Get More Done - 5 Essential Time Management Tips for Remote Workers
Remote workers probably have more in their plate than regular employees.
If you're employed by a company it can be more straight forward, but for freelancers and entrepreneurs, it's a constant search for clients on top of keeping up with the technology and optimizing the business.
Time management outside an office differs as you need to be great at prioritizing to complete your important tasks.
It's all about balance.
But work-life balance can be difficult to find - especially when you recently embraced the freedom you fought for.
Let's consider a few points to help you find your own rhythm and optimize yourself like a pro.
1 - Keep your energy level up
Focus is hands down the most important skill you need.
When you're focused, you go fast. You take the right decisions.
So how do you get more focused?
If you have a look at the habits of highly successful people, you'll see that most of them have a solid morning routine that puts them in the right mindset for the day. Before doing any work, they take care of their mental, physical and spiritual state.
Mentally, you can stay motivated by being clear about why you're doing the things you do. Setting up your long term goals is one of the most important thing you can do to help you stay on track.
Reading your goals every morning can be a powerful reminder and a good way to visualize your end result.
Physically, you can increase your level of energy by getting enough sleep.
You know that a short productive day is better than a long non-productive day staring at the computer with no energy. It's also much more enjoyable.
Eating healthy and staying active physically are another foundations. The difficulty is to include them into your life.
The trick: Schedule them.
Schedule your exercise in your calendar, monitor the food to buy and binge on junk-food only once in a while.
Spiritually, it's up to what works for you. Some people love to journal and dump on paper all the ideas off their mind.
Some like to visualize what they want to accomplish for the day or the year.
Some like to meditate.
Regardless of what you do, try to have a spiritual activity that helps to put you in the right attitude for the day.
2 - Are you distraction-free?
So you're living and working remotely, enjoying a physical freedom.
You fought for it and you love it.
But are you really free?
How do you spend your time? Is checking your phone hundreds of times a day make you independent?
Or is the technology taking over your own freedom, by providing you constant small dopamine shot?
Sure, these apps can be useful or fun, but by design they're dangerous for your productivity.
Have you tried to take a few days totally offline to realize the place of technology in your life?
Even working hard on something useless is a distraction, keeping you away from what is really important.
But distractions are not evil.
They're just there.
Be aware of them, see what they are, so you don't fall victim to them.
How about turning notifications off for a little while?
Also, avoid multitasking as it's just bad for your productivity and for yourself in general.
“Everything in moderation, including moderation.”
3 - Set a routine that fits you
We are creatures of habit. So adjusting our environment and setting habits will go a long way to save willpower.
Some prefer to start to work early in the morning, after exercising.
Some do their best work at night, once everything gets quiet.
Some love the structure of a co-working space, closing at 6pm.
Some prefer to work from home, on their own rhythm.
Some love the low-key cafes filled with people chatting and relaxing.
Once you know what fits you best, stick to it. By controlling your work environment you dramatically increase the odds of producing good work.
4 - Do not undervalue time off
Careful here, taking a break doesn't mean reading business articles. If you do so, you don't actually rest, which means you don't get more effective after your break.
Limits need to be set. Time off means time not in front of your computer, but also time thinking of non-work topics.
The idea is to take time off every day, staying away from your computer even for a few minutes every hour or so. Use the Pomodoro technique if it suits you. I'm not a big fan of getting my work cut every 25 minutes, but the idea is to plan breaks.
Go for a walk. Feed the cat.
Then when you feel you just can't work anymore, take a real break, go shopping for food or exercise, use your time off your computer to get offline things done. After you should be ready and back online.
Every week, try to take at least one day without computer. It doesn't have to be during the weekend or even planned in advance, but try to take a day off once in a while - like a mini digital detox.
Every few months, take a real offline break of about a week to seriously reconnect with nature and people.
The advantages of taking time off
The biggest benefit you get is an increased clarity and creativity.
You see, when you take time off, you tend to embrace different activities which allow you to get perspective on your work.
Time off also helps to make new associations, using a framework from another activity to create new ideas. You simply couldn't have thought about such an idea without doing first something apparently unrelated.
Then, obviously, take time for yourself to enjoy life!
Relax, you deserve it. Celebrate the hard work you put in. Even if you're not successful yet.
What if you don't take time off?
Think about it long term. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Your level of energy is the most important thing you have control over.
Sure, you'll get more done in the short term if you don't take time off. But here is what you risk if you get stuck to your computer for too long:
- You start to doubt your project and yourself
- You're less productive
- You isolate yourself socially
- Ultimately you burn out - take it seriously.
5 - Follow the flow
A powerful habit is to start by planning the tasks you would love to have done the next day the night before, or first thing in the morning.
Some people love to track their task and plan carefully their work hours, but I personally prefer to follow the flow in some way, listening to myself, my moods. I can't know for sure if I will feel creative in the afternoon, or in a strategic planning mood at night!
Ideally I'll keep myself focused on one thing until I finish it or finish a milestone.
A few pieces of advice:
- Try to do the hardest thing first thing in the morning. Yes, that thing you’ve been avoiding. It will feel so good that it will put you on a roll once you get it done.
- If regular to-do lists tend to accumulate without control, try a “opposite to-do list”.
Each day, you add up all the small tasks that you’ve done. Divide the big tasks in smaller ones to have a decent list. After a couple of hours, you should have already quite a few things done, giving you a sense of accomplishment that will drive motivation.
Perspective is everything ;)
- While it's efficient to be disciplined and hardworking, be gentle with yourself. Sure, push yourself from time to time to get things done, but try to prioritize your energy level, and enjoy the lifestyle you chose.
- Trust yourself. Some days, or even for a couple of hours, the only idea of working on your laptop will give you nausea… don't do it then, do something else. Take it as your Sunday!
Some other days or even later the same day, you might feel just fine to work for a few hours. Don't push yourself too much when it's not the time, and don't limit yourself when you're on the flow.
- Find your own rhythm. The good thing about working remotely is that most of the time, you get to choose when you work, and that's awesome. To me it's real freedom.
In conclusion, the 5 points outlined in the article can be incredibly helpful in managing an overwhelming to-do list.
By taking care of your energy level with a solid morning routine, avoiding distractions and multitasking, not undervaluing time off and scheduling your time off, you will set a strong foundation that should support your work pressure - to a degree.
You’re not a machine, so remember to listen to yourself as you work through your tasks.
You've got this!
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