7 Habits for Highly Effective Remote Work

Around the world, the workforce is evolving at a brisk pace. Companies have started going remote with their employees, freelancers and interns. Also, in lieu of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, more people are opting to work from their homes. Remote working has allowed us all to regain control of time, however, working from home has its unique sets of challenges too. When an office-like environment is absent around you, it’s common for anyone to get distracted. Moreover, working at strange hours in your pyjamas and that too without much human interaction can take a toll on mental health. People also feel left-out because of the same.

There is no denying that remote working is freeing. You can decide your own work time, it’s more convenient for you and your family, but working from home is challenging at the same time. Since you’re in charge of your work life, it becomes your onus to plan your day, stay motivated & organized while accomplishing office-bound challenges. Communication is one big challenge in a remote work environment. Unlike traditional offices, there’s next to no face to face interactions when you work from home. Therefore, at times, people tend to miss out on details and crucial pieces of information. In this article, we will talk about seven amazing tips for effective remote work.

1. Designate a space:

One of the first steps for ensuring effective remote work is to dedicate a home workspace. A quiet room with no distractions can make you feel like ‘you’re at work’. If available, a separate room can be highly effective since it keeps kids, family, friends and pets out. Having a separate workspace far away from the kitchen, laundry or dining room keeps you concentrated and minimizes distractions. Always remember that the place you choose for your work is incredibly important as it will help your home and office coexist together. Also, while choosing a space, try to reduce visual clutter as much as possible and go for the corner with ample natural light. Sitting next to a window can make you feel connected to the world.

2. Plan your communication:

When you communicate effectively, you understand problems better & provide faster solutions. Communication helps you maintain a better professional image while you’re working from home. You can nurture strong business relationships. Communication while remote working is a two-way concept. You and your teams should be at the same level of communication so that better decision making, task execution and productivity can be achieved. Your virtual meetings should be crisp and to the point as well since you’re not physically present in front of your audience. Technology PowerPoint templates can help you create quick and engaging presentations for your virtual meetings. Ready to use templates ensure effective communication backed by intuitive design and content.

3. Break up the day:

When you’re working from the comfort of your home, you’d need to be strict with yourself. You should set the start & end of your working day and adhere religiously to those timings. The goal is to maximize the time you’ve in between. Starting early can be a good initiation point. Often comes a time when your work life and personal life amalgamate when you work from home. Setting strict work time parameters and following the same can help you draw lines. This boosts your mental health in unimaginable ways.

4. Create a task list:

Creating a daily task list can help you stay focussed throughout your working day and monitor your productivity in the end. You can use a bullet journal for daily planning. A bullet journal will help you streamline your daily tasks and reach both personal and professional goals. You can log your daily tasks, notes, events, requirements and more into your bullet journal. You should define priority for your tasks and execute them in that order. At the end of the day, when you look back, you’d realize how productive you were. This will help you manage pending tasks effectively and set new tasks for subsequent days.

5. Keep a check on interactions:

It can be said that you’re surrounded by a plethora of distractions while working from home. You should avoid interactions with family or friends in your decided work timeframe. However, it doesn’t mean you should ignore them completely. It just means, working from home shouldn’t be a group activity. The goal is to stay focussed and achieve as much productivity as you can. Casual conversations can distract you and might put you in a lazy state of mind. Since you’ll be having a number of meetings throughout your workday, you should make sure that no hindrance is there. Often comes a time when noises are beyond your control, in that scenario, you should take the initiative and mute yourself.

6. Stay in the loop:

People working in remote teams might feel left out at times. One of the best things about working from an office is socialization. Working from home doesn’t mean you can’t collaborate and socialise with your office mates. You should check in with your coworkers' couple of times a week and stay in the office social loop. It’s important to keep up on the professional as well as personal level. Through this, you can combat any signs of loneliness and keep yourself active and engaged.

7. Reward yourself:

It is imperative to celebrate your hard work and reinforce positivity. Self-rewarding makes you feel good, happy and makes you want to do more of it. You shouldn’t hesitate to pat your back or make yourself a fresh cup of coffee post work. When you reward and provide yourself positive feedback for your efforts, your brain releases dopamine which controls your mood. The habit keeps you strong and motivated in your work routine and pushes you to do better, every day. Rewarding self is a near-perfect system to stay committed to professional and personal goals.