Awesome! I'm always happy to see companies going in the direction of remote work. Between not having to commute and being able to live in a very low-cost area, working remotely has significantly...
Awesome! I'm always happy to see companies going in the direction of remote work. Between not having to commute and being able to live in a very low-cost area, working remotely has significantly improved my quality of life.
If you don't mind me asking, how did you successfully set up working remotely? I have the option to work remotely as-needed and am looking into being able to work remotely full-time in the next...
If you don't mind me asking, how did you successfully set up working remotely? I have the option to work remotely as-needed and am looking into being able to work remotely full-time in the next few years (either as a negotiation at my current role or at a new company) but I just can't ever get the same focus to get work done. Do you have a home office? Coffee shop? or just from the couch? Any advice on how to be successful remotely?
As to why I want to work remotely even if I know I'm awful at it: My office is in a really really hard to get to area, so I have to live in one of two neighborhoods if I want to be able to get to work, and those places still give me a 45 minute commute but also is one of the most expensive areas in an already expensive city. If I could work remotely, we could live anywhere in the city or outside the city and stop paying $2800 a month in rent and actually start saving money.
Ah, this is gonna drive me nuts. There was a really good comment from like 5-6 months ago where a user laid out a really detailed explanation of all the things they did to help them work...
Ah, this is gonna drive me nuts. There was a really good comment from like 5-6 months ago where a user laid out a really detailed explanation of all the things they did to help them work effectively from home, but now I can't find it. :(
IIRC the gist of it was that they treated working at home exactly like they did if they were going to an office. They got up at the same time, did the same morning routine, including getting dressed appropriately (i.e. no sweatpants or underwear all day). And worked the same hours with no TV, internet vids or social media to distract them, before taking lunch at the same time as usual and ditto for ending their "work day". And by doing this they ensured they didn't procrastinate or slowly start sliding into unproductive behavior.
I don't see the comment I was thinking of in there, and I seem to remember it was in a totally unrelated to "working from home" topic from much longer ago... but I could be misremembering, and the...
I don't see the comment I was thinking of in there, and I seem to remember it was in a totally unrelated to "working from home" topic from much longer ago... but I could be misremembering, and the advice in that topic is remarkably similar anyways and will likely still be useful for @Micycle_the_Bichael... so thanks for the link!
I feel your pain - I left NYC once I got a remote position, and I'm so glad to be rid of the high rents, small spaces, and subway commutes. I do miss the food, though. Honestly, focusing while...
I feel your pain - I left NYC once I got a remote position, and I'm so glad to be rid of the high rents, small spaces, and subway commutes. I do miss the food, though.
Honestly, focusing while working remotely is difficult. It requires a lot of self-policing. That said, I am FAR from the king of self-discipline, and I still do all right. (Even though it is work hours for me right now, and I'm here... whoops)
I have a home office; I can focus much better when there aren't people around, which is one of the reasons why I like remote. There are also a few things that I've found helpful. For one, work hours! Some places don't have a set schedule, and that absolutely does not work for me. Having a very clear start time and end time is the only way to go as far as I'm concerned. It prevents trouble in both directions - it makes it easier to start working every day, and it prevents your work from bleeding into all of your free time. If your employer doesn't set work hours, you should set them for yourself IMO.
Another is paranoia. As far as you know, your employer is watching your every move! This sounds a bit silly, but honestly, it's much easier for me to focus when I'm using a company laptop with a company disk image and company VPN. It helps break the reflex of opening up Reddit, Netflix, Youtube, or whatever, just in case there's some monitoring metric somewhere for "how much time employee 123 wastes." As an alternative, maybe you could set up blocking for yourself for time-wasting sites during work hours.
I guess my general advice is separation. Separate work hours and non-work hours, separate work behavior and non-work behavior, maybe go so far as to have a different user for work on your computer, or use a different computer entirely. Things like that might make the self-discipline part easier. Hope that helps!
Those definitely help a lot! I don't have an office right now but my partner and I both have work from home options so we are not looking at an apartment where we can't make a home office. But a...
