The main reason people fail to adapt to working remotely is they fail to recognise the neccesity of first class organisation and enduring self management.

I have been operating remotely for more than six years since I first found Quickbooks online an ‘on demand’ small business accounting software web application and was spellbound by the fact that if you can do accounting on the Internet then why shouldn’t it be viable to perform other important types of work at a distance?

Whilst working remotely has numerous upsides there are numerous things that workers don’t realise which turn into problems that cause cuts in work output and lower motivation. The most cited reason for low work output from remote professionals is disturbance and it is a proven and well known fact that it can take a worker up to 20 mins to establish their original productivity level after experiencing an interruption.

Deeper insights reveal that individuals who are regularly experience distractions are more likely to suffer from decreased memory capacity and are prone to developing mental health trouble in later life. We exist in an over communicated world and it is essential that you know the problems this causes before you decide to work remotely. When working remotely you should do everything possible to minimise the jeopardy of being interrupted.

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 read or send mail and make or take phone conversatiions. Before I began working remotely I used to receive up to a couple of hundred electronic mails every 24 hours. Now I think I am unfortunate if I get over 5. To start over with my electronic mail experience I altered my e-mail address and vigorously took steps to shield the details being made known to anyone. I then ‘trained’ every person who I gave my e-mail address to, to use it wisely and sparingly. I also set up an automatic response that swiftly told anyone sending me mail my schedule for processing mail and if something required my urgent attention to mark it as ‘Urgent’.

2. Get rid of alerts.

Turn off every function that can send you a interruption. This includes cell and
conventional handsets and types of alerts from electronic mail such as display events, warning sounds, display changes to your inbox list 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 – Basic Toolkit’ I will reveal my favourite tools and software.