The Ultimate Guide In How To Work Remotely From Anywhere Effectively

2020-21 will be remembered as a time that brought so much disruption as were forced into a vastly different working environment than we were used to, many having to work remotely for the first time.

To some, working remotely is just a temporary fix until we slot back into the same office way of life (when Covid-19 is consigned to the history books). Others think this forced adaption of working remotely will become a lasting change as different working environments become the norm.

In assuming the latter, let’s take a look at how to work remotely effectively away from the office – from working from home to other environments such as working in a cafe, on a beach, in a park, or in other situations such as having to work in our bedroom, around kids, or even working abroad.

Think of this guide as a handy toolkit to help you work remotely from anywhere effectively, including tips and tricks on how to make the best of it, how to find that ideal work-life balance, how to deal with certain issues that arise, and more.

It’s not just a guide to use during the pandemic but long after, as our working life changes into the future (I just won’t add the how-to ‘work from space’ just yet as I’ve no idea ha).

So, let’s start with the increasingly common type of remote working today.

How To Work Remotely Effectively: Working From Home

The most common change for people during the last year or two has to exchange the office for the breakfast table.

Working from home for many people was both an exciting prospect and a daunting one. Not having to commute into the office and get stuck in everyday routine traffic was a blessing for many at first, but interesting became something some people ‘missed’ the longer their work-life succumbed to the same four walls they slept and ate in all day.

People found they had a lot more time in their day without having to get ready and commute back and forth to work each day, but also found that much of that time was wasted through procrastination when they weren’t kept on target by an office setting, and some even found that they ended feeling they had to work more due to the always-on-call approach of nosy bosses wanting to check up and make sure they were working, even after office hours.

The blur between work and life became even blurrier. So, how can you effectively work from home?

Practice self-motivation and self-discipline early in the day

I am no stranger to working remotely having done so (on most occasions) for over a decade now, and there have been many times I’ve had to self-motivate myself to work from home when the temptation might be to just put it off and do it a bit later when I felt like it.

With clients around the globe at different times, I couldn’t really afford to just do work when I wanted (unless it was my own self-created businesses such as this website), so I needed some form of self-discipline to ensure I prioritized work. This was never an easy feat for me having had mild ADHD in adulthood, so I had to really buckle down and try to focus.

Knowing I couldn’t always do so when I tried, and that distractions wouldn’t be too far away, I had to devise a few methods to ensure I got the work done rather than lost the client. I also implemented a prioritizing strategy.

For many people thrown into the world of working from home for the first time, this is crucial, otherwise, you find you become too easily distracted (ADHD or not) by the new stimulus around you.

I say new stimulus because even though your home is familiar to you for living it’s not a normal setting for working, so detaching yourself from the living element is important.

This required self-discipline and I found the best way to achieve this was to ‘eat the frog’ first thing (or in the best opportune time for focus in your day). This meant focusing on getting the main bulk of the work done in the first few hours of the day (like the 80/20 Pareto Principle), but it also meant doing something a bit different from normal advice.

We have a tendency to switch straight onto our phones when we wake up, especially Millennials and Gen Z’s. Many will say how this is not a good idea for productivity, and they would be right, but let’s say you need technology to work so you have to switch your phone or laptop on.

In that case, the first thing I did was to practice a form of self-discipline by using a brainteaser app. Others might seek to exercise or meditate, but I found I needed to engage my brain into solving problems straight away (as a lot of my job was to innovate solutions to problems). Instead of working directly on the client problem, I would warm my mind up through a 7-minute brain training game (varying the challenge each time). I would discipline myself to not only stop after the 7 minutes but to make sure I went straight into ‘eating the frog’ of the main client issue of the day after.

Treat your time and space the same as you would in the office

When I first started working for myself I thought the right thing to do was to work in a cafe, a form of semi-office that would keep me accountable, but at times it just wasn’t feasible and I found myself being more productive when I also worked from home at times.

But setting up a working space at home can be challenging, especially if you have thin walls, noisy neighbours, or other people you live with. Yet, when we go to work in an office we have noises around us. We have printers going off, office chatter, constant interruptions in whether you can just do this or that for me, phone calls etc.

Somehow in the office though we get through it and are more productive. Why is that? It’s just the psychology of association. When we associate a place with work we work, regardless of the distractions around us. We may feel like we have to because we might have a boss or a colleague looking over our shoulder if we aren’t looking ‘busy’.

