That said, you shouldn’t force yourself to work the same way you used to before or leave your schedule up for grabs. This article will look into tips and tools to help you design an effective and personalized plan.
How to Create a Personalized Remote Work Schedule
First, it is vital to highlight that structuring your workday through a tailor-made schedule relies on self-discipline, knowing yourself, and the understanding that everyone is different (and works differently). It will take a few hits and misses to get it just right, but once you do, it’ll be smooth sailing.
Now that we have that out of the way, here are a few tips and tools to guide you:
1. Know When, How, and Where You Work Best
Be mindful of when you work best and schedule your most demanding tasks during those hours. Knowing your chronotype and structuring your day accordingly can help increase your productivity.
What time of the day do you work best? Are you a morning person, or do you work better at night?
With the added flexibility of remote work, you no longer need to force yourself to become an early bird if you’re not one. Instead, you can now fit your most important or challenging tasks during the hours when you know you’ll be productive. Next, figure out how you work best.
Where do you fit within the introvert-extrovert scale? Do you like to be surrounded by people, or do you need peace and quiet to be productive? Learning about your personality type will help you better understand which work setup works for you.
For example, if you are an extrovert who gets an energy boost from conversations, you might want to schedule your meetings and calls at the start of your most productive hours to make the most out of your time.
In addition, knowing your personality type will also help you identify where you work best.
You might enjoy working in a coffee shop with people around, or you might prefer a quiet environment with no distractions. The bottom line is that you can leverage the freedom of remote work to your advantage by working in an environment that best suits you.
2. Block Out Non-Work Hours
As we have hinted above, working from home might make it harder for you to unplug. The result is you typically find yourself responding to Slack messages or emails and working during your downtime. In the short term, this can take a toll on your productivity and the quality of your work. In the long run, it can lead to Work-from-home-burnout.
In order to overcome the “always-on” nature of remote work, it is vital to set boundaries by blocking out non-work hours for other activities like cleaning the house, walking your dog, having a nice time with family and friends, or doing your workouts.
You should completely unplug from work during these hours and refrain from checking work-related emails or messages.
If you are in complete control of your schedule (if not, you could discuss it with your supervisor), the best way to achieve this while staying in sync with your team is to use a shared calendar tool like Calendly to block out the times you are unavailable. This will help your colleagues know when they can reach out to you.
3. Schedule Uninterrupted Focus Time
It is vital that you handle the extensive range of distractions that come with your remote environment. Whether it’s the unending notifications on your phone or the temptation to finish that Netflix show, distractions can quickly derail your train of thought and throw you off track.
To combat this, try scheduling uninterrupted focus time during the most productive period of your day to work on a specific task for a set amount of time without any distractions. The duration depends on you. However, you should factor in Parkinson’s Law, which suggests that a task will take as long as the time you have scheduled for it. This means that if you give yourself too much time, you’ll either complete the task more slowly or procrastinate and finish it just before your time is up.
Either way, it defeats the purpose of having focus time to enter a flow state.
You can use a to-do list app like Centered to help you manage your focus time. This app boasts unique features specifically designed to help you optimize your work performance, including Flow Music to help you get into a productive state, a virtual productivity coach to motivate you, and notification blocking and distraction nudges to get you back on track.
4. Embrace Asynchronous Work
Asynchronous communication is one of the key advantages of remote work. Team members don’t always need to respond to messages instantly or be online simultaneously for collaboration in async work. This gives you the flexibility to fine-tune your schedule and work during your most productive hours of the day, while avoiding all the distractions that come with synchronous communication.
You can leverage asynchronous communication tools like Twist to keep everyone in the loop on your progress without worrying about disrupting their workday.
Twist is a great communication app for remote teams. It offers threaded conversations, making it easy to follow a discussion and keep track of all the relevant information. Twist also gives you complete control over notifications to avoid being disturbed when working.
5. Try It Out, and Tweak Accordingly
Remember that creating a customized schedule is not about copying and pasting someone else’s routine. It’s about finding what works for you and tweaking it until you find the right balance.
For example, if you’re struggling to stay productive during your focus time, try reducing the duration or adding more breaks. Alternatively, if you’re constantly getting distracted, find a more conducive place in your home to work.
The key is to experiment until you find what works for you, and then stick to it.
Creating a Personalized Schedule Is Key to Remote Work Success
Working from home can be a challenging experience if you don’t have an effective plan. With the right tools, some effort, and a few tweaks, you will be able to create a schedule that works for you.
Finding the right balance is vital to this endeavor, and leveraging the tips above as your roadmap will help you get there.
