Working remotely is, in itself, an efficient way of time management as people are given the full capacity to set their own standards. It’s a big step forward from the typical nine to five model and the immediate benefits are already observable in the business world.
Yet, there are also newly born issues for remote workers standing in the way of managing their time efficiently. From pop up notifications every five minutes to the distractions in the house, it can be challenging for remote workers to keep a focused workflow.
Also, still disputed work-home life balance issues and availability of remote workers are some of the topics that comes to the mind when thinking about the difficulties of the remote work model.
But, don’t let the new path that the remote work model has opened be overshadowed by the problems that can arise under any situation. In this article, we are going to take a look at the five key points for time management that remote workers can apply to manage their time more efficiently.
1.Filter the Noise
Let’s assume that you start your remote workday at 9 a.m. – old habits die hard after all – and as soon as you make yourself available for your coworkers, notifications from each side start popping off within minutes break. Towards the middle of the day, it can get frustrating and you might find yourself already worn out.
To prevent that from happening, switch yourself to the “do not disturb mode”. This is not only about your smartphone that you keep very dearly, but also getting detached from any kind of distraction that might bother you somehow.
By isolating yourself from the outside world for a certain amount of time, you can definitely focus on the work you got better and make room for notifications afterwards. But don’t forget about the times that those notifications can actually be important. Adjust yourself accordingly from day to day.
2.Say “I’m Not Available” When Needed
There’s a common misconception about remote workers that they are supposed to be available at any given time in a day since they’re working from home. Even you can fall into that trap yourself, but that’s not the case.
Working remotely doesn’t eliminate the fact that you’d like a time outside of the work for yourself. Based on your workload and important deadlines, you should learn about setting work-free zones for yourself during the day.
If you need to take your dog for a walk in the noon or drop your child to the school in the morning, let others know that you will not be available for a limited time period. By setting these work-free zones, you can avoid excessive amounts of work that can hamper the overall quality of your life.
Being not available can be about focusing on a single task as well. If there’s a project that requires you to work extensively, you might find it beneficial to return the extra work. So that you can be more productive and creative about the task you’re already dealing with.
3.Set Meeting Times For Time Management
Each job comes with a number of meetings, maybe a lot of them and your week can easily be consumed with the overwhelming number of meetings you have to attend. This can be problematic for both managers and their team members because a meeting takes time away from everyone.
Defining clear meeting times in a week can keep such risks at bay. Setting meeting times is essentially appointing a certain time period within a day in which the meetings, planned or unplanned, can be held and the rest of the day should be meeting free.
This kind of approach helps employees not to distract from their work continuously and allow meetings to be conducted more efficiently.
You can use OctaMeet to easily set your meetings. Thanks to the calendar feature, you can manage your time by setting new meetings and scheduling them on your calendar.
4.Centralize the Schedule
If you’re managing a remote team, keeping up with everyone’s schedule can be difficult and tiresome. And when there’s a need for a team meeting, finding the right time can take longer than the meeting itself.
By centralizing schedule, conflicts of time can be prevented in advance and meetings can be held more smoothly. A centralized schedule also gives out the availability of remote workers and can help you to assign tasks accordingly.
5.Balance Your Workload
It’s a common situation where some weeks you’re overflowing with tasks to be done and some weeks you’re as light as a cloud. This situation is related to outside factors as well, but you can do certain things to balance them out to some extent.
Keep aware of your upper limit. This doesn’t have to be the maximum effort you can put on objectively, but instead the maximum time you prefer spending on your job for a week. Life is unpredicted and you need to keep yourself flexible enough to balance your work schedule as the circumstances allow.
In the end, it’s all up to you to become more efficient with your time management skills; but by applying these key points to your daily routine, you can allow yourself to become a more productive version of yourself.