That actually begs the question of whether we are actually truly productive in the office though, as sometimes we are ingrained to just get busy looking busy, rather than being effective with our thoughts and time, but that’s another article.

When we are working from home we don’t associate the same space as productive, but this is why we should try to replicate this psychology, but not necessarily the environment. Some people bought audiotapes of office white noise to help them feel like they were still in the office whilst stuck working from home, but it seems like this was a bit more of a gimmick than a useful tool for most.

We don’t need to make our home like our office, we just need to treat our working time with the same psychology of association that we do in the office.

For many, this might mean setting up a dedicated time and space to be productive and creating the feeling that you have time pressure and commitments to get done in that time. Some people found they got more done when a friend or colleague was also online through Zoom to keep each other accountable.

The best bet is to experiment at first to see what works best for you and then commit to it.

Deal with different distractions to an office setting

I mentioned how at home we might have kids running around or thin walls and noisy neighbours, and while the noise isn’t really any higher in decibels to what we would hear in the office when we don’t have others around to keep us accountable it can be hard to remain focused when your kids are screaming or your washing machine is going berserk.

I struggle with focus at the best of times with ADHD so what I found helped me was to not fight the distraction so much. This might sound counterintuitive but there’s a good reason for this. When our minds get distracted from something it doesn’t always mean we aren’t focused, just that our focus was broken by something out of our control.

This can lead to frustration and when stressed we then find it hard to get back into focus. Then when we can’t we blame it on something like a stupid car door slamming outside our driveway, or your other half flushing the toilet, washing her hands, and then proceeding to chop vegetables after (a procession of noises that make it even harder to return to focus). We become fixated on the issue that distracted us and stress builds as we turn into blame-mode rather than focus-mode.

Therefore, as much as people always tried to teach me to manage my distractions by ‘just focusing harder’ (bad advice) the most effective solution for me was to accept the noise (it was out of my control), count to 10 seconds or so (using the magic 10-second powernap reset technique I created for myself – like a mini-meditation), and then do something to help build focus again (like a quick brainteaser).

If you find your stress has escalated then there’s no point trying to fight through it and make it worse for you, so in that case us it as a mini-break opportunity. In lockdown times this was particularly hard because we couldn’t always just leave our house and go for a walk, but we have a human right to exercise and stay healthy so having a short walk is a good idea from time to time too (just don’t make it a habit that becomes procrastination from actually getting work done).

Go for a walk when you’ve eaten the frog first or when your focus has been too distracted by something that is now frustrating you. Calm your mind and go again.

Investing in a good pair of headphones also helps!

Make sure you switch work OFF at home too

The main challenge in working from home is simply your ability to self-discipline yourself to keep working when you need to work, but also allowing yourself to switch off when you’ve put in your work. This can be equally challenging.

Just because you are at home working doesn’t mean you should have a constantly open channel to your clients. You aren’t a doctor on call and your job isn’t a 24/7 drop-everything-at-any-time gig.

It’s often harder to get that work-life balance when both are in the same place, so cutting off your day to have a few hours with family, hobbies, or social life is important. Of course, if you choose to work longer on a passion project or a side hustle too then you’ll find your home becomes more work than it does life, so in that case, you need to make sure you set up things to do outside as much as you can (post lockdown). Things to look forward to, events that you can’t just skip or let people down on.

How not to work from home

It may be easy to suggest how not to work from home. I’m also an expert in this, as it took me a long time to work out how to work remotely in different places effectively, and I wasted more than enough time thinking I was working from home effectively, only to find a week would fly by and I’d got relatively little actually done.

It wasn’t the lack of effort either. Sometimes I’d find myself working 12-14 hour days whilst working for clients whilst also trying to build my own website businesses.

Two words I didn’t understand, or which took me far too long to figure out – productivity and delegation.

I guess to become effective at being productive you probably have to stink at it pretty bad to start with and I did. I could’ve just blamed it on my ADHD but in truth, it wasn’t just that, mine was a mild form compared to others, so eventually I was able to get on top of it. However, one thing I did find was that a lot of the advice out there in being productive was actually pretty useless and ineffective advice for most of us.

