Be a Boss at Remote Work
As the world goes into lock down governments have requested their residents to self isolate and stay at home. This has affected a lot of peoples work and may have affected you. If you are lucky you are now working from home, still earning an income and not letting your work stack up while you. are safely locked away from the virus. Working from home is a completely different environment than a lot of people are used to and can cause anxiety and distraction.
I have been working remotely, form home and other places right around the world, for a good 3 years now I have learned things along the way. I would like to share some tips and advice to anyone who finds themselves newly in the work from home boat. This advice is good for anyone from the procrastinators to the over workers. It will help you manage your time and keep you sane. Below is a list of tips to help you in this new way of working.
Set up a specific place of work
I know it might seem nice at first to have the luxury of working from the couch in your PJs but trust me after a few days this will really start to get old. Having a space dedicated to work will help your brain get into the mindset of the tasks you need to complete, it will limit distractions and it will allow you to properly relax at the end of the day. If you do not have the luxury or space for a home office pick the quietest place in the house. This is not your bedroom or lounge area, you do not want to be tempted to distraction or disrupt to sanctity of your relax spaces. If you are in a studio apartment, maybe but your dining table up against a window so you can see the world and not your home space. Set up your ‘desk’ with only work related items; computer, notebook, stationary, calendar. Make to space purely work oriented and you will be so much more productive. I am not saying the space cannot be fun, fill the room with your favourite music and aesthetic, but keep it a work only space. You only work here no where else and you do not use this space for fun or relaxation. This will train your brain to act the same as if you were headed to the office in-house.Keep your work routine
Try to keep your normal work routine. If you start work at 8am and finish at 5pm with an hour lunch break on a normal work day then do that at home. Don’t be lazy and cut your work hours or be an over achiever and extend your work day into the moonlight hours. Also don’t be inclined to do a three hour Netflix marathon for lunch (your boss won’t thank you). Be consistent and your brain will thank you. A standard clock-off time is essential to letting your mind unwind and relax after the health mental exercise of work. So get up get ready and presentable for the day, tell your loved ones you are heading to work, start work at the same time everyday and act as much as you can like it is business as usual.Be transparent, communicate openly
A big stress of working from home is boss/employee trust. Your boss needs to have faith that you are going to get your work done without their watchful eye over you and not slack off, the same way you need to know your boss trusts you to do your job so you can work effectively. A way I have found around this is constant open communication. This may be a daily Skype call to check in or emails to update your progress every hour or a live slack messenger board. The more open you are about what you are up to the stronger the boss/employee trust relationship will get. The best tools I have found when I work with remote friendly business’ are job and time trackers like Asana, Basecamp and Trello. These services allow you to update your progress live, message relevant co-workers directly in the app, keep on top of new projects as they come in and keep your schedule organised. You may want to talk to your boss about utilising free or paid tools like this to help keep you and them in check especially if your remote work arrangement becomes an extended solution (hint: being solution oriented and offering options like this is a great way to demonstrate your commitment to your work).Silence your phone
At times like this, between live news updates and friends your phone will constantly be abuzz, I know mine is. This will be your biggest distraction so please silence your phone or get one of the many apps on the market that will block your social media and entertainment apps for set periods of time. You do not have to go cold turkey but getting rid of the ding and buzz will keep you focused and only looking are your phone when you are between tasks or on a break.Productivity tip
If all else fails and your struggle to stay focused at the best of times, try using some productivity methods to get your through your work day. A couple off the top of my head include making check lists for tasks you need to get done each day. Combined this with a weekly planner and highlighting urgent tasks and it is a fool proof system to keep you on track. You could also use a reward system, set a token reward for some tasks. In example, if you manage to clear your email inbox of the 100 unread emails you get a delicious dessert tonight, or you get that presentation completed and approved and you order that new coffee maker online so you can have cafe coffee from home. It is a less traditional method but it works. Finally I would also recommend the Pomodoro method. This is when you you work for short stints of time, say 30 minutes solid with 5 minute rest periods. this allows you to stay focused on one task and let your brain settle between each new project.
I hope that these tips are helpful to you. They come from a lot of experience. Enjoy the remote work revolution. If anyone requires a graphic designer or illustrator I am at home and ready to work.
Keep calming work from home,
Cara