The Remote Work Productivity Tricks and Tools You Need to Know
Millions of professionals worldwide unwillingly started full-time remote work from home due to the coronavirus pandemic. Remote work brings different challenges, so you’ll need to have your own unique set of tools and productivity tips to tackle them.
People say remote work can be a litmus test for your productivity. Many believe efficiency is lost because of the comfort remote work provides. But it’s actually about mastering those basics – something people tend to neglect when they’re too comfortable at their desks.
The particular aspects of remote work mean you’ll have to plan if you want it done well, develop those few good habits, and follow those essential suggestions to overcome any challenges.
Loads of productivity tips and tools will help you along the way, and we’ll go through some of them in this article to understand how to succeed at working from home.
What is Remote Work?
Remote work is an operating style that lets professionals do their jobs outside of a corporate office. When you’re remote, you can work from anywhere and go wherever in the world you want to go.
As a remote employee, there are no limitations on your schedule or what projects/tasks to complete – it’s all up to your preferences. The only thing remote employees have on their minds is: how they spend their time and, being able to experience their personal life with no worries about pressures by an employer.
What Benefits Do Remote Work Offer?
For employers, hiring remote workers has the following advantages:
- Lower costs since space and resources are not required in a physical office.
- There is a broader pool of applicants because the distance isn’t an issue.
- Employees can also work from different time zones, making it easier to provide 24/7 customer support.
As for the employee’s perspective:
- Higher productivity and greater professional engagement among employees.
- Flexible work schedules often mean working at home or on their terms with no commute.
- Better work-life balance.
Though there may be some disadvantages, such as feeling isolated or not being around coworkers for support all day, productivity tips help to outweigh the cons.
How to Work from Home Successfully
There are always ways to improve the skills and strategies if you want to get a remote job. These productivity tips will make sure you’re doing everything in your power to set yourself up for success, minimize frustration, and maximize output.
1. Get Ready for Your Home Office
Nothing beats the feeling of lying in your pajamas all day. We have to resist this temptation and dress for work every morning. It’s about looking professional in video meetings. It also forces our brain into “work mode” when we get dressed in our morning routine to boost productivity.
Working from home gives the brain some reason to decide: it’s as simple as getting dressed, taking showers, doing hair, or doing minimal makeup.
These factors can make you look presentable in any video meeting request by people who cannot see your face while working remotely.
2. Set Up a Proper Home Office
You don’t have to be working at an office to work efficiently. Think of a place where you can dedicate your time and effort, like your room or the living room.
You need something expressly set up for when you work remotely – even if it’s just one space or surface within the home.
Efficiency is critical here. Make sure this housing area allows you peace while still centrally located, so it doesn’t feel too far away from anything else. Setting up an office is as essential as other remote productivity tips.
3. Set Work Hours and Adhere to Them
Make a plan for your regular working hours, and inform your boss and colleagues. Then do all you can to follow it. Your coworkers need to know when to expect you for work tasks or meetings.
Setting a schedule also makes it less likely to consistently work long hours, which is essential for maintaining an appropriate balance between family time and professional obligations.
4. Structure Your Days
When working remotely, you have the freedom of choosing your schedule. However, a lack of things like an in-person meeting schedule can cause burnout or a loss of focus.
To stay on track while being self-employed at home, plan and segment what to do for the day using tools like Google Calendar.
Structuring your days as if they were at work also saves time by preventing distractions and eliminating unplanned time commitments that will take over personal and professional life.
5. Focus on Accomplishing Goals
There are many ways to complete tasks or projects. As a remote employee, you should focus on finishing your goals in the time allotted. Keep an eye out for deadlines and work towards meeting them as they come up. It will help you maintain your momentum.
Employers also need to keep their end goal in mind. Make sure that everyone is completing what they want before it’s too late.
6. Limit the Use of Social Media
When you work online, many distractions create a barrier between your work. It would be best to mute your phone and put it away from yourself for the day.
You should also have no access to manage any social media account such as Facebook or Twitter to avoid being distracted by these sites while working on them.
Restricting the use of social media should be considered just as important as other remote productivity tips if one wants to become productive.
7. Take Short Breaks in Between
If you’re working remotely and spend a lot of time working at your computer or phone, give yourself a great time during the day to walk away from it all.
For sedentary office jobs like being glued to a desk or computer screen all day long, it’s essential to stand up and move around, even if it’s just once an hour for 10-20 seconds.
It also regularly helps your eyes switch off the screen with microbreaks of about ten seconds each hour.
8. Stay Connected with Your Team
Teleworking, when done from home, can lead to loneliness. You may not be interacting with people as you would at work, and your family might have different schedules than yours.
There are also difficulties sharing information since everyone works differently – even with teammates who live under the same roof.
This is why it’s good to talk through things like how often you’re supposed to check-in, and communicate deadlines or updates so that there are no misunderstandings between colleagues (or bosses).
