Stay Disciplined when Working Remotely

More and more, companies are finding benefits in allowing employees to work remotely. Working remotely might mean working at a home office, working on your laptop at Starbucks, or taking your job with you when you travel abroad. In any situation, if you are going to be working remotely as a regular part of your employment, you need to set up certain conditions to help yourself stay disciplined and focused. You need to reduce distractions and maintain positive communication with your office. With some minimal planning, you can make your remote work very effective and efficient.

Steps

Reducing Barriers or Distractions

1. Get organized. Working remotely, for most people, is going to mean working at home. You need to designate a space where you dedicate your time and your materials to the work you are doing. You need to have the tools of your work readily at hand, whether these include a telephone, copier and computer, or art supplies, or any other kind of trade tools you might need. Treat the space as your “office” and provide yourself with what you need for success.
   • Setting up a designated office at home can have tax benefits as well. To be allowed a deduction, though, you must have an office or other area that you use exclusively for work, and you must keep records of the time you spend there.
2. Create a positive working environment. Whether you sit at a desk or draw at a drafting table, write on a computer or prefer an antique typewriter, you need to work in an environment that is conducive to accomplishing what you need to accomplish. For most people, this means minimizing distractions, whether those are from your children, the telephone or television. You need to set in your mind, and in the minds of those who share your space, that this is your “work time,” and you need to respect it as such.
   • Obviously, emergencies may arise, and you may need to get called away. But working at home or any other offsite location has a tendency to lead to more interruptions than working in a standard office. You need to try to reduce those interruptions.
   • For some people, a positive work environment requires complete silence. For others, you may find that you work best with some music, either on headphones or in the room around you.
3. Establish a routine. Staying disciplined when working remotely is primarily a matter of good habits. You need to develop some routines for your work. By doing this, you will be more inclined to work efficiently when your routine says that it is “work time.” You will also enjoy your rest periods more and get more out of them when you know that you are not stealing from your work.
   • For example, you could actually write down a schedule for your day. The schedule might say something like:
     • 9:00-11:00 Work on drafting project
     • 11:00-12:00 Break for exercise and lunch
     • 12:00-1:00 Telephone calls for work
     • 1:00-3:30 Resume drafting work
     • 3:30-5:00 Submit reports
4. Work at convenient times. If you have a family and you work from home as a second income, for example, you should plan your work time when the rest of the family is away. You may need to see your children off to school and spouse to work, and then plan your work from about 9:00 until the children return from school. Another alternative that works for some people is working very early in the morning or very late at night.
5. Prioritize your objectives. It is a good practice to write out a daily "to-do" list of tasks that you want to get done. By prioritizing this way, you will be more inclined to focus on getting those certain things done. The list will help you keep from feeling overwhelmed and will help you pay attention to the things that are important.
6. Use technology to force yourself to stay on task. If you have some bad habits about surfing the Internet when you should be working, you can use some computer tools to force yourself to stay on task.
   • LeechBlock works on FireFox. It allows you to ban yourself from whatever sites you believe draw your attention away from your work.
   • WasteNoTime performs this same function on Safari.
   • StayFocused will do this on Chrome.
7. Persevere. Particularly if you are beginning a new task or are working on a project that is difficult, you may feel overwhelmed. When this happens, it is human nature to lose focus and drop your attention to your work. The quality of your work can suffer, as well as your efficiency and overall effectiveness. To combat this, sometimes you just need to be persistent and take things one step at a time. Focus not on the end product, which may appear too far away, but on the first step. Then the next. In that way, proceed until you reach the end.

Maintaining Connections

1. Plan regular meetings or conversations with office contacts. Whether you are a part of a planning team, or you have an individual boss to report to, or you just have friends who work in the main office, it is valuable to maintain connections. After all, you do work with these people, even if you are not physically in the office. Participate in regular meetings, either in person by going to the office occasionally, or through webinars or conference calls.
   • Even if a meeting is called that may not directly need your participation, attending is a good idea to keep up your connections with the office.
2. Set rules for communication. You and your team, boss or other contacts at work should establish some basic ground rules for communicating. Communication that is not planned well is not going to serve a positive purpose. For example, if your boss is calling you too frequently, you may feel that you are not being respected or trusted. On the other hand, if you are not providing information to the team regularly enough, they may wonder if you are being productive.
   • You should try to set days and times to check in. If you choose not to make specific appointments (Tuesday at 3:00, for example), you should at least have a good understanding of the frequency that is expected on both sides (once a week, once a day, or so on).
3. Make yourself valuable. As a remote employee, you may feel that you are occasionally overlooked or uninvolved. You need to make extra efforts to show your employer that you are valuable. You should volunteer for projects (as much as you realistically can) and make sure that your employer knows the work that you are doing. If you disappear from your employer's view, this is your own fault for not making yourself visible and valuable.
4. Avoid isolation. If your remote office is in your home, there may be a tendency to isolate yourself in your home. You could wake up, eat breakfast, do your work, have dinner, go to bed, and never see another person. You need to combat this tendency. If necessary, make it part of your daily schedule to get out and see people. Get out and take a walk at lunchtime. Participate in social groups or clubs that keep you involved with others. These extra connections will help you focus more effectively on your work, when you are working.
   • Working too much in isolation may seem super-effective at first. You might be able to dedicate more hours per day to your work tasks. However, habits like this can lead to burnout, which makes you less effective in the long run.

Focusing on your Purpose

1. Understand your goals. When you are working remotely, you need to know what your employer expects of you. For example, if your job is reviewing and editing computer code for a programming company, you should know how many lines of code you are expected to produce in one day. If you are not aware of some general expectations, you should have a conversation with your direct supervisor.
   • Problems can arise if you are working under one assumption about your productivity, and your employer has another. It is best to clear up any misunderstanding as early as possible.
2. Take pride in your work. If you produce work products that you are proud of, you are going to be more inclined to work diligently and stay disciplined in the work that you do. You need to realize your purpose and function to the company, and you need to know that what you do matters in the big picture. If you ever find yourself doubting any of this, you should stop and review what you have been doing.
3. Address conflicts directly. Always keep in mind that your purpose is the success of your company, whatever that may be. Your company succeeds when all the individual workers succeed and are performing well. If you spot any conflicts or problems, it can be easy when working remotely to avoid them. But avoiding conflicts generally does not resolve or correct them, it only makes them hang around longer. Especially when you work remotely, you need to be alert to any conflicts that arise and be diligent in addressing them.
   • As a remote employee, you may have special problems or concerns that other employees do not experience. Address them early, to keep the problems small.
4. Understand differences in roles. One problem that can occur when working remotely is that others in the office may not see or fully understand the work that you do. This can lead to ineffective work if the remote employee becomes disgruntled and feels unappreciated. It is important to realize that your particular job may be more about the thinking that goes into something, and less about a physical product. If you have concerns about your role, you should talk with your direct supervisor.

References

See also

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