Remote Work Tips: A Remote Worker's Guide for Success

Currently, due to COVID-19 many employees have been sent home to telework but have not been coached or advised on how to go about it effectively. Use these suggestions to help find your way and succeed.

During this uncertain time, many folks have been sent home to work remotely by their employers. While many have rejoiced and relished at the thought of working from home, the truth of the matter is that it still takes commitment to maintain a sense of structure and discipline to stay on task while working remotely.

While on the surface remote work may seem simple and even downright enviable and dreamy (be honest, how many of y’all ogle the heck out of those digital nomad posts on Instagram and breath a long sigh thinking “if only that was me”?), it could not be further from the truth.

While on the surface remote work may seem simple and even downright enviable and dreamy, it could not be further from the truth.

For starters, working remotely is not for everyone. However, I am not saying that we can’t all learn to love it and coexist with it in harmony! Though, a lot of employees have been forced to make the shift recently and mostly without proper preparation. So, some may either not love it because they’re not sure where to begin or because they thrive better surrounded by peers.

Both are completely valid and understandable viewpoints on remote work. Nevertheless, all hope is not lost, it just takes a bit of practice and self-control, and hey we’ve got Zoom and Slack to stay very well connected. After all, nothing good truly ever comes easily. Am I right?

I’d like to share a bit of personal backstory to clarify my own journey with working remotely. I’ve been working remotely now for over 3 years as a social media specialist. Before my working from home days, I was like many others. I have over 10 years of professional work experience and a majority of that time has been spent working traditionally in offices and showrooms for various design businesses.

The idea to work remotely from home was never something I ever considered at first, to be completely frank. It came about as I had finished graduate school in New York City and I decided to uproot everything I had ever known in my independent adult life and decided to move to Washington, D.C.

Finding work in D.C. was very hard for someone like me with a primarily fashion design-focused background and career experience. Still, I persevered and applied anywhere I could apply my new skill set in addition to utilizing my extensive art and design background.

I ended up landing a few gigs and jobs – and two of them happened to be remote. That is when my remote work journey began. I realized quickly that in order to make it work for myself and the businesses I was now working with, I absolutely needed to create some structure and stick with it every day.

?Having a set schedule, knowing my tools (I’m looking at you G Suite, Trello, Airtable, Canva, Buffer, Grammarly, and so many more fabulous remote work tools!) and creating a designated place to work from home (working from the couch got old really fast and was also a big ‘ouch’ for my poor neck, back, and hips) was not only critical for my success but it also helped me feel like I was back at the office again, being my old productive self like in my previous roles.

It felt really good to be back in the workforce – only this time my work-life balance was incredible! I felt proud of myself for having the discipline to work successfully from home, putting all my skills into practice daily and achieving my goals daily in life and at work.

So, my friends, I wish to impart some of my best practices and tips to successfully working remotely, especially when it is needed now more than ever during the coronavirus.

Here is my official Remote Worker's Guide for Success:

We can all use a little help every once in a while, so this is my small way of helping out so many folks who may be struggling a bit during a new shift to working from home remotely.

If you are perhaps in a position where your current employer is unsure of the benefits of allowing their employees to work remotely, feel free to check out my blog post on 5 Ways Embracing Remote Work Helps Businesses for even more tips and perhaps develop some persuasive points of your own. 

 Do you have any remote work best practices to share? I always enjoy learning new tips and productivity hacks, so please let me know of your remote work tips in the comments!

I truly hope my tips are useful for those who need it. 

 Cheers, and thanks for reading! 

Wishing you all much success working remotely, wellness, peace, and safety.