5 ways to declutter your remote desk (and brain)
Procrastination can be a killing curse for a remote worker or digital nomad. It takes self control, structure and tons of disiplin to stay focused and productive. I am a messy person by nature and realised a while back that I need a set of rules (or commandments) to allow myself a remote lifestyle.
By Meri Sørgaard , Marketing Manager at appear.in.
1. Space 👌
First of all and most importantly of all, it’s essential to find a working space (I’m talking about the physical one) where you can focus. That be at home, in your nomadic co-working space or on a flight. Spend five minutes preparing your hub by making it comfortable and clean. For me this means finding all the chargers I need through the day, before I’m focused and suddenly disturbed and stressed out by low battery notifications. It also means a clean table, a water bottle and a thermo pot of coffee. Personally I tend to focus even better if I have a tidy home in general. It lowers the risk of useless procrastination over laundry, dishes, dusty lamps and unpaid bills. My rule is that if my flat looks like hell froze over and Voldemort went a little overboard with the Avada Kedavra (happens more than what I like to admit), I work from a nearby café — where the same “rules” apply. I have a regular table in the corner next to an output with good overview — that also happens to be the WiFi sweet-spot.
2. Supplies 🍎
You know the kind of person who needs to eat every three hours not to freak out an binge eat the whole snack cabinet? I’m one of them. Therefore I always make sure to have healthy and energising snacks available at home. My favourites at the moment are milk based snacks such as greek yoghurt, skyr and cottage cheese with fruit, oats and seeds (today I’m having it with mango⬆️). In addition I always have pre-chopped fruit in the freezer (handy for a quick smoothie or as topping on porridge or yoghurts). So — If you know you are going to work from home or another remote location, stack up on those healthy choices or familiarise with the menu at your fave coffee place!
3. Fresh Air & Light Keeps You Fit For Fight!
Sometimes I try to convince myself I am so efficient and focused that I don’t need a break. Sure, sometimes I’m in the flow and work for 5 hours straight, which feels great afterwards. However, this is not that great for my general health I guess… Since! — — E V E R Y single cell of my body needs oxygen to function. So I try to get up and get out for a few minutes at least twice a day (bring out the trash or pick up something at the store). I actually sometimes set an alarm to remind myself. While stretching my legs and taking a few deep breaths of fresh air, I’m also absorbing free sunshine vitamins as a bonus! Vitamin D you see, facilitates normal immune system function while also regulating the absorption of calcium and phosphorous. All important for a healthy mind and body 👍 During winter here in the north of Europe however, I do eat some vitamins to help my immune system out a bit 😛
4. Creative breaks for creativity 🎸 🎨
Remember back in school when you had a 10 to 15 minute break between classes? I do, and I also remember how focused I was at the beginning of every single class. Even if it wasn’t my favourite one. During these breaks, we would run around, build snowmen, play games or draw. Personally, having a mom who’s also an incredibly talented painter, I’m brought up to doodle and draw. Also, I recently picked up guitar playing again. So whenever the devil of procrastination sneaks upon me, I try to have a creative break – instead of picking up my phone to scroll through Snapchat and Instagram (my two favourite social channels).
5. Build a strong and clean digital toolbox
After two years at an advertisement agency and then after starting to work with and for appear.in, I’ve realised that the remote lifestyle and desk is deeply depending on the software tools used for cooperating and communication within the team. When working in a remote team, or with remote team members, agreeing on a set of tools minimises the need of actual office walls, identical timezones, meeting rooms and the task of logging hours. Setting a toolbox as a standard and ensuring the team knows how to use them well, makes it easier to work from scattered locations. The tools we are using makes me feel connected to the team and responsible for keeping them updated on what I’m working on. At the same time they also ensure we have a wholesome log on who did what where, and who to appear with in case of questions. A while back, I put together a list of my 7 favourite connected tools and why we love using them at appear.in. 👍
These are my 5 commandments for a remote lifestyle! What are yours? Feel free to share or disagree with mine in the comment section below!
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Special Thanks to Kelly, Todd & Bench Accounting on Unsplash for images :)
Big ❤️ from CaliFornebu!
