Remote work: Optimizing and improving productivity
Doing work outside the normal office setting has become increasingly popular in recent times and although there are varying opinions as to preference for this, remote work is now mainstream.
Business leaders and organizations have become sold on the idea of their employees having the autonomy of waking up and living lives in a way that is most suited to their personal and professional goals, along with their habits and idiosyncrasies.
It is however pertinent to express that remote work is both exhilarating and exhausting all at once and irrespective of how you look at it, remote work is a big shift for anyone.
Here are a few tips to ensure that remote working is thoroughly optimized and productivity is improved:
1. Define your workplace
It would help significantly to define a space where you get your work done as this creates a routine and signals to your brain that this space is designated for working. In defining a space that is specifically for your work and nothing else, you’ll inevitably have fewer distractions. A clearly defined workplace helps you separate your professional life from your private life and subsequently helps for a balance.
2. Plan out and structure your days
Create to-do lists, set goals, and come up with a daily schedule with breaks and times when you’ll be able to focus on deep work. It helps to break your day into chunks of time dedicated to different tasks. It also helps to keep a regular work schedule to avoid getting sucked into work 24/7; it is very essential to set your work hours and stick to them. The more structure you place in your day, the less likely it will be to veer off course.
3. Avoid working on personal tasks
It’s very easy to assume that working remotely affords you the opportunity to complete personal tasks alongside work tasks. However, doing this ultimately extends your day past your regular work hours and the constant interruptions impede your productivity and performance.
4. Take care of your health
Our mental and physical well-being are the key factors that affect our productivity. Working remotely, especially in a home setting, is a causal sequence to losing a healthy organization in your life.
Not keeping a regular exercise or sleep schedule can increase your stress levels and ultimately reduce your productivity at work. An early morning run/walk or an evening session at the gym, and a solid eight-hour sleep helps you feel energized and more ready to tackle your day.
Investing in protective glasses and eye care sensitive devices, and taking periodic eye breaks from your laptop or monitor will help reduce the emergence of eye strain and eye-related issues.
5. Prioritize communicating with your team
Working remotely can sometimes create a feeling of a disconnect with your team, it is therefore crucial to make an extra effort to communicate with your boss and co-workers. Virtual coffee breaks and lunches, interactive happy hours, and post-work virtual meetings with your team will keep you in sync with your team, promote great work relationships and eliminate any feeling of alienation, thus boosting your work productivity.
In conclusion, remote work is a game changer for the corporate world and from the looks of it, this pattern of work is here to stay. It is therefore pertinent that we find better ways to optimize it.
Worthy of note is that remote working doesn’t mean “working from home”. Lots of people have misconstrued remote work to mean “work from home”. As a remote worker, a wide variety of options is open for you to do your best work working out of the conventional office space. Find what works best for you and enjoy it.
