that you are not working as good as before, or if you are afraid of not managing to be productive while working from home, here are some tips that could help!
#1 Try to Stick to Your Daily Rhythm
Remote work is great for all the freedom it gives you, especially when it comes with flexible or almost flexible work hours. You can feel that it’s great that you can wake up whenever, go to sleep whenever and work in the meantime. This can, however, be bad for your productivity.
There are different researches that a good work routines help when it comes to productivity as well as your own psychological well-being. A bit of freedom is always great, and it is really good that you can organize your work so that it suits your private life, but try to stick to more or less same work hours every day.
#2 Don’t Let Friends Stop by and Avoid Distractions
You’re not being unfriendly or grumpy if you don’t let friends drop by randomly when you work. You don’t drop by other people’s offices while they’re at work either, right? Whether someone works from home or not doesn’t make a difference.
Try to avoid other distractions as well. Turn off the TV if it distracts you, mute notifications on your cell etc.
#3 Check in With Co-Workers and the Boss regularly
It’s great to stay in touch with everyone you work with and be “in sync”. Just because you’re not sitting side by side in the same room, doesn’t mean you can’t chat or have a call to discuss something or keep each other updated.
This is not only good for your productivity, but also for the team spirit and not feeling alone.
#4 Make To-Do Lists
This is a great and simple way to stay focused and keep getting the things done. Make both daily and weekly or monthly to do lists. This way you won’t forget anything and it will also be easier to know what’s the status of different projects and what you need to do to get where you want to be. Bonus: It’s great to see all the tasks marked as done after a while, and it will give you a small energy boost and sense of accomplishment.
#5 Set Some Boundaries and “Leave” the Work at the End of the Day
When you work remotely, personal and private can easily be mixed. Basically, your home is your office, right? It is, however, important to try and make boundaries both when it comes to your private life intervening with your work life and vice versa.
When you’re done with the work for the day, log off and don’t randomly check e-mails or work outside your regular work hours. There are, of course, exceptions. But in 80% of the time, nothing is so urgent that it can’t wait for you to check it out tomorrow, so try to rest a bit – you’ve deserved it. In the end, fresh and rested workers are productive workers.
Good luck with your work and remember to share any tips you find helpful when working remotely!