Writing to-do lists and automating digital tasks. Wow, what a way to waste more time setting things up rather than getting things actually done. Picking off the low-hanging fruit first before tacking the main issue. Wow, what a way to get nowhere fast and think you’ve actually got somewhere.

This was me in a nutshell. A week would go by and I’d have 50 tabs open at the same time working over 12 hour days researching, learning, creating, multi-tasking, and getting to the end of the week and wondering what I actually did.

I did a lot, a lot of procrastinating (or precrastinating) that may have been useful in terms of life knowledge, but in terms of actually getting the lists of things I needed (or thought I needed) to get done, it was just so much energy and so little actual progress.

As you can imagine, that is disheartening. Others would put in a fraction of the work and seemingly their life was going places. I wondered what was wrong with me, so I did what I did best. I looked further into it and went from one focus to another, creating one idea to idea, but eventually, I figured it out.

Stop creating work for work’s sake. Find ways to cut out a LOT of stuff you think you need to do or need to know which you don’t/ Now this advice goes for working from home or working from anywhere really.

If we can find ways to minimize our perceptive workload then do it. The best way to do this is to have a vision, a clear vision, of what it is you want to achieve, then ask yourself if what you are doing right now is leading you towards that goal? Often it isn’t, it’s just filling up our time to make us feel busy.

The same goes for working for other people too. We have jobs that make us feel busy, but do we really need to do so much admin or research, or can we innovate a better way to get things done? How much time are we actually wasting solving little problems that don’t really need to be fixed or following conventions that are just routines that no longer benefit us?

Now, this isn’t strictly about how we work from anywhere, but it’s worth noting as often no matter where we are working we can benefit from finding ways to reduce our wasted output, and to learn how to delegate, workshare, or mentor each other. When we learn to bring other people together to work, no matter whether we are in the office or in another setting, we find we simply can get more done when we lighten the load or cut out the load completely.

How To Work Remotely Effectively: Working Hybrid (Home And Office)

The most common adaption of working away from the office has come to be this hybrid of working from home sometimes and then going into the office the rest of the time.

There’s been a backlash on both sides since the pandemic forced new working conditions. Some have taken it as an opportunity to tell their boss they demand better work conditions, feeling that the time away from the office has made them see the light in how both quality of life is important to them and how they aren’t just a statistic robot who is there to make their boss rich. Others have seen it as the birth of a cry baby culture who are refusing to graft and as a result, a slow down of the economy has occurred with backlogs everywhere.

It’s not really my place to say on that. Maybe both. Maybe neither.

Either way, one thing has come about from this, a hybrid alternative, to give more flexibility to employees but still have a base for certain job functions.

Quite how this will pan out is anyone’s guess as it’s still quite a new concept, much like working pods, but time will tell.

So, how can you work effectively in a hybrid job role?

The idea is to create flexible working environments that help you be more productive so that you can pick the times where you are best suited to be productive at home, and times when you are more suited to be in the office.

It’s a very modern idea but could also be in the typically early and naive stages of it.

If you give too many people the ‘option’ of how they would like to work you are less likely to get them to all agree to come to the office at a certain time or to liaise with each other at times that best suit each of their ‘flow’.

The fact is, when left to our own devices we tend to fall into patterns, but different patterns to one another. Someone will be more naturally an early bird, another one a night owl. It may be hard to find a good time of peak flow, whereas when in the office together collaboration is forced which breeds cooperation and co-creation.

The advantage of a hybrid job (that creates a varied workflow) that allows you to be out of the office would be when we have tasks that require less collaboration and more individual focus, where we need to get our head down.

It’s also arguably a much better setup for allowing creativity to blossom outside of the workplace. Creative problem solving often doesn’t come from the workplace, but in moments of inspiration outside of it. You are more likely to come up with some interesting characters for a book or a new innovation or system for your business when you are out and about away from the routine grind of the office.

When you can leave the office and allow your mind to fluctuate between divergent and convergent thinking then it could be a huge advantage, especially for more creative industries.

Plus, it’s a time and money saver for companies. Instead of having to have a desk for everyone instead some are reverting to smaller offices, or even work pods and cafe meeting rooms, or shared desks at different hours.

Some will call that skimping, others will call it being resourceful, but if it leads to better productivity and better overall team collaboration then who cares.