Still, not every conversation needs to revolve around work tasks. Sometimes, chatting about anything will help lessen social isolation while telecommuting.
9. Schedule Meeting Time
Building strong virtual bonds is hard without in-person communication. That’s why we should find time to meet with coworkers and our manager during the temporary period where you can’t do it face-to-face.
When things get back to normal (in case of a pandemic), quick meetings or attending any offsite retreats that your company offers will help.
10. Use High-quality Technology
Working from home might make sense to cut off from the more extensive operations happening in your company.
Your remote counterparts can do video calls and instant messaging to keep them in the loop and remind themselves how their work is a part of the bigger picture. It’s also vital to invest in high-quality technology.
For instance, you work as a client manager in one of podcast consulting companies. Then a bad-performance router could take all your steam out of working at home. It’s better to invest in a high-performance one that will not diminish your enthusiasm.
Pro tip: It’s useful to stay safe from cyber threats while working remotely. To do that, we recommend using the best VPN services and a reliable data backup provider.
11. Over-communicate
Productivity tips suggest that everyone working from home should over-communicate. Tell people who need to know about your schedule and availability often, as they might forget. When you finish a project or critical task, say so too.
Over communicating doesn’t mean you have to write an essay of five paragraphs explaining every little thing; it just means repeating yourself if necessary. Joke how there must be six mentions of the upcoming vacation by now- then mention again.
12. Make Rules for Family Members
Older generations misunderstand remote work– but not this generation. They know that it can mean different things for them, including a regular schedule for your parents and hanging out with family during off-hours when there isn’t much going on at home. But that’s no excuse for missing work.
You’ll have to set some rules for yourself and your family members. Setting boundaries and communicating openly about remote working culture will help everyone participate and enjoy this.
When both parties recognize the benefits of remote work, success will be easier to find.
13. Take Care of Yourself
You can stay in tune with your energy levels at work by taking care of yourself and balancing which tasks to complete.
Working from home is often not an easy task because frequently, you will neglect the signals sent by your own body due to working remotely in solitude.
Self-care should be considered just as important as any other remote productivity tips if one wants to avoid burnout while telecommuting.
The Remote Work Tricks To Improve Your Productivity
If you feel overwhelmed, frustrated, or burnt-out trying to find your groove with remote work from home, remember that the experience is entirely normal. Working from home carries a lot of benefits as well as its downsides.
Researching remote culture can help you decide whether it’s the right fit for you and your team. We hope these productivity tips and tools will help keep you productive at home or away from the office.
Working from home productivity tips
- Get ready for your home office
Dressing up forces our brain into “work mode” in our morning routine to boost productivity.
Working from home gives the brain some reason to decide: it’s as simple as getting dressed, taking showers, doing hair, or doing minimal makeup. - Set up a proper home office
You need something expressly set up for when you work remotely – even if it’s just one space or surface within the home. Efficiency is critical here: make sure this housing area allows you peace while still centrally located, so it doesn’t feel too far away from anything else.
- Set work hours and adhere to them
Make a plan for your regular working hours, and inform your boss and colleagues. Then do all you can to follow it. Your coworkers need to know when to expect you for work tasks or meetings.
- Structure your days
To stay on track while being self-employed at home, plan, and segment what to do for the day using tools like Google Calendar. Structuring your days as if they were at work also saves time by preventing distractions and eliminating unplanned time commitments that will take over personal and professional life.
- Focus on accomplishing goals
Focus on finishing your goals in the time allotted. Keep an eye out for deadlines and work towards meeting them as they come up. It will help you maintain your momentum.
- Limit the use of social media
Mute your phone and put it away from yourself for the day. You should also have no access to any social media account to avoid being distracted by these sites while working on them.
- Take short breaks in between
Give yourself a great time during the day to walk away from it all. Stand up and move around, even if it’s just once an hour for 10-20 seconds. It also regularly helps your eyes switch off the screen with microbreaks of about ten seconds each hour.
- Stay connected with your team
Talk through things like how often you’re supposed to check in and communicate deadlines or updates so there are no misunderstandings between colleagues (or bosses).
- Schedule meeting time
Find time to meet with coworkers and our manager during the temporary period where you can’t do it face-to-face.
- Use high-quality technology
Your remote counterparts can do video calls and instant messaging to keep them in the loop and remind themselves how their work is a part of the bigger picture. It’s also vital to invest in high-quality technology.
- Over-communicate
Tell people who need to know about your schedule and availability often, as they might forget. When you finish a project or critical task, say so too.
- Make rules for family members
Set some rules for yourself and your family members. Setting boundaries and communicating openly about remote working culture will help everyone participate and enjoy this.
- Take care of yourself
You can stay in tune with your energy levels at work by taking care of yourself and balancing which tasks to complete. Self-care should be considered just as important as any other remote productivity tips if one wants to avoid burnout while telecommuting.
