Tools and Habits That Make Remote Working Easier

*This is a collaborative post on tools and habits that make remote working easier

Remote work has become an indispensable part of modern life. For many, it’s a default. But if you’re going to work from home effectively, you’ll want to do everything possible to drive up your productivity and to limit distraction.

There are many small behavioural tweaks, strategies, and investments that many remote workers have found worthwhile. These might not work for everyone, and there’s no ‘perfect’ approach that will suit every remote worker. But by making incremental improvements here and there, you might gradually push yourself toward a more productive working life.

Create a workspace that helps you focus

Some workspaces are more distracting than others. If you regularly find yourself working from a laptop in the kitchen, with the house’s other occupants frequently coming and going, then you can expect to be much less productive than if you’d worked in a dedicated office space.

Setting up a workspace means providing your brain with all of the small visual cues it needs to enter a productive frame of mind. Your office should be equipped with the hardware you need, as well as simple upgrades, like ergonomic keyboards, laptop stands, and adjustable office chairs. You can often pick these up from office liquidation sales.

Use digital tools that reduce friction

A limited selection of applications, each of which does a specific thing well, is often preferable to a concentration-breaking abundance of them. A timer on your desktop might allow you to complete ‘sprints’ of productive work more effectively. A good calendar app might allow you to keep track of appointments and to monitor your progress on any given project much more effectively, too.

Protect your connection and data while working online

If you’re relying on your home wi-fi, then you’ll want to take every possible precaution to secure the connection. This is essential if you’re handling sensitive client data. Change the password on your router, and make sure that it’s WPA3 capable.

You might also consider a free VPN for PC, especially if you often find yourself working via unsecured public wifi.

Build habits that support your workflow

We’ve already mentioned how your working environment can send your brain subtle cues and help you to get into the right frame of mind for the job.

The basic routines you employ at the start and end of a working day can do the same thing. If you start and end your working day with five minutes of typing practice or light stretching, then you’ll define a clear boundary between your working hours and your leisure time and prevent one from bleeding into the other.

Try to focus on one task at a time, rather than continually switching between them. This sequential approach will allow you to do the ‘deep work’ that provides the greatest value to your clients and co-workers.

Communicate clearly with your team

When you’re trying to coordinate a large group of remote workers, communication really matters. For best results, you’ll want to use a variety of different communication methods. Touch base every so often with a video call, and use asynchronous text messaging to reduce the need for scheduled conversations. Of course, the occasional face-to-face conversation might be helpful, too.