We have grown accustomed to working remotely over the past couple of years. With the tech industry forever changing and innovating not only the technology used but the working environment, a lot of companies strive off of working remotely like Automattic and other companies.
Working remotely is fantastic and gives you a lot of freedom and flexibility, and let’s not forget… no traffic! With that being said, it’s not for everyone and requires a lot of dedication and self motivation. Don’t worry, here are a couple of tips we’ve learnt along the way.
Working remotely, our five crucial tips
1. Get dressed
It’s great to be able to not put on pants for a meeting, really it is. However, the largest mistake you can do is throw your usual routine out by staying in your pajamas. Get dressed and ready for work.
2. Set a schedule
If you are shifting over from an office job to remote working (work from anywhere you want), don’t break that routine. Although, you may stay in bed a couple of extra minutes since you don’t have to commute to work. You most likely end up working from home, set time aside for work and for family/leisure time. Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean you are available 24/7 and make this clear to your clients (if you are working for yourself).
3. Change up your ‘office’ once in a while
Working from home may cause cabin fever. Work from different locations within your house, switch it up every couple of days. The great thing from working remotely is you just need a reliable internet connection and your laptop (in our case), so visit coffee shops, meet people while you work and get that human interaction.
4. Distractions
Try and stay focused on your work and tasks ahead, we often break up our work into ‘bite-sized’ chunks so we can quickly iterate through each small task which helps keep us motivated. It is easy to get distracted working from home, I mean there’s Netflix, maybe family around you during your work hours or even some video game catchup. Now, with the last point said. There is nothing wrong with sneaking in an hour of gaming/series during your lunch break if you run according to your schedule.
5. Be comfortable
Each person is unique and some people love working from a coffee shop or from the comfort of their own bedroom. This varies per person but find what you are most comfortable with and work with that. Personally, I prefer working from home at times because my computer is setup and I have my own standing desk and yoga ball (Ultimate tech startup starter kit – I know) where as other members of our company prefer working from coffee shops.
so true! i go outside for lunch and walk dogs just to clear my mind and of course to avoid cabin fever!
Definitely! Cabin fever is what we suffer from the most when working far and in between. It helps if you can work with a buddy remotely, but it’s not always an option.