One thing seems clear to me from my research into the hybrid work culture. It seems like it’s only at the beginning.

Some jobs will certainly be less inclined to this kind of setup. Some jobs require constant face-to-face roles or factory-based manufacturing (yet that could change too in the future). Some employers simply won’t adapt and will find it less productive as it doesn’t fit their tried and trusted, and largely ingrained habit.

That said, hybrid is arguably the future of how many of us will work, so it might pay to get to grips with it.

Experienced freelancers who have occasional in-house positions are already experienced in how this way of working works. Like working from home, it can either be a disaster or the rocket fuel to your hidden productivity, and it again depends on the person, or how a person can be both self-disciplined and flexible (often two skills that are opposites to most people – people tend to either be very linearly focused and disciplined or more flexible and open).

This is why developing adaptable techniques, such as learning Quick Adaption, can really benefit you and make you more prepared for a hybrid job.

There are other important elements to make it work too, which employers need to consider.

There needs to be a flexible culture at work, where it doesn’t lead towards favoritism of one department over another. This means a greater emphasis on understanding what concerns people at work have without becoming a pushover to lazy practices. Whilst inclusion is clearly important it doesn’t mean allowing the workplace to become too ego-centered and opinionated. After all, people are employed to do a job, and not to argue about their working conditions.

When you provide hybrid options you have to make sure people are aware of the rules within the flexibility otherwise it’s open for abuse. Set it up right and with consideration at the beginning and this doesn’t become a problem down the line.

Technology is crucial for this hybrid work environment to work. Without technology running smoothly, and without people understanding how they can use the technology to communicate, and when to, the whole thing can turn into an unproductive chase and lead to overtime and unhappy workers.

To avoid this, it becomes paramount to set up effective processes that mitigate this potential issue. As many people aren’t used to this hybrid model then it pays to bring someone in to help you ensure both the service design system is well structured, but also the end-user experience.

How To Work Remotely: Working From A Cafe

One of the most popular grounds for working away from the office is to work from a cafe.

Ask any student and I’m sure they have spent many an hour sipping on lattes whilst trying to cram out their dissertation. Yet, it’s not just students who can benefit from study cafes today. We all can.

Some cafes don’t like it. They feel that their income can be reduced when too many tables are taken by students and workers who buy one coffee to max out 5 hours of work or study time. Now, many cafes today try to ensure their bottom floor is for passing trade whilst upstairs is for longer visits, but the pandemic has also started to change the way cafes have viewed their audience.

More working pods and meeting rooms are being set up, where instead of using the office as meeting points, more companies are beginning to hire meeting rooms instead, that have setups for projectors and soundproofing. Wifi memberships are also coming out of the woodwork.

If you are seeking a place to collaborate with colleagues face-to-face then this is a good bet, even more so in the future. There are also tools and websites now helping ensure people can work remotely whilst keeping each other accountable, so you could hire a co-working studio pod and have a tool like this set up so you are kept accountable during this working window.

I personally never really got into the whole cafe work culture. Not because it doesn’t work, it does for some people, but mainly because there were just too many people coming and going for my easily distracted brain to stay focused.

If you have Zoom calls to make then either hire a quiet room or working pod in a co-working studio or do it at home. Even if the connection is okay in a cafe, the ability to hear someone properly in a Zoom call when working from a cafe isn’t easy or wise.

However, I found the cafe (or the pub) a brilliant place for collaborative work with people face-to-face. Many creative ideas seemed to flow more naturally because they didn’t seem forced. Even today I still suggest going to a pub for a second ‘idea-generating’ consultation for my branding and innovation clients. They look at me a bit puzzled at first, like I’m not being professional, but they get it afterward (then it’s a case of trying to tell them not to meet in the pub ha).

So, working from a cafe has its pros when for certain situations, and cons for others, like most things, but if you are really wanting to know how to knuckle down and work effectively in a cafe then here’s how.

