Time Mastery Now

Quickbooks online

The top reason workers fail to adjust to working remotely is they don’t recognise the neccesity of superior organisation and sustainable self discipline.

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

Whilst working remotely has numerous upsides there are numerous pitfalls which lead to issues that cause cuts in productivity and reduced morale. The most significant reason for low work output from remote workers is distraction and it is a proven and well publicised fact that it can take a worker up to 0.33 hours to establish their original efficiency level after experiencing a distraction.

Research also shows that men and women who are consistently subjected to distractions are more likely to suffer from 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 recognise the issues this causes before you decide to work remotely. Whilst operating remotely you should do everything feasible to minimise the probability of being disrupted.

Here are my most important tips:

1, Get a routine, communicate it to absolutely everyone and obsessively maintain it!

Good examples are a specific time of day when you check or compose and reply to e-mail and make or take phone conversatiions. Before I began working remotely I used to get in the region of hundreds of e-mails a day. Now I think I am unfortunate if I receive in excess of 5. To ‘restart’ my e-mail experience I altered my e-mail address and vigorously took precautions to shield the details being made known to anyone. I then ‘trained’ every party who I gave my e-mail address to, to use it wisely and sparingly. I also created an auto-responder that swiftly informed anyone sending me mail my schedule for processing mail and if someone needed my immediate attention to mark it as ‘Urgent’.

2. Get rid of alerts.

Turn off every possible mechanism that can send you a interruption. This includes cell and
conventional telephones and forms of alerts from e-mail such as on screen pop ups, audible warnings, display changes to your inbox folder and of course facing a window. Get a door on your office and put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign on it.

In ‘Remote Working Part 3 – Top tools and tricks’ I will reveal my favourite tools and software.