The main reason individuals fail to adapt to operating remotely is they fail to see the neccesity of good organisation and sustainable self management.
I have been working remotely for nearly 8 yrs since I first unearthed Quickbooks online an ‘on demand’ small business accounting software service and was energised by the fact that if you can perform accounting online then why shouldn’t it be practical to perform other key types of of work away from the conventional office?
Whilst working remotely has numerous upsides there are numerous traps that people easily fall into which lead to problems that result in cuts in work output and lower motivation. The major reason for reductions in effectiveness in remote workers is interruption and it is a proven and well publicised fact that it can take a professional up to 20 mins to establish their original productivity level after experiencing a disturbance.
Deeper insights reveal that members of both sexes who are consistently subjected to interruptions are more likely to be susceptible to lower memory capability and are prone to developing mental health issues in later life. We exist in an over communicated world and it is important that you recognise the problems this causes before you commence working remotely. When operating remotely you must do everything possible to minimise the threat of being disturbed.
Here are the essentials:
1, Get a habit, make sure that everybody knows it and obsessively maintain it!
Good examples are a consistent time of day when you read or send e-mail and make or take telephone calls. Before I began working remotely I used to receive as many as two hundred electronic mails every 24 hours. Now I think I am unfortunate if I receive more than 4. To ’reset’ my electronic mail experience I changed my e-mail address and vigorously took precautions to shield the details being made available to anyone. I then ‘trained’ everyone who I gave my e-mail address to, to use it with special care. I also created an automatic reply that swiftly told anyone sending me mail my schedule for reading mail and if someone should have my immediate consideration to mark it as ‘Urgent’.
2. Get rid of alerts.
Turn off absolutely everything that can send you a perceptible alert. This includes cell and
ordinary handsets and forms of alerts from electronic mail such as visual alerts, warning sounds, display changes to your inbox folder and of course facing a window. Get a door on your study and put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign on it.
In ‘Remote Working Part 3 – The ‘kit’ list’ I will reveal my favourite tools and software.
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Remote Working Part 2 – Managing yourself
