3 Real Tips to Thrive Working Remotely
Why are companies and news organizations still waging the remote work vs home work; pretending that they believe if someone is working remotely they must be in their pajamas on their couch? It fits the return to office narrative very neatly of course, but the lack of imagination is tiring.
*yawn*
Remote work does not equal working from home 1:1. Remote work just means not working from a company office space. That’s it. It leaves the rest of the world can be your workspace depending on what you do, your means, your location, and your imagination.
I clicked “Avoid These 3 Tempting Habits For Remote Work Productivity” from Entreapeneur.com looking for insights and instead I found the same tired “work from home in pajamas” narrative. I’ve worked remotely since 2017, but I love to hear about other experiences to expand my ideas of what’s possible and what works. However, one of the tips from Enreapeneur.com was not to check slack and email outside of work hours. Seriously… Fun fact, I actually check my work email and messaging apps less while working from home than when I worked in an office. Being in my home at work inspired me to create more separation when I’m working vs not working, not less. If you want to address work/life device balance, look at the smartphone and lack of professional boundaries that started long before remote work became widespread.
Here are three real tips about habits for remote work:
- Remember you can leave your house to work. It can be incredibly helpful to clear your head or experience new spaces and people while you work. If you feel like you’re hitting a wall or have lower energy than usual coming to work, mix it up. Natalie, Associate Director of Marketing and Design at Electives, has co-worked at the Boston Public Library for a change of scenery, which sounds divine. Libraries tend to be quiet and have great wifi. Ryan Rogers, Creative Director/Writer/stand-up comic, adapts his location to the creative space he’s mentally in to get great work. The world is your office, have some quiet work for the day? Go to a museum. Beautiful day outside? Find a coffee shop with outside seating and post up. Need an outside perspective? Cowork with someone outside of your organization.
2. Create a Routine. When we work in an office we create a routine by commuting and putting our stuff down for the day. It’s really helpful to create rituals for getting out of “home mode” and getting into “work mode”, to help trigger your brain to make the transition. These rituals can also be helpful when traveling and working in new places to be productive while splitting time between work and vacation. I have my coffee at my computer, organize my desk, and catch up on email/slack/jira to wake up for the work day and acclimate. Also the whole “don’t wear pajamas” recommendation is sort of helpful. Like helpful in the sense that anyone with mental health challenges will tell you it’s not a work-from-home issue, it’s a depression alarm. My rituals are a shower, teeth brushing (hopefully we’re all at least achieving this), and selecting my clothes/jewelry based on how I’m feeling that day. Having to wear business casual in an office was miserable for me. Getting to decide what to work on based on what I feel like and what my day looks like brings me joy. There are plenty of days I wear sweatpants (they’re called joggers ok!) and graphic t-shirts, and then there are days I dress up and break out pearls because I feel like it. Sweatpants aren’t a sign of poor work ethic, they’re a sign that you like being warm and soft things. Anyone who doesn’t might be a maniac.
3. Don’t isolate yourself from your coworkers and don’t isolate yourself socially/emotionally. Every company has its own culture and an added spice is the remote factor. Some places do remote work relationships well and some (starts with E ends with LON) not so well… Some of this is going to be outside of your control, but there’s a lot that’s in our control. Make time to connect with coworkers. Whether it’s a few minutes in a call to actually talk about life outside of the screen or a short 1:1 call to socialize, you need empathy and connection to create good work. You can’t create empathy and connection without investing effort and attention. This is how you get strong work done with a team, make your mark as an individual contributor, and advance your career. The other side of this coin is the opportunity that remote work brings with working with non-coworkers. You are no longer restricted to working only with coworkers when you work remotely. Depending on where you live and who/what’s around you, you can have an amazing opportunity to work alongside people across all sorts of industries or in similar roles to yours. If you don’t have access to physically co-work, look into groups like Lunchclub that offer free peer networking digitally. I had a great experience during covid using Lunchclub and getting to chat with people all over, I got a lot of inspiration and made some lasting connections. You can ask for advice or vent without the political layer that almost always enters into a same-company work relationship. You also can cross-pollinate by getting advice and exposure to the way other companies are doing things, all as part of a regular day at work.
Good rule of thumb, don’t trust an organization that’s afraid of remote work. Usually, it’s a good indicator of management that doesn’t trust employees and mistakes busyness for productivity. Working remotely doesn’t have to be for everyone, but expecting everyone to work in the same limited form and produce great results shows limited imagination.
