Everyone who works remotely has got to find out a way to know where to work, and the way to make boundaries between work and private life. The office equipment, career development, training opportunities, and building relationships with colleagues are factors that should also be taken into consideration. Working remotely, especially when working from home most of the time, means deciding these issues and others. Here are 3 tips for leading a better and more productive remote-working life.
Establish A Morning Routine
Don’t underestimate the power of a morning meditation with a cup of strong coffee. Since work is accessible to you all the time now, make sure you’re taking time for yourself before you get started. Whether it’s a quiet breakfast reading the news, or taking the dog for a walk (keeping a secure distance from others, of course), or doing a home workout, make sure you determine your routine early during this quarantine and stick with it. For those of you that require more structure – make a checklist for every morning and force yourself to get it done before checking those emails or diving straight into morning calls. Sometimes this will mean setting your alarm just a little bit earlier to make it happen, but trust us when we say it’s worth it.
Schedule Breaks
Adding lunch to your calendar or taking a 15-minute break to stretch should be listed during a national best practices guide to working from home. This option will drastically shift your day towards a more productive and efficient work output; and it’s dual-purposed.
First, it will give you the mental breaks that would naturally occur in an office. There’s no getting up to chat with your co-worker or grabbing lunch from your favorite spot in the neighborhood (no, Slack chatting with your colleagues does not count). These scheduled breaks force you to get up, step off from the pc , and move your body around.
Second, many of us know about the unspoken (or perhaps spoken, in some cases) uptick in distrust when the team works from home. This schedule allows your co-workers to know when you’re at your desk, and when you need to step away. No need for anyone to wonder if you’ve taken an opportunity for an hour to observe your favorite show on Netflix if you don’t respond directly .
Create Your Priority List the Night Before
You’ve probably seen this trick floating around from productivity experts, but it’s true: making your priority list for subsequent day, just before you sign off , creates structure and efficiency. Not only are you able to sleep better at night knowing exactly what needs to be done the next day, but if you write them in order of priority, your day (and time) has already been mapped out. Don’t skip around – get the tough things done first while your brain is fresh, and do the monotonous or easy tasks within the afternoon (or suits when you’re most efficient). This trick also helps you avoid waking up, turning over, and anxiously checking emails when you first wake up.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
