We have come to an era where most of us don’t like to go to an office and work remotely! This is no wrong, no right. Everyone has their preferences, but sometimes we are not well equipped with tools, resources, motivation to live up to our own choices. That makes it difficult to work remotely. Keeping materialistic things aside, sharing ways to make “remote work” work for you!
The basic setup that works for everyone:
- Table Chair- It is crucial to have a decent table and chair that suits you based on height, working preferences, budget, and space at home. DO NOT work from your bed, dining table!
- Lighting- We tend to work from a closed room not to be distracted by outside noise (kids, T.V., vehicles). It’s okay to open your windows to absorb some natural light (which makes you more active). On top of natural light, having enough indoor lights is like ‘Cherry on the cake.’
- Internet- It’s not always possible to have SLA for residential internet connections. It‘s recommended to have another source of connectivity, i.e., a 4G dongle, mobile hotspot.
Doing a setup like this will enable you to work with good health and productivity wherever you want. Here is more to build better habits and stay healthier and productive:
How to avoid burnout?
After talking to a few friends, colleagues and doing secondary research, it’s evident that everyone faces burnout in some way or another. We keep working for hours & hours, and it’s hard to decide when to disconnect.
Based on detailed feedback from my colleague Millusha Fernandez, here are some of the ideas to disconnect:
- Physical disconnect: Depending on your home area, keep a room just for working. DO NOT eat in your work area, DO NOT use social media, DO NOT invite guests/friends here, and the list goes on.
When you restrict the activity zones to a specific activity, you change spots for different activities.
P.S.- If you do not have separate rooms for sleep, food, work. You can make zones even in a single room dedicated to a specific activity. - Mental disconnect: This is the most critical part of our work life. We are away from the desk; we keep thinking about deadlines, emails, requests from the team/customers. A few ways to deal with this:
- delegate things,
- communicate better,
- share your availability with the team (update them if you are changing your work timings)
- last but the least. Create a reach-out plan (need basis)! For example, send me a message on the work communication tool (slack/teams); if no response, send me a text/WhatsApp/WeChat/Any personal communication tool and then a phone call if it’s critical. If it’s critical, tell them to skip the first two modes of communication.
P.S.- This I learned and executed after I joined Typito.
How to avoid morning blues?
Most people love to sleep for longer hours. I wish I could. I listened to the book Atomic Habits, which talks about how you can make your habits. To build a practice, Make it easy to perform the task. To work in the morning, ready your work set up the previous night. So that when you wake up, you don’t need to put effort into initiating work. To break a habit, Make it challenging. Sleep early. I know it isn’t easy! When you make it difficult to sleep late, you can sleep early. Put your mobile phone in the closet, switch off the internet the first time sleep comes to your mind.
How to become productive?
We all know how we can perform better. A few everyday things to become productive:
- Travel places
- Stay hydrated
- Eat healthy food
- It’s okay to take some rest
- Keep exploring and learning
- Don’t just sleep on weekends (try this)
- Walk/Run/Cycle/Any activity that you love doing
- And don’t forget to work
How do I work?
I am an explorer who loves to go places, explore around, cycle trips, and trekking. I have a separate room for work at home (set up shared here) and a small table (portable) if I want to work from the terrace or some other place at times. Every morning I wake up with a smile, drink water, go for a walk/run/cycling, and after other morning rituals, start my day. I love cooking, so sometimes I make something new(my food album). In the evening, I prefer to have homemade snacks/drinks and go out for a walk/meet people around.
There is more to it, and I wanted to highlight the essential actionable. I hope these will help you become better and succeed in “remote work” & life in general.
AkBansal
