Affiliate Programs Promotion

Remote Working Part 2 – Why self discipline is important

September 8th, 2009

The key reason workers fail to adjust to operating remotely is they don’t realise the essential requirement of first class organisation and sustainable self discipline.

I have been operating remotely for nearly 8 yrs since I first discovered Quickbooks online an ‘on demand’ small business accounting software service and was spellbound by the fact that if you can do accounting online then why shouldn’t it be workable to do other important types of work at a distance?

Whilst working remotely has its obvious perks there are numerous traps that people easily fall into which turn into problems that cause decreased productivity and lower motivation. The most significant reason for low productivity in remote workers is disturbance and it is a confirmed and well known fact that it can take a person up to 0.33 hours to return to their original productivity level after experiencing a distraction.

Deeper insights reveal that persons who are regularly experience disturbances are more likely to be susceptible to lower memory capacity and are prone to developing mental health issues in old age. We live in an over communicated society and it is essential that you know the problems this causes before you decide to work remotely. Whilst operating remotely you have to do everything feasible to eradicate the risk of being disturbed.

Here’s how I do it:

1, Get a habit, communicate it to absolutely everyone and rigidly adhere to it!

Good examples are a consistent time of day when you look at or write and send e-mail and make or be available for telephone calls. Before I began working remotely I used to receive as many as hundreds of electronic mails every 24 hours. Now I think I am unfortunate if I get greater than four. To start over with my e-mail experience I changed my e-mail address and vigorously took steps to look after the details being passed on to anyone. I then made sure everyone who I gave my e-mail address to, to use it prudently. I also created an automatic response that swiftly told anyone sending me mail my schedule for attending to mail and if someone must have my immediate awareness to mark it as ‘Urgent’.

2. Get rid of alerts.

Disable every function that can send you a visual or audible alert. This includes mobile and
conventional telephones and types of alerts from electronic mail such as display events, beeps, display changes to your inbox folder and of course facing a window. Get a door on your work room and put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign on it.

In ‘Remote Working Part 3 – My list of essentials’ I will reveal my favourite tools and software.

Tweet This Post