Working remotely

Working remotely can require a different set of habits than working in an office environment, especially if you’ve never done it before. Here are some recommendations for effectively working remotely, even if you’re experienced at it.

    1. Shower, get dressed, and eat breakfast as if you were going into the office. This may seem subtle, but it sets the tone for the day. At home, it’s easy not to notice how quickly 10 or 11am comes when you don’t follow an established rhythm.
    2. Create a set of automated reminders to shape your day. Set an alarm for lunchtime. If you’re focused, you may work straight through lunch and suddenly notice you’re hungry at 2:30pm.
    3. If you can, avoid working in the exact same physical space where you relax. This blurs the line between rest and work, which pretty much just means your brain feels like it’s always low-level working. Even if it’s just a corner of a room, designate a separate work space.
    4. Vary your work tasks as much as possible, and change them up more often than you do in the office. Working in an office brings enough outside stimulation that it feels less monotonous —but at home, with more sensory isolation, your mind is going to get any faster.
    5. Ruthlessly limit access to anything you do online to kill time. During the work day, schedule in breaks that you TIME with a 15 min alarm. Check Twitter then. Read Boing Boing then. Stop when the timer goes off. If that doesn’t work, there are apps that can help limit access too.
    6. Take regular breaks to eat rather than eating while working. You don’t notice how much you consume or whether you’re actually still hungry as easily when your mind is focused on work. Do drink lots of water though.
    7. Stop working after work hours are over. This one is really hard. Once you’ve crossed that line into “work at home is what I am doing now,” it’s super difficult to ignore that tab still open on your laptop, or that book sitting on your desk. This is how you exhaust yourself.

For the latest information and resources for remote teaching and working at Ball State, please visit our Keep Teaching and Working website.