The D-Word and Remote Work
This one principle is an essential part of working in a virtual environment
It’s 10:05am on a Thursday. There’s a big basket of laundry to be washed. Your gaze keeps getting drawn to that hallway wall you want to paint. And your phone keeps dinging with Facebook alerts from family or friend posts about their latest Corona Virus isolation updates. Ugh. How are you ever going to meet this latest work deadline?!
For those new to working from home or in a remote setting, this is a very common scenario. It can be challenging to set aside all the distractions of home and family life while trying to complete focused work. In the conventional workplace, there’s a distinct line between work and home life marked by entering and exiting the office door.
Due to the smart phone and online collaboration tools, that line has become increasingly blurred. But still, most people draw a line somewhere when it comes to work and home. They feel at ease to focus on home life when they’re home. There’s no guilt about focusing on work at home when there’s an office to come home from.
This scenario brings up the dreaded d-word for remote workers: discipline. It’s not even about staying focused, which is a whole other level of productivity at work—whether at home, an office or other setting. Focus is concentration and staying on task. Discipline is activity, exercise or a regimen that improves skill (such as focus).
So how do you discipline yourself to work in a remote setting? It’s going to take some practice. Yes, there will be many distractions that you’d normally give into when you had that clear line between office and home. Now that you’ve got an office and home under one roof, you’ll need to establish systems and mental models for guarding your office time and home time.
Eventually, you’ll have no problem shifting back and forth between home chores and work tasks while maintaining productivity, but in the beginning it is helpful to set clear boundaries to increase your discipline.
Let’s take the scenario from the beginning of this post. Yes, you have laundry. Yes, you want to pain that wall. Yes, you want to engage your family and friends on social media. So, just like you’d do in an office, discipline yourself by setting your office hours each day. There’s no need to deny that one of the benefits of working from home is the freedom to get some of your household chores done every day. There’s so much flexibility that comes with working from home. It’s all about building the mental discipline to know what to prioritize and when.
Here’s an example of how to accommodate both work and some daily chores:
7:00am
Wake up and get ready for the day (shower, dress, breakfast).
8:00am
Go to your designated workspace at home and start doing the items that you find most productive to start your day (could be calls, could be email, could be setting your priorities for the day).
10:00am
Take a break. This could include: Put in a load of laundry. Go for a 15 minute walk with the dog. Sweep the kitchen floor.
10:30am
Back to email, calls, etc.
Noon
Take a lunch break. You need a mental break and you need to nourish yourself. You can also squeeze in a quick walk or workout during this time.
1:00pm
Back to your afternoon work for a few hours.
3:00pm
Take another break. Set a timer so you can check social media for 20 minutes then set your phone back down to return to work.
4-5:00pm
Begin wrapping up. With all the time you saved on your usual 40 minute commute to and from work, you can finish up your day then tackle painting that wall before preparing dinner.
6:00pm
You’ll have the evening to do all the things you’d regularly do after work. Plus, you don’t feel exhausted from sitting in traffic for 40+ minutes.
This is just one example of how you could structure your day in a remote work environment. There are countless ways to help you build systems that will develop your discipline. If you’d like to talk through some successful models or practices, send me a note.
You may also want to check out The Power of Habit book. It explains the “cues” or triggers we need to lead to routine, then reward, to cement this new way of life. For example, putting on your “work clothes” can be the cue that helps switch your brain into work mode. That leads to your routine of sitting at your work desk. You get to choose your reward. It could be going for that 15-minute walk. Or a special lunch or dinner. At the end of the day, you can create the habit of changing your work clothes for your usual casual clothes, thus signaling to your brain that work time is over for the day.
Like any new process, it will take some practice to build the discipline to work from home successfully. You’ll find what works for you and gets you into the zone of productivity. The main thing to focus on right now is building the discipline to accomplish all the work you want to while working in a remote setting. You’ll quickly see the results and find the balance you seek in this new work environment.
I will soon be launching a training series for employers and employees to hone their remote work skills. Stay posted for these exciting and timely new courses!
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