• Don’t go at peak times. Find a quieter time that allows you to concentrate easier, and not have to queue for coffee.
• Don’t stick to the same cafe. Sure you might have your favourite one, but actually a change of scenery after each session can really help you get more done, as you don’t become stagnant and know you have a window (rather than all day) to get things done. Plus, you won’t be annoying the owners so much hogging so much time whilst only buying a coffee.
• Find study zone cafes if possible. There’s a bit of a cafe war. Those who are there to just socialise and drink a coffee or tea, and those there to study. If a social group comes inbetween the studiers expect dagger eyes, or find the social group masking their words but feeling uncomfortable as a result. Cafes tend to cater for two completely different decibels so try to find one that suits the noise you need.
• Don’t drink too much coffee. Buy a brunch, give the cafe business. Be friendly and local, not a leech. Also, too much coffee with only send you off into crazy idea mode and then into ‘I can’t stay awake, need another coffee’ mode. Neither are good for actual productivity. I’ve always prefered herbal teas but that’s just me, I’m British ha.
• Don’t hog the internet when you aren’t using it. We tend to always leave our wifi on. Not good, for our devices security or for the bandwidth of a shared cafe wifi. Turning off your computer at times when studying or working in a cafe is also useful for times you just need to reflect or ‘whitespace’ ideas over.

How To Work Remotely: Working From An Outdoor Setting (Beach, Park..)

Working from an outdoor setting means working from a place like a beach or a park.

It can be quite liberating to change up your working style and to work from somewhere outside, providing it isn’t raining!

You take your mind away from the usual 4 walls and you can be inspired by the moving stimulus around you. It’s great for work that involves idea creation or problem-solving, which will become a common skill set needed in most jobs of the future.

Many of us have laptops, and more of us are being able to work remotely each day. Whilst many have been stuck with the option of working from an office/workplace or working from home, as the world slowly opens up more we will see more people want to work beyond limiting 4 walls.

The option to work outside has been a caveat of many aspiring digital nomads over the years. I remember when I first set off to travel abroad over 10 years ago it felt very liberating to be by a pool and craft a design logo or whatever I was doing at that time.

Of course, not every job entails itself to be able to work outdoors, but for those that do it’s an opportunity worth taking when the chance presents itself. Like anything though, working outside by the beach or the park isn’t without its drawbacks, mainly nature (sand in a laptop is not a fun thing, wind in your face and papers flying around, a splash of water from a kid divebombing in a swimming pool).

It’s also not ideal to do all the time, as we find having a flexible work environment where you can work in a variety of different settings can be a good hybrid option if you can manage the change of environment well.

It can also make you unfocused as the setting can be a distraction in itself, and it can give you the impression of comfort (which can stifle productivity) when all you see each day is beautiful vista and swimming pools.

It may sound like a dream setting (it’s often painted out to be), and compared to 100% working life in a cubicle then it can appear so at first, but like anything, it’s best in doses.

That said, if you are wondering how to work effectively from an outdoor environment then here’s how:

• Make sure it’s not raining. Sound silly? Well, you’d be surprised. If you think you can work is torrid weather by having an umbrella in one hand and a phone in the other, shivering whilst you type and mispell, then you clearly misunderstand the point of working outside. Likewise, if you think it’s just a holiday and is more about swimming around a pool than it is working then you may need to rethink.
• Don’t forget your battery. I’ve had one or two occasions where my battery failed on me at the worst possible time, only to lose something that didn’t auto save. It’s not so much the losing but the thought of having to do it all again. All that time lost writing it, and then rewriting it, or that idea which was well thought out and constructed and now you can’t think what it was even about.
• Consider free wifi spots. You might get good 4G or 5G on your phone (or just 3G in some places), but if you have to work on your laptop then it can pay to find a location that also have a good wifi signal nearby. Thankfully, more and more parks and public spaces do these days.
• Mix it up with exercise. I experimented. I did the equivalent of a mental gym. I went to a park, used their outside gym, and then got straight into a thinking project I had to do. Then I exercised by walking to a new location, got food, then focused on something again. I found that when coupled with exercise directly in this way my brain muscle also felt like it was getting a good workout. In hotter places make sure you drink A LOT of water too.

How To Work Remotely: Working From Abroad

I spent around 10 years abroad away from my home country (with various brief returns for direct work and to see family in between). I hadn’t intended to both live and work abroad at first but the journey and my digital nomad career path made it possible.

During that time I had to work out how to effectively work as a freelancer whilst also trying to see new places along the way. You could call it snail traveling, living in a place and working for a long time, and then slowly moving on to the next place to reside.

The clear advantage of working abroad is how you can find a really good work-life balance where you take in lots of different culture and stimulus as you travel around and see and experience new things.

