Do you want to know how to structure your remote working practice for success?
Just like small-business practice, effective remote working needs structure and a regime.
It starts with self-discipline. Plan ahead, establish a routine and stick with it.
What your practice model looks like and what’s included will vary significantly from person to person and will depend on your unique circumstances.
Key components
A Daily Schedule is best managed with a day calendar, segmented into hours. Recognise your biorhythms and, if you can, align worktime to when you are most alert and productive.
A Dedicated workspace. Try setting aside an area exclusively for your remote working or work-from-home practice – if you have space.
A strong Mindset. Maintain good discipline when working and when you transition from work mode into private mode and back.
Robust Distraction Management. You should have a non-negotiable set of rules for managing distractions – before they occur.
Wellbeing Support. Be vigilant about your wellbeing. Stick to regular exercise routines and keep wellbeing equipment close at hand. Ergonomic furniture is recommended.
General Supporting materials. Make ample use of simple things like a calendar, spreadsheet, notepad, to-do lists, reminder cards, whiteboard, or more complicated items like technology, furniture and furnishings, etc.
Breakdown – then rebuild
A good way to improve your practice is to break areas down into their essentials, then rebuild them up into something better and more functional.
We have done some of the legwork for you. Here are the key areas you should break down, then rebuild better:
- Practice
- Location
- Setup
- Tech
- Admin
- Image
- Wellbeing
- Profile
Our blog content is organised into these topic areas to help you research your own rebuilding efforts. Check out Our Blog area to navigate to a particular topic you want to improve or visit our Remote Worker Toolkit for a walkthrough of each of these areas, laid out in an easy-to-follow sequence.
Is your remote working done from home – or elsewhere?
Some of us practice work-from-home-type activities which may not be done from home. People who do this are:
- Remote workers
- Road warriors (on-the-road workers)
- Coffee shop junkies (who love to sit in a coffee shop and do remote work from there)
- Site workers (often working remote at a customer’s site)
Is this you? The main challenge to this way of working is having less control over your choice of location.
If you work remote – but not from home -you can still create a functional or temporary workspace that you can call your very own – no matter your location. Be sure to check out our Location and Setup blog topics for more tips.
The hybrid worker
Many Wofomers* work remote (from their home or elsewhere) as well as their place of employment, alternating between these locations throughout the week. It’s either ad-hoc or based on a fixed schedule. (Example: Mondays and Tuesdays from home and the rest of the week at their employer-provided workplace). This kind of working is called Hybrid.
If you are a hybrid worker, you should ask yourself which remote work items you need at your employer-provided workplace. Make a list of all the things you use when working remote or from home. Delete or add items that don’t/do apply when you are working from your employer-provided workplace. Ideally, use the same items regardless of where you are. This will reduce disruption when you transition between these different locations. The quality of your work will benefit as well.
(* a Wofomer is a work-from-home-er)
In conclusion, your remote working practice should have structure and rules. It helps if you document your ideas, thoughts and plans. That’s good practice too!
