25 Best Practices to Manage Time While Working Remotely

by Brenda Barron Stokes connected Mar 23, 2023

Do you presently enactment remotely oregon program connected moving from location soon? Doing truthful tin supply a batch of benefits. And you’re decidedly not alone. A growing fig of people are presently moving from location oregon a distant location, offering greater flexibility and power implicit their schedules.

But, let’s beryllium honest: managing clip efficaciously portion working remotely tin beryllium a spot of a challenge, right?

Not to worry. We’ve got you covered with 25 champion practices to assistance you negociate your clip similar a pro portion moving remotely. Let’s get close to it!

1. Set up a regular and instrumentality to it

It’s nary concealed that having a regular is indispensable for productivity. Establishing a accordant regular docket volition assistance you physique bully habits and guarantee you’re making the astir retired of your workday. You’ll wanna create a routine that works for you and includes regular breaks. Try to commencement and extremity your workday astatine the aforesaid clip each day, and don’t hide to docket clip for lunch!

2. Use a clip tracking tool

Time tracking tools tin beryllium a game-changer for distant workers. They assistance you way your enactment hours and guarantee you’re spending your clip efficiently. Some fashionable clip tracking tools see Toggl, Harvest, and Clockify. Pick 1 that suits your needs, and ticker your productivity soar.

3. Prioritize your tasks

Not each tasks are created equal. When you’re moving remotely, it’s casual to get caught up successful a oversea of to-dos. That’s wherefore it’s important to prioritize your tasks utilizing a method similar the Eisenhower Matrix. This useful instrumentality helps you place the astir important and urgent tasks truthful you tin absorption connected what truly matters.

4. Break tasks into smaller chunks

Ever heard of the Pomodoro Technique? It’s a clip absorption method that involves breaking your enactment into short, focused intervals (usually 25 minutes) called “Pomodoros,” followed by a 5-minute break. The thought is that these abbreviated bursts of focused enactment assistance you support productivity and stave disconnected burnout. Give it a shot, and spot if it works for you.

5. Set boundaries with friends and family

Working from location tin blur the lines betwixt enactment and idiosyncratic life. It’s indispensable to acceptable boundaries with your friends and family, truthful they cognize erstwhile you’re moving and erstwhile you’re disposable for socializing. Communicate your enactment docket clearly, and inquire for their enactment successful respecting your enactment hours. Trust us; it’ll marque a large difference.

6. Create a dedicated workspace

Your situation plays a immense relation successful your productivity. It’s important to person a dedicated workspace that’s escaped from distractions and promotes focus. So, put successful a comfy chair, a bully desk, and each the tools you request to enactment efficiently.

7. Limit distractions

Distractions are the bane of distant enactment productivity. Whether it’s societal media, a chatty neighbor, oregon your cute pets, distractions tin easy devour into your enactment hours. To combat this, effort utilizing website blockers similar Freedom oregon Cold Turkey to support you disconnected societal media during enactment hours.

For different distractions, acceptable boundaries with household members, neighbors, oregon roommates, and effort utilizing noise-canceling headphones oregon achromatic sound machines to minimize inheritance noise.

8. Use collaboration and connection tools effectively

Working remotely tin marque you consciousness isolated, but it doesn’t person to beryllium that way! Collaboration and connection tools similar Slack, Zoom, and Asana tin assistance you enactment connected with your squad and enactment connected apical of your work.

Make definite to usage these tools efficaciously by scheduling regular check-ins, sharing updates connected your work, and making clip for virtual squad gathering activities.

9. Learn to accidental “no”

As a distant worker, it’s important to support your clip and energy. If you’re perpetually taking connected other tasks and attending unnecessary meetings, you’ll rapidly go overwhelmed and little productive. Learn to accidental “no” to non-essential tasks and prioritize your workload.

10. Make clip for self-care

You request to retrieve to instrumentality attraction of yourself arsenic well. Working remotely tin pb to higher levels of accent and burnout if you’re not careful. Schedule regular breaks, get immoderate exercise, and marque definite to unplug from enactment during your off-hours. Practicing self-care volition assistance you enactment productive and support a steadfast work-life balance.

11. Set SMART goals

Setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) tin assistance you enactment focused and motivated. By breaking down your enactment into clear, achievable objectives, you’ll beryllium capable to way your advancement and support a consciousness of accomplishment passim the day.

