Remote Work Schedule

As remote working becomes more and more common, learning how to create a remote work schedule and stick to is an important skill. Not only will having a workable schedule improve productivity, it is also one of the best ways to reduce anxiety and get your work done. Before we share with you the strategies to create a remote working schedule, let's first take a look at why scheduling is important;

The importance of Scheduling

If you often find yourself wasting time, the answer to your problem is proper scheduling. The following are just some of the major benefits of proper scheduling;

• Having a schedule can help you understand what you can realistically achieve with your time
• It also allows you to have adequate time for essential tasks
• You can schedule enough time for unexpected events
• With a schedule, you can avoid taking on more than you can handle
• A schedule allows you to work steadily to meet your career goals
• You can also have time for family and friends, thereby achieving the perfect work-life balance

Now, let's take a look at some of the strategies you can employ to create the perfect remote work schedule.

Begin by Blocking Your Non-Working Hours

Remote workers can have a problem deciding when to get off work and may find themselves working at odd hours of the night. This is why the first thing we recommend you do is to block off some hours of the day where you give yourself permission to unplug completely.

Before doing this however, it is important to discuss tour work-life boundaries with your manager. This way, they will not be surprised when you visibly mark times on the Google Calendar as “Working Hours.”

Google Calendar allows you to very easily do this. Just open the Calendar and then click on “Settings” and scroll down to click on “Working Hours”. Once you select your Working Hours, other calendar viewers will see gray lines marking the days when you are unavailable for meetings.

Schedule Your Weekly Duties

Since very job has weekly duties, it is important to make sure that schedule these as well. Doing this will help you remain organized, not to mention, will ensure you never forget or get behind on a task.

Use “Please Request Time before Booking” when you have Large projects

Occasionally you may need to have a period of uninterrupted time like an hour so to complete a project. A meeting at this time can prove very distracting and may even prevent you from completing the task for that project.

Proper scheduling during these large projects can help you stay focused on the task at hand and quickly pivot to something else as needed.

Schedule Regular Communication with Colleagues

One of the other main disadvantages of working remotely is the real possibility of getting disconnected from teammates. And since this can seriously derail a project that the team may be working on, it is important to schedule time for one-on-one check ins with members of the group and meetings.

These meetings will help you easily collaborate with the team and stay update on what is going on in the office. They are also perfect for bolstering harmony within the team, particularly if you are working on the same project.

Have a Morning Routine

While you may not need the full morning routine that you may have if you were working in the office. It is still a good idea to have a series of events that mark your morning before you start working. Morning routines are a great way to start your day properly and they can also allow you some time to take care of some of that non-work stuff that is just as important such as bonding with the family or household tasks.

Schedule Your Breaks

While scheduling time for self-care, it is equally important to make sure that you take the time to take breaks during the work day. Since it can be difficult to slow down when you have a deadline, scheduling the breaks can help you do that more easily. Breaks are very important for your productivity since they can prevent burnouts and boost creativity.

Book as Many Meetings as Possible within 1 or 2 Days each Week

This will allow you to spend less time in meetings and more time actually doing your work. If you can get all your meetings out of the way at the beginning of the week, you can focus more on the work that needs to be done. Then if you need more clarification, you can use the time set aside for checking in with your colleagues to get further direction.

Even if you have the best schedule in the world, it will not serve you unless you communicate about your work and non-work hours with your colleagues. To maintain the correct work-life balance, it is important to stick to this schedule and you will only be able to do that if your manager and colleagues know when they can expect to reach you.