That said, it’s not necessarily an easy adaption if you are used to working in your home environment all the time. It takes a while until you find you can focus without the constant distraction and temptation of wanting to explore this new world around you.

It also depends on the nature of your work. If you are a doctor then it’s unlikely you can work and travel like this. If you are an entrepreneur then there’s opportunity everywhere you look, you just need the courage to go out and find it.

If you are working for an employer but you have the freedom to live and work from anywhere, if the job says work remotely, then you may be worried about how you can go abroad and still be able to make a living as you roam around, or how you can make it as an expat in a new country.

Well learning how to work abroad is really a whole book in itself (I will hopefully find time to write it one day) but for now I can give you a few starter points:

• Buy a sim card. The last thing you need is to be in another country and feel stranded without any connectivity. That might actually be fine is your goal is to immerse yourself in local culture, but if you are seeking to work from abroad and have clients either in your home country or elsewhere, then you need to ensure you have a few things set up. Get a sim card for your phone at the airport straight away. Make sure you have a battery charger for your phone or laptop that fits that country. They might sound like simmple things but they are essential.
• Learn a few choice words. Now you might not know a whole different language during your time there, but if the country does speak a foreign language to yours then it really pays to learn a few of the basics. When your phone dies and you are lost having the ability to smile and say please and thank you goes a long way.
• Remember the culture differences. No to the actual work. Just because you know how work is normally done at home it doesn’t mean the same process is done there. It might be that shops close much earlier, or internet is unreliable, or transport is just strange to you, but they might also conduct business differently. It’s worth learning about the culture before you plan on trying to get work done as normal there.
• Figure out the climate. Another extension of that is to work out what other equipment you might need. Do you need a cooling fan for your laptop? If it’s really hot and sticky then don’t expect your latop to be able to cope with this environment.
• Find a buddy, mentor or co-working group. This one can’t be understated enough. If you want to really knuckle down and work then you need to find others who need to do the same, and people you can relate with and be motivated by. When abraod the feeling of loneliness can come around more often so finding others to connect with can help you make your experience less uncomfortable, and when you know you need to work from abroad then it’s not just about finding travel buddies by co-working buddies.
• Bring out the entrepreneur in you. If you are fortunate enough to be experiencing another country (there’s many who never get the opportunity) then you are in a stimulus palace. There’s a reason traveling is so tiring at first. Your mind is overloaded with so many new patterns, your brain wants to make sense of it. The longer you travel or live abroad though the easier it becomes to spot new patterns amongst those patterns. New surroundings give you a chance to connect something in one area and match it with another experience, and before you know it you have a new invention that could really help people. Even if you don’t want to be an entrepreneur you can benefit from a traveling mind. You won’t go back home with the same biased outlook, that much I can definitely say is true. Keep exploring as you don’t know when that opportunity to will come around again.

(There are so many more tips I could give from my experience but, like I said, it would be a book in itself. Let me know if you would be interested in that eBook by contacting me. I do try to create content that people want, but which also challenges convention and/or promotes a rethink or future think).

How To Work Remotely: Working From Bed

This last option isn’t really a new setting, as it’s essentially working from home (unless you are working in a bed from a hotel). The reason it’s added as a separate remote working option is because it’s becoming increasingly an option.

I know I’ve done it before, and know of others who have too. It’s certainly not the most productive option, it’s clearly the lazy option, but sometimes it can be a viable option.

During the pandemic many people had the typical ‘Zoom look’, top half dressed bottom half ready for bed. When there was no real need (or chance) to go anywhere then we tend to fall back into energy-saving mode, and the comfortable option that presents itself is the bed (or lying on the sofa).

I have a confession to make. I’ve just written this whole guide whilst lying in bed. Now it instantly probably comes across as a whole notch-less professional, but hear me out.

I’d injured my leg and was unable to walk for a few days and was told to rest up, but if you are like me then you might be able to rest your leg but you can’t really rest your mind. In this circumstance working from bed turned out to be a useful option (just make sure you have a cooling fan under your laptop).

There may be other circumstances where you are incapacitated to move too far or find that your mind really can actually focus better when you aren’t spending energy moving around to find the ideal setting. Instead, you can just dedicate all your energy to focus on a task, such as trying to write this mammoth guide.