12. Use a task absorption app

Task absorption apps similar Todoist, Trello, and Notion tin assistance you enactment organized and prioritize your work. These apps let you to make to-do lists, acceptable deadlines, and way your progress, making it easier to negociate your workload effectively.

13. Schedule regular check-ins with your team

Staying connected with your team is important for distant enactment success. Schedule regular check-ins with your squad members to discuss progress, inquire questions, and supply feedback. These check-ins tin beryllium done via video calls, telephone calls, oregon messaging apps, depending connected your team’s preferences.

14. Optimize your enactment hours

We each person antithetic times of the time erstwhile we’re astir productive. Some radical are greeting birds, portion others are nighttime owls. Identify erstwhile you’re astir focused and energetic, and effort to docket your astir demanding tasks during those hours. This volition assistance you get much done successful little time.

15. Batch akin tasks together

Batching akin tasks unneurotic tin assistance you enactment much efficiently. For example, if you person respective emails to respond to, acceptable speech a circumstantial artifact of clip to tackle them each astatine once. This attack minimizes the intelligence vigor required to power betwixt tasks and helps you support focus.

16. Take vantage of clip portion differences

If you’re moving with squad members successful antithetic clip zones, usage this to your advantage! Use the clip erstwhile your colleagues are offline to absorption connected heavy enactment and tackle tasks that necessitate concentration. Then, usage the overlapping hours to collaborate, communicate, and be meetings.

17. Avoid multitasking

While it mightiness look similar a bully thought to juggle aggregate tasks astatine once, probe from the American Psychological Association shows that multitasking tin really alteration productivity. Instead, absorption connected 1 task astatine a clip and springiness it your afloat attraction earlier moving connected to the adjacent point connected your to-do list.

18. Set speech clip for nonrecreational development

Working remotely tin marque it casual to neglect your nonrecreational growth. Make definite to acceptable speech clip for learning caller skills, attending webinars, oregon participating successful online courses. This volition not lone assistance you enactment engaged with your enactment but besides boost your productivity successful the agelong run.

19. Keep a cleanable and organized workspace

A cluttered workspace tin beryllium distracting and marque it hard to focus. Take the clip to signifier your table and enactment area, keeping lone the essentials wrong reach. A clean, organized abstraction tin assistance you enactment focused and trim stress.

20. Celebrate your accomplishments

Don’t hide to observe your accomplishments, large and small. Working remotely tin sometimes marque it hard to admit your ain progress, truthful instrumentality the clip to admit your achievements and springiness yourself recognition for a occupation good done.

21. Plan your time the nighttime before

Take a fewer minutes each evening to program your adjacent workday. Make a database of your apical priorities and acceptable realistic goals for what you’d similar to accomplish. This volition assistance you commencement your time with a wide absorption and focus, making it easier to leap close into work.

22. Utilize the two-minute rule

The two-minute regularisation suggests that if a task takes little than 2 minutes to complete, you should bash it immediately. This helps you sound retired tiny tasks rapidly and prevents them from piling up oregon becoming distractions aboriginal on.

23. Establish an end-of-workday routine

Just arsenic you person a greeting regular to commencement your day, it’s indispensable to person an end-of-workday regular to assistance you upwind down and modulation to your idiosyncratic time. This mightiness see reviewing your accomplishments for the day, mounting your priorities for the adjacent day, oregon tidying up your workspace. 

Creating this regular volition assistance you mentally power disconnected from enactment and support a steadfast work-life balance.

24. Use video calls strategically

While video calls tin beryllium indispensable for distant collaboration, they tin besides beryllium time-consuming and disruptive. To minimize unnecessary video calls, see mounting criteria for erstwhile a video telephone is necessary, and effort utilizing asynchronous connection methods (like email oregon messaging apps) for little urgent discussions. 

When scheduling video calls, acceptable a wide docket and timeframe to support the gathering focused and efficient.

25. Set idiosyncratic deadlines

Sometimes, projects oregon tasks whitethorn not person strict deadlines. In these cases, acceptable your ain idiosyncratic deadlines to support yourself accountable and support a consciousness of urgency. Breaking larger projects into smaller milestones with idiosyncratic deadlines tin assistance you enactment connected way and show your progress.

Better Manage Your Time arsenic a Remote Worker and Boost Productivity

There you person it – 25 champion practices to assistance you negociate your clip portion moving remotely. Remember, everyone’s distant enactment acquisition is different, truthful consciousness escaped to experimentation and find the strategies that enactment champion for you. Keep up the large work, and blessed distant working!