TIps for Working Remotely

Hey friends!

Are you working from home and feel like you need some tips? Look no further. Today, we're going to dive in to how to work effectively from home. In particular, if you are a college student like myself who not only works, but also juggles a full-time college career, then this post is especially relevant. With or without school, we all need to strike a good balance that works for us while staying productive. But first...

...Take a breath!

Take a moment to feel humble and at peace. In the midst of great economic uncertainty, you are able to work from home! With over 14 million Americans now unemployed, it's a great accomplishment and reason to be grateful to still have a job, even though it's most likely through your computer. Look away from your phone, laptop or whichever device you are currently using and take three deep breaths. Ready? Go! 

Whether you're just starting a new job or are on the hunt, there are a few key things that are really basic yet necessary to thrive in a remote job. What you'll need to do is set up your space, 

Set up your space.

Think about where you will be doing most of your work. Is it quiet? Inspirational? Bright and airy? Or, is it loud, distracting, or dark? These are questions that are worth taking the time to answer (and fix if necessary) because in order to thrive in any given circumstance, your environment will be highly influential on whether or not you have a good time that is productive as well. 

It's nice to have multiple work spaces if possible, such as your dining room, patio, or another bedroom where you can sit upright. This is because it will feel like a fresh space you can "break" into after a midday break or whenever you feel like you can't take sitting in the same spot after a few hours! If you don't have another space to work in, that's totally okay. Simply dedicate your appointed space only for work-related matters so that you associate this particular area with work and productivity. This segregation usually helps you feel more focused.

Secondly, be sure that you have good lighting, good audio and microphone quality, and a good background. Your lighting is best underneath a window or with a light pointed at your face. Your audio and microphone can easily be fixed using a headset, but usually the built-in audio and mic from your laptop work fine, too. Your background should be minimal and not too distracting, nor embarrassing! Don't have anything that you wouldn't want your boss to see--a bong, your dirty underwear, or a photo of you and your friends taking tequila shots! Worst-case scenario, you can use an artificial background provided on Zoom, but honestly, I love seeing people's rooms whenever I'm on a call. You could totally go all-out and make your background super cute :)

Planning & organization tips.

When it comes to your schedule, have a really strong outline or overarching structure, and let the details sort of flow in and out as they need to. Plan, and then be flexible. If you have live meetings and active due dates that you can't miss, write those down first. If you want to wake up at a certain time each day, include that into your overall structure. However, if you have smaller, less time-senstive tasks that need to be done each week (like doing chores, tinier subtasks, etc.) then save those task items for last and be more flexible with it.

You will find that as the week goes on, you need time for yourself without the laptop. As long as you know what has to get done and when, you can assign the other tasks in the empty spaces where you see fit. 

Step one is to dedicate one day per week (for me, it's Sunday), to do some planning and organization for the week. Write down your tasks in the order of high to low priority. Remember, have a really strong outline or overarching structure and let the details flow.

Step two is to know where to find your assignments. Perhaps you'll have multiple places: your Notes app for day-to-day planning, Google Calendar for weekly planning, and a physical calendar for monthly planning. For me, I plan out my week-to-week through Google Calendar about a month in advance, then use Sundays to write out the day-to-day to-do items. It's rather simple. Simplicity is key.

When in doubt, try to prepare what you can the night before, such as meal prepping to save time tomorrow, or writing down your to-do's the night before so you're not feeling anxious before you sleep. Another tip is to create habits, which I'll dive into next.

Actually doing the d!mn thing.

Okay, so you're about to start your new job! The first thing you need to do is familiarize yourself with what you need to use to succeed (some more prep work), and the second is to create habits that allow you to stay balanced with work and life. 

First, familiarize yourself with any apps, softwares, or websites that your team or company wants you to use. Take a sneak peak and play around with some of the functions so you can minimize your learning curve. Some people find it more difficult to learn through remote means because you don't have a person right there with you to ask questions to, or to oversee your work. Be sure to help yourself by checking out any programs you need to use in advance. Even watching one quick Youtube tutorial is a good place to start! Luckily, this can add to your technical tool-kit, giving your more hard skills to add onto your resume. 

Once you've done this, find out what kinds of habits you can implement on the day-to-day that will make your life easier to balance. With all the screen time, you'll want to get into the habit of doing other non-electronic activities. Create activities that are outside of you spending time staring at a screen, especially before bed. You can take mid-day walks, take a nature break, do some cooking, do some chores, you get the point! Try to log off at the traditional 5pm time, because I have found that over-use of my screen time has led to poorer sleep quality and slight insomnia. After 5pm, go cook some dinner, hang with loved ones, exercise or do whatever feels right for you. Creating these kinds of habits to break up the work day will help you stay balanced, and grow as an expert on how to work remotely!

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I hope that you found this post helpful and that it makes you feel more prepared to dive in to the world of remote work. Working this way might be the future, who knows? Encourage yourself to embrace this process, because it might come in handy in the future :)

Stay tuned for more college and career advice in the future!

Good luck,

Madi <3