Remote Working Part 2 – Things you should know about managing yourself
The main reason individuals fail to adjust to operating remotely is they fail to see the criticality of having good quality organisation and solid self discipline.
I have been working remotely for over seven years since I first unearthed Quickbooks online an ‘on demand’ small business accounting software web application and was inspired by the fact that if you can perform accounting on the Internet then why shouldn’t it be viable to perform other key types of of work remotely?
Whilst working remotely has significant advantages there are numerous traps that people easily fall into which turn into problems that result in lower work output and lower motivation. The top reason for low productivity in remote workers is distraction and it is a established and well known fact that it can take a worker up to 20 mins to return to their original productivity level after experiencing a distraction.
Deeper insights reveal that people who are regularly experience interruptions are more likely to be susceptible to lower memory power and are prone to developing mental health trouble in old age. We live in an over communicated society and it is essential that you know the problems this causes before you decide to work remotely. Whilst operating remotely you must do everything feasible to minimise the jeopardy of being distracted.
Here are things that really do work:
1, Get a habit, make sure that everybody knows it and rigidly adhere to it!
Good examples are a consistent time of day when you review or write and send mail and make or be available for phone calls. Before I began working remotely I used to receive as many as two hundred electronic mails in 24 hours. Now I think I am unfortunate if I receive greater than four. To ‘restart’ my e-mail experience I changed my e-mail address and obsessively took precautions to shield the details being made available to anyone. I then made sure every party who I gave my e-mail address to, to use it wisely and sparingly. I also created an automatic reply that swiftly told anyone sending me mail my routine for processing mail and if someone should have my immediate attention to mark it as ‘Urgent’.
2. Get rid of alerts.
Turn off every possible mechanism that can send you a visual or audible alert. This includes mobile and
ordinary phones and forms of alerts from e-mail such as on screen pop ups, beeps, display changes to your inbox folder and of course facing a window. Get a door on your office and put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign on it.
In ‘Remote Working Part 3 – Top tools and tricks’ I will reveal my favourite tools and software.
Remote Working Part 1 – Summary
Obviously not all of us can work remotely as many jobs require us to go to their place of work or travel to perform their duties in person. But for those of us who are able to work remotely then I thought it would be useful to share what I have learned and present some practical directions by writing and publishing it on the web in the hope that I could give others valuable timesavers for adapting to remote working or managing remote workers.
I can tell you that there are a lot of so called ’experts’ online who will try and persuade you to purchase videos for large sums of money, believe me you don’t need to do this.
I am lucky enough to be allowed to work anywhere I choose and just about everyone who asks me what work I do wants to know how I manage to work remotely. Don’t get the wrong idea I am still developing the science of remote working as each day I discover tribes online who show me new tricks and I am constantly uncovering new systems and processes that make my life easier and improve my productivity.
Over the past 7 years I have immensely adapted my working methods to enable me to do the whole of my work remotely with a selection of internet tools and rigid self discipline. One lunchtime whilst searching the Internet I discovered Quickbooks online and this got me thinking about what just might be possible. The encounter with online ‘on demand’ small business accounting software was a pivotal moment for me and the beginning of my ‘remote working career.
I must say up front that efficiently working remotely is as much about the software as it is about self management. Working remotely also means stating to your co-workers, managers and clients as to what they can expect and how they will stay in touch with you.
In ‘Remote Working Part 2 – Things you should know about managing yourself’ I talk about how to focus.
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