In terms of work needed doing for others and collaboration, well I’d strongly recommend not to work from your bed, but in times of need or in times of sole focused work, such as writing, then it can be an option (although it can also drain your energy if you lie horizontal for too long of course).

So, rather than being the traditional option, working from bed can have surprising focus benefits when you just need to research or get an individual task or project done.

So, how to work effectively from your bed?

I didn’t ever think I’d be writing a checklist for that but here goes:

• Make sure the lights are on. We have long been told to separate our bedroom and other rooms. One should be for sleeping, so when we work there too we need to trick our mind that it’s a different setting from where we sleep. One way to do this is to make sure lights are on brightly (energy-efficient lights of course).
• Switch positions. You sleep at the head of your bed. To get on with other work in bed then sit up or work from the otherside of your bed. Again, make it feel different from sleeping.
• Make sure you leave a gap between working and sleeping. I found that waking up and getting straight into work was easy enough (after I used brainteasers to direct my focus straight into it), but if you worked to close to your sleep time then you simply wouldn’t be able to sleep, so have a gap near the end of your work day and get up (if possible) and go an do something in another room or outside for a while before going to sleep.
• Have snacks at hand. While you shouldn’t think of it as a birthday treat like breakfast in bed, having a bowl of nuts or orange juice at the side of your bed can provide easy to reach refreshments and energy boosts for when you are slacking a bit.

Whilst I’m certainly no expert in working from bed I’d say that these things helped me in the (limited) times I found myself working from bed.

Back To The Office: Why We Are So Accustomed To Working In The Office

If after reading this guide you might be thinking there are many other options than working in the same old office all the time, then it’s worth remembering the benefits of the office. There’s a good reason it came to be in the first place:

• The most obvious place to start is with group accountability. When you turn up for work in an environment where others are working and they are reliant on you to actively get the job done, there’s simply no excuses or delay. We aren’t allowed to procrastinate or think about starting something just a bit later. We are held accountable by time and by the expectations of others.
• Secondly, the social aspect of having other people around us gives us a social impetus to get work done, especially as those other people are attached to the same company goal. Having others around also makes us more competitive. We work harder to have our work noticed.
• Thirdly, we can separate work and life much easier. The office is for work, home is not for working. There are many reasons not to like a 9-5 work life, but it does make things simpler when telling our brain to focus on the work at hand. We associate the location with working.
• Finally, we have fewer distractions around us. Having to suddenly deal with a neighbours washing machines going off, or your baby crying wasn’t a problem in the office, and we’ve become so pre-conditioned to accept office noise as whitenoise that helps us focus, when we hear other noise we aren’t used to our flow is easily disrupted.

There’s certainly other reasons why we are productive in office environments, but, as we have found too, there are also many good reasons to work elsewhere too where we can be equally as effective, if not more, when we aren’t heading to an office each day.

The Challenges In Working Effectively In A Different Environments?

So, that’s covered the different work settings and the pros and cons of working in each, and I can say that finding the right working condition to meet the type of work task is the best thing to do, if you have the option to.

Hybrid work is likely to be the place we go to in the future which means we need to develop adaptable skills and learn techniques such as the Quick Adaption Technique, as in the future it might be that if you aren’t adaptable to different work environments then you may lose out to someone those who is more adaptable.

In the (near) future, a world of flexible working environments could change the way our daily lives are lived. Assuming we aren’t all consigned to lockdown boxes we could see a growing world where we find ways to sustain ourselves, and instead of having to crack down on freedoms, we could find a way to embrace freedom whilst being sustainable, which means future flexible ways of living and working will have to take sustainable considerations into account. You can see more about how we might be living and working in a flexible, sustainable world here.

Assuming our working environments will lead to more remote work (with changes to the office environments we are used to), it’s worth exploring the types of challenges that changing environments can bring.

Either planned or unplanned work changes can create lots of questions to deal with such as how to ensure you keep active, focused & motivated, deal with loneliness, keep connected, meet deadlines, find a work-life balance, set up a workstation, cope with demotivation, deal with distracting noise around you, know what to do when you don’t have the right supplies or resources at hand, adjust to time zone differences, and so on.

So, let’s look at some ways of dealing with each of these concerns:

How To Work Remotely: Keep Actively Focused & Motivated

When change occurs it’s easy to be overwhelmed and lose our motivation. At first, we might be excited about change, but whether we are or not there comes a time when our motivation can deflate and we are left with uncomfortable change rather than comfortable familiarity.