Those definitely help a lot! I don't have an office right now but my partner and I both have work from home options so we are not looking at an apartment where we can't make a home office. But a lot of your points are really really good and helpful! I use my work computer a lot after hours and am logged into a lot of personal accounts on the machine, plus when I work from home I sleep in and don't get dressed, etc. I'm definitely going to try to switch up so I only use my work laptop for work and get my personal computer set up. Ditto for getting dressed and acting like its a work day and not an "I'm at home trying to do work" day. Thanks for your advice!
Awesome! I'm always happy to see companies going in the direction of remote work. Between not having to commute and being able to live in a very low-cost area, working remotely has significantly improved my quality of life.
If you don't mind me asking, how did you successfully set up working remotely? I have the option to work remotely as-needed and am looking into being able to work remotely full-time in the next few years (either as a negotiation at my current role or at a new company) but I just can't ever get the same focus to get work done. Do you have a home office? Coffee shop? or just from the couch? Any advice on how to be successful remotely?
As to why I want to work remotely even if I know I'm awful at it: My office is in a really really hard to get to area, so I have to live in one of two neighborhoods if I want to be able to get to work, and those places still give me a 45 minute commute but also is one of the most expensive areas in an already expensive city. If I could work remotely, we could live anywhere in the city or outside the city and stop paying $2800 a month in rent and actually start saving money.
Ah, this is gonna drive me nuts. There was a really good comment from like 5-6 months ago where a user laid out a really detailed explanation of all the things they did to help them work effectively from home, but now I can't find it. :(
IIRC the gist of it was that they treated working at home exactly like they did if they were going to an office. They got up at the same time, did the same morning routine, including getting dressed appropriately (i.e. no sweatpants or underwear all day). And worked the same hours with no TV, internet vids or social media to distract them, before taking lunch at the same time as usual and ditto for ending their "work day". And by doing this they ensured they didn't procrastinate or slowly start sliding into unproductive behavior.
Oh no!!! It's ok! Your summary is a great help and is a lot of really good advice and I appreciate it :)
I don't see the comment I was thinking of in there, and I seem to remember it was in a totally unrelated to "working from home" topic from much longer ago... but I could be misremembering, and the advice in that topic is remarkably similar anyways and will likely still be useful for @Micycle_the_Bichael... so thanks for the link!
I feel your pain - I left NYC once I got a remote position, and I'm so glad to be rid of the high rents, small spaces, and subway commutes. I do miss the food, though.
Honestly, focusing while working remotely is difficult. It requires a lot of self-policing. That said, I am FAR from the king of self-discipline, and I still do all right. (Even though it is work hours for me right now, and I'm here... whoops)
I have a home office; I can focus much better when there aren't people around, which is one of the reasons why I like remote. There are also a few things that I've found helpful. For one, work hours! Some places don't have a set schedule, and that absolutely does not work for me. Having a very clear start time and end time is the only way to go as far as I'm concerned. It prevents trouble in both directions - it makes it easier to start working every day, and it prevents your work from bleeding into all of your free time. If your employer doesn't set work hours, you should set them for yourself IMO.
Another is paranoia. As far as you know, your employer is watching your every move! This sounds a bit silly, but honestly, it's much easier for me to focus when I'm using a company laptop with a company disk image and company VPN. It helps break the reflex of opening up Reddit, Netflix, Youtube, or whatever, just in case there's some monitoring metric somewhere for "how much time employee 123 wastes." As an alternative, maybe you could set up blocking for yourself for time-wasting sites during work hours.
I guess my general advice is separation. Separate work hours and non-work hours, separate work behavior and non-work behavior, maybe go so far as to have a different user for work on your computer, or use a different computer entirely. Things like that might make the self-discipline part easier. Hope that helps!
Those definitely help a lot! I don't have an office right now but my partner and I both have work from home options so we are not looking at an apartment where we can't make a home office. But a lot of your points are really really good and helpful! I use my work computer a lot after hours and am logged into a lot of personal accounts on the machine, plus when I work from home I sleep in and don't get dressed, etc. I'm definitely going to try to switch up so I only use my work laptop for work and get my personal computer set up. Ditto for getting dressed and acting like its a work day and not an "I'm at home trying to do work" day. Thanks for your advice!