The current circumstances and rapidly developing situation in the world forced us to work remotely. It only seems that working at home, you will free up a lot of time that you previously spent on travel, chatter with colleagues and endless, sometimes unnecessary meetings. In fact, when a sofa and a TV are comfortably located near your workplace, the cake smells in the kitchen and a cat is circling around the apartment, it can be difficult to concentrate. Many people admit that at home they simply can’t tune in to work. We have prepared a number of tips on how to organize your remote work as quickly and efficiently as possible.
1. At the first step of getting used to the remote-mode, determine the place of work. For example, if you are working on a laptop, you need a separate desk. And it should not be a dining table or bedside table in the bedroom. Highlight a separate space and create an atmosphere. Remove all unnecessary things. Of course, everyone has their own concepts of order. You are likely to sit down to read a new magazine if it is in your vision area. Or will not deny yourself to a coffee break by spotting your favorite cup. But this is not so bad. The biggest distraction is a mess in the room. Taking away all unnecessary items, you will better concentrate directly on the work.
2. Try to wake up on an alarm clock every morning. No matter how great the temptation to lie in bed till dinner, still force yourself to start work right in the morning. Be certain to get up an hour before the usual start of work. Make normal in social life actions: make coffee, have breakfast if you have a habit, make yourself presentable, put on jeans and a T-shirt (read to force yourself to take off your pajamas).
3. Daily online meeting. Be sure to hold an everyday morning video meeting for 5-10 minutes. Why a video meeting? You have already prepared for work and make yourself presentable. This will help you to concentrate and get started at a specific time, rather than staying with a laptop in your pajamas under the blanket.
4. Plan and remind. After the video meeting, you will understand how many tasks you are facing on the current day. You will learn to optimize your time. When planning your day, be sure to leave time for breaks. Even if you know that it takes, for example, four hours to complete a task, you should not expect that all this time you will work without rest. Experts have calculated that an adult can work for an hour without distraction. Then it’s useful to take a 5-7-minute break. Distracting from work, leave yourself a note about what you did before. At home, we are distracted by any extraneous moments, so for some time you need to help yourself with “reminders”. Specialists call this method of planning the “Swiss cheese method”. The bottom line is simple: you just need to leave “holes” in your schedule for relaxation and unplanned activities.
5. Consider nutrition. Staying for a whole working day at home, it is likely to you to spend it with tea and cookies or to constantly go out of business to look again in the refrigerator. Remember that at home you decide what kind of food will be on your plate – this applies to the main meals and snacks. To limit the number of approaches to the refrigerator, you can try to set an alarm clock or set reminders on your smartphone that it’s time to take a break (for lunch or for a snack). This is better than eating directly at the computer: during work, you can quietly eat more than you would like, and it is more difficult to pay attention to the taste of your dishes.
6. Figure out with household chores. Many people think that working from home will help them to do twice as much – to complete work tasks, and at the same time to do household chores. Most likely, the opposite is true: if you are trying to solve a serious issue, your household chores will only be distracting – at least because you won’t be able to focus on one thing. The main thing to remember is that during working hours it is work that must remain a priority – and that it is impossible to manage everything at once.
7. Weekend – to relax. If sitting in the office around the clock is unlikely to succeed, then at home this is quite achievable. But it is impossible to maintain such an intense rhythm for a long time, a person begins to suffer from overwork and can no longer perform his duties well enough. It is useful to end your working day at certain times, devoting weekends and evenings to relaxation and personal matters. Try to accustom to this and colleagues with whom you are in contact. Explain to them that remote work does not mean that you are available for their calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the evenings and on weekends, you can afford to turn off the phone and not check the email.
We wish you all good health and productive remote work!
