Remote Working Part 2 – Why self discipline is important

The number one reason workers fail to adapt to working remotely is they fail to realise the essential requirement of good quality organisation and rigid self management.

I have been operating remotely for almost a decade since I first found Quickbooks online an ‘on demand’ small business accounting software service and was spellbound by the fact that if you can perform accounting on the Internet then why shouldn’t it be feasible to perform other important types of work away from the conventional office?

Whilst working remotely has numerous upsides there are numerous pitfalls which turn into problems that result in reduced productivity and lower motivation. The most cited reason for low effectiveness in remote employees is disruption and it is a confirmed and well known fact that it can take a professional up to twenty minutes to return to their original productivity level after experiencing a disturbance.

Deeper insights reveal that men and women who are consistently subjected to interruptions are more likely to be susceptible to decreased memory ability and are prone to developing mental health problems in later life. We exist in an over communicated environment and it is important that you know the problems this causes before you decide to work remotely. When operating remotely you should do everything feasible to eradicate the threat of being distracted.

Here’s how I do it:

1, Get a consistent schedule, make sure that everybody knows it and rigidly adhere to it!

Good examples are a regular time of day when you read or compose and reply to e-mail and make or be available for telephone calls. Before I began working remotely I used to get well over hundreds of e-mails a day. Now I think I am unfortunate if I get greater than 4. To ’reset’ my e-mail experience I modified my e-mail address and tenaciously took precautions to look after the details being passed on to anyone. I then educated every party who I gave my e-mail address to, to use it with special care. I also set up an auto-responder that swiftly informed anyone sending me mail at what time of day I would be attending to mail and if an item should have my urgent awareness to mark it as ‘Urgent’.

2. Get rid of alerts.

Turn off absolutely everything that can send you a visual or audible alert. This includes portable and
conventional handsets and forms of alerts from electronic mail such as on screen pop ups, beeps, 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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