8 tips for enjoying your teleworking experience
Due to the vagaries of the COVID 19 pandemic , many employees find themselves having to carry out their tasks remotely, for periods of varying lengths and not always predictable. This working method can be a good alternative to save time, rebalance your personal life, and it suits some parents by allowing them to spend more time with their children and fully enjoy their family life.
But teleworking can also become difficult and cause organizational and productivity difficulties or even cause a significant feeling of isolation. Here are some tips that will allow you to work “like in the office” while enjoying the advantages that remote work offers.
Do not change your working hours
To have a good teleworking experience, you need to put yourself in the same conditions as those in which you are used to working. One of the traps you may encounter is thinking that you have a lot of time, that you don’t need to wake up early to start your tasks that you can always catch up later, at the end of the day for example.
On the contrary, try to keep your usual start times for the day, and consider that if there is a change, it would mean finishing earlier when you have been more productive.
Plan your day
It is recommended that you have a planner that will allow you to properly organize your day. Plan your daily tasks, detailing them, and referring to your usual work rhythm. Detailing your tasks will allow you to move forward productively, you will have satisfaction when completing each task, and will then be more motivated to respect your schedule.
The importance of your workspace
Your environment is an integral part of your professional development. Here are the steps to follow to have an optimal workspace designed for you:
– Start by choosing a quiet area that is not accessible to children and your loved ones. If you cannot find space to dedicate especially for you, ask your loved ones not to have access to it during your work hours.
– Clean and organize your space thoroughly. The cleanliness of the place will make you want to work even more and will prevent you from losing concentration and feeling untidy.
– Have a well-organized office equipped with everything you need. If your work requires printing certain documents, it is better to leave your printer on the desk to avoid moving around and thus wasting time.
– Opt for a comfortable chair! This element is surely one of the most important, because your posture matters a lot in the quality of your performance.
– Think about brightness, plants and any comfort allowing you to soothe your mind and work in a relaxing climate.
Don’t stay in your pajamas to work
To enjoy working remotely, you need to bring together all the right elements, and your outfit is one of them. Indeed, our brain is quite conditioned according to our environment, our clothing and our habits. If you stay in your pajamas, your subconscious will have the impression that you are resting.
Get dressed and put yourself in outdoor living conditions, a sort of intermediary between house attire and meeting attire.
Stay away from distractions
The first thing to avoid is your phone. This can greatly distract you and thus reduce your productivity. You can block it or turn it off altogether if you don’t need it for your work.
In addition, avoid thinking about your household chores, your children’s homework or what you are going to cook during your working hours as much as possible. All these tasks can wait for your breaks and should not interrupt your work, at the risk of delaying it and ending up encroaching on your home life.
Set boundaries with your family
It is recommended to inform your family members that you are not on vacation, but working remotely: visits and family routines can take place at the end of the day or during the weekend.
It is naturally not a question of abandoning your children but rather of managing them as if you were in your office: if your children are too small, you can leave them with a nanny or a member of your family, and they are in school, you will then be able to adapt your working hours according to their start and end of the day.
Adopt a healthy lifestyle
Next to the organization, there is your health. And this is more important than your work. Remember to maintain a balanced diet and, above all, avoid snacking. This constitutes one of the risks of teleworking. Your breaks should not rhyme with indulgence for the simple reason that they are now taken with your fridge within reach. Try to eat healthy and organize your meal times.
At the same time, don’t forget to practice regular physical activity, and take breaks to relax and meditate. If you tend to stress yourself out too much, opt for yoga. If you still cannot manage this stress, consult a psychologist so that he can help you reverse the dynamic: professional exhaustion or burnout can also occur in a teleworking situation.
Maintain social contact
It is important to keep in touch with your colleagues to motivate yourself, but above all to maintain the cohesion and team spirit so necessary in every company . Do not hesitate to be proactive in your socio-professional connection, and if, of course, the accumulation of videoconference meetings can sometimes become stressful and tiring, do not hesitate to provoke small informal conversations with one or two colleagues in order to maintain the link.
If, despite these tips, you feel that teleworking constitutes a mental burden for you, disorganizes you or disrupts the balance between your professional and personal life, Psy n You provides you with psychologists specializing in stress management issues, anxiety or work. You will be able to consult them via different media, at the single price of €39 per session.