The most cited reason individuals fail to adapt to working remotely is they don’t see the neccesity of superior organisation and rigid self discipline.
I have been working remotely for nearly 8 yrs since I first discovered Quickbooks online an ‘on demand’ small business accounting software online system and was inspired by the fact that if you can perform accounting on the Internet then why shouldn’t you be able to perform other important types of work at a distance?
Whilst working remotely has significant advantages there are numerous traps that people easily fall into which convert into issues that cause cuts in work output and reduced morale. The most significant reason for decreases in productivity in remote professionals is distraction and it is a confirmed and well known fact that it can take a professional up to twenty minutes to establish their original efficiency level after experiencing an interruption.
Deeper insights reveal that people who are regularly experience distractions are more likely to suffer from lower memory capacity and are prone to developing mental health problems in old age. We exist in an over communicated environment and it is essential that you are aware of the problems this causes before you start working remotely. When operating remotely you should do everything feasible to eradicate the probability of being interrupted.
Here are my most important tips:
1, Get a habit, communicate it to absolutely everyone and rigidly adhere to it!
Good examples are a fixed time of day when you read or send e-mail and make or take phone calls. Before I began working remotely I used to get well over two hundred electronic mails over a period of twenty four hours. Now I think I am unfortunate if I get more than five. To ‘restart’ my electronic mail experience I modified my e-mail address and vigorously took precautions to protect the details being made known to anyone. I then ‘trained’ everyone who I gave my e-mail address to, to use it wisely and sparingly. I also configured an automatic response that swiftly told anyone sending me mail at what time of day I would be processing mail and if an item should have my urgent consideration to mark it as ‘Urgent’.
2. Get rid of alerts.
Turn off every feature that can send you a interruption. This includes mobile and
conventional handsets and forms of alerts from e-mail such as display events, audible warnings, display changes to your inbox folder and of course facing a window. Get a door on your work room and put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign on it.
In ‘Remote Working Part 3 – Basic Toolkit’ I will reveal my favourite tools and software.
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