Remote work has become the new normal for many of us. People have been working from home and are trying to balance their personal and professional lives. Even though we are trying our best, remote work can be challenging. It's tough to work from home and manage everything else simultaneously. To help make remote work a bit easier, here are a few tips to help you stay productive and stress-free.

How to Master Remote Work

1. Manage Your Time 

Managing time can be very challenging while working remotely. There are many factors that make it harder to concentrate and stay productive such as kids, pets and household chores, not to mention the temptation of the TV or other hobbies. Another aspect of managing time is maintaining a consistent schedule. Sleeping and waking up on time is important for your productivity and satisfaction.

Strategies and tools to manage your time

• Set a work routine
• Maintain a schedule
• Use tools like  TickTick, Focus Booster

2. Organize Your Space and Workload

Organization is very important to stay focused and productive. Set up a small work space at home where you can keep your work all in one place. Staying organized will also increase your work efficiency.

Strategies to stay organized

• Plan and write down your goals and corresponding to-do list
• Streamline tasks using tools like Microsoft Planner
• Organize, categorize, and share your work using tools like Dropbox, Google Drive
• Collaborate with your team using tools like BaseCamp and Trello

3. Communicate with Colleagues

Communicating with your colleagues will not only give you confidence, but will also give you a virtual office break with your coworkers. Communicating with your colleagues increases accuracy and reduces confusion. Being available to your coworkers and vice versa creates transparency and reduces stress. While communicating with your colleagues, you can share project milestones to make sure everyone is on the same page, track progress of each project, and brainstorm together.

Whether you want to check in with your colleagues or have a group chat with them, the right tools will make your communication easy.

Popular communication tools

• WhatsApp is free and widely used
• Slack, Skype, Microsoft Teams, etc allow you to make audio and video calls and are free to an extent but can be upgraded for more features

4. Set Ground Rules

Working remotely means you will have many challenges and responsibilities. While working from home, it is important to set some ground rules with people who share the same space with you. Eliminate distractions so you can work efficiently. 

If you are working from home, set up your office in a space where you can concentrate and work efficiently. If you are in a co-working or shared space, set some limits. Let everyone know you are busy and can't have any distractions during working hours.

5. Stay Positive

The pandemic has been hard for all of us and staying positive is quite challenging. While working remotely, it's important to take breaks and spend free time unplugged from work. Spend your free time exploring books or new hobbies and learning new things. Keeping work and recreation separate is a valuable part of staying positive and calm.

Activities to help you stay positive

• Checking in with friends and family
• Spending time outside
• Investing time in hobbies
• Maintaining a journal
• Meditating and/or working out
• You can also use apps like Calm

Conclusion

It's hard to know when or if things will ever get back to normal. Some companies may choose to return to work in the coming months, and others have decided to remain remote for the rest of 2021. However, using smart tips and tricks for remote working can definitely help you carry on with work and be happy with the work you're producing.