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Remote working is the new way of getting the job done. Rather than tying you to that office cubicle, the ability to work remotely from your home office or the nearest cafe is a boon for many workers. The studies back it up too, with evidence that remote workers work just as hard, if not harder on their projects. Perhaps this is because there’s no distraction by office chatter or they feel more productive knowing their work and home life is balanced and less stressful.

Perhaps the one draw back from working remotely is that feeling of being a little cut off from your team, of not having the rigid timetable that you tend to have in your office life. So in this article, we’re taking a look at how you can get the job done, even when you’re not at work and get the best from your remote working.

Better Connected

And the odd phone call might just be enough to make sure you know what’s going on but what might just tip the balance is employing some smart software. Take Asana, for example, if your team is spread about the country or even internationally then you need something that keeps you working on track. That’s where Asana comes in. Set up your project online, assign tasks that everyone can see and update and tick off when completed. 

The fear of missing vital pieces of work or overlapping on tasks is gone and your team members are fully up to speed with what’s going on, even when they’re not in the same conference room.

Personal Motivation

Another challenging area of working remotely is finding the discipline to work to a schedule. When you have the whole day ahead of you, when the daily grind of a long commute is wiped out, there almost seems like there are too many options.

Get your head in the game by starting and finishing at a set time each day. Wear custom high end suits if it helps you feel like you’re in the zone then head out the door and down to work at the same time with a plan of how your day is going to be spent.

If you do work from a home office then having some personal discipline is going to keep you focussed. While the novelty of working in your pajamas is fun for a day or two, it can very quickly become de-motivating and add to that feeling of isolation. Get up, get showered and get on with your day.

Working Outside the Home

Yes, you can head to that favorite cafe and spend a fortune on snacks and lattes or you might opt for working in a coworking space. You’ll find plenty of these spaces popping up across the country and there’s bound to be one near you. They do cost and you’ll be paying for a desk space, fast wifi and other office facilities such as printer and conference room.

Co-working can go one of two ways, either you love the contact with others and thrive off the buzz of having other co-workers around you or you will find the noise and the hum of other’s telephone conversations distracting. You will need to give it a go for a day, to figure out if it’s going to work for you or not.

If you choose to work from home on a more permanent basis, you should set aside a space in your home that is just purely for your work. Make sure you take your work space seriously and have a chair that fully supports you and a desk at the right height.

Our final word on working remotely is on the importance of switching off at the end of the day. While it’s easy to keep working until way past the time you would ordinarily stay at work, it’s vital to your mental and physical well being that you are disciplined in closing down at the end of the day and don’t carry on checking your emails late into the evening.

Remote working should be something that helps, rather than hinders you, when it comes to achieving your work goals. It should help you to achieve a balance in your life where you can work around your family commitments, cut out a grueling commute and help towards a greener and more environmentally-friendly working arrangement by leaving the car at home.

It should not leave you stressed and feeling out of the loop. Get your remote working done right and you will be a productive and motivated team member. Get remote working, working for you today.