The temptation can be to head back to the familiar, and whilst sometimes that might be the right move, other times you need to stick with something and the good emerges from it. If you were sick of the same four walls but found yourself reverting back to a job you hate, or a setting that isn’t bringing the best out of you, then you are not going to find it by heading back to it again just because it is familiar.

In terms of being focused then it helps to shake up our environmental setting anyway. Too much of the same thing can breed the same results. Sometimes we have to go back to the same setting without any choice, so the key for being focused there is to give ourselves something different to motivate us.

It’s like a football team that has had a bad run. The only way to truly correct it is by getting back to the training ground (a familiar setting) but this time trying something different to work out the problem.

When working remotely we have to give ourselves a reason to be focused regardless of the setting we are in, so having a goal to look at can help you keep on track. We may even long for that comfort zone, but let’s say it’s not possible to go back to. Instead, we have to create a new focus to be motivated by.

Let’s say you are stuck working at home and you don’t like it. In that case, to remain motivated you need to put up some photos around you of why you are doing it and try and spruce up your mood a bit. At least at home you can put on music you want without others telling you not to. Focus on the positives and then you’ll be able to work easier.

How To Work Remotely: Keep Connected (Deal With Loneliness)

Imagine you are working abroad and you miss your family and friends. I’ve been there, it can be tough. Yet, we are in a modern society that enables us to still be connected relatively easily.

We don’t have to feel alone just because we might be in a setting where we are working alone. We might be more extroverted and miss the crowd around the water cooler, but there’s plenty of ways to stay connected online, and there’s also plenty of other ways in the real world to meet people and take the edge off of working alone.

In the lockdown, it was imperative to keep connected online, yet even with that many people became miserable at the lack of human interaction face-to-face. It taught us valuable lessons about not being behind the screen all the time, so if your job leaves you behind the screen a lot then make doubly sure you find a way to connect with people after work through hobbies or volunteering.

How To Work Remotely: Meet Deadlines

To work remotely we have to become more organised than when we were at the office. There’s generally other people to keep you accountable in a shared workplace, but when you are working remotely you have to be the one that holds yourself accountable to deadlines.

It’s a good idea to set up deadlines visually, for the day or week ahead. Colour-coding helps people easily see what task or project it relates to, and I’d also suggest using a technique such as the 3-Things Technique to ensure you don’t overwhelm yourself with too much to do in one day, otherwise, chances are, you won’t finish any of them.

When working remotely you might not take into account the time needed to plan for deadlines. In the office, we are often reminded of many different things by specialists whose job it is to focus on those things. You don’t have a receptionist or an account leader next to you right now, so all the more reason to create a virtual one.

This can be anything from a timer timer to keep you focused on task, or having an accountable buddy online, or getting your better half to come in and tell you to get your arse in gear. Your work team is also still probably going to hassle you to get things done anyway, but then that becomes a question of how well you manage distraction and a flood of internet messages.

How To Work Remotely: Find A Work-Life Balance

Much of this question was covered through the first part of this guide to remote working. Your work-life balance becomes a question of how well disciplined you are when you work remotely, as you are now in control of your time and space.

You don’t have to work into the wee hours of the morning through feeling guilty or through having a boss who abuses your contract. Just because you aren’t at the office it doesn’t mean your free time should be clawed into. It becomes vitually important that you set boundaries and an availability schedule for when your colleagues, boss, or clients can contact you.

Like those emails that say ‘sorry I’m out the office at the moment’, you need to take advanatge of the ‘away’ icons on messengers and video chats, and even better, turn off the apps completely until an agreed time to look at it. Deal with emails and questions in one go if possible rather than broken up into immediate responses through the day. Immediate responses are only useful if you actually implement the action straight away.

Let me give you an example of a non-work-related experience I had that sticks in my mind. A few years ago I was renting an apartment with my fiance in York (a lovely place) when our estate agent representative kept on making promises over the phone to do little tasks that needed doing near the start of the contract. The was a name mistake in the contract, it needed amending. There was one key that didn’t work, it needed cutting. There was a slightly leaking kitchen tap, it needed fixing.

After a checkup on the new flat (apartment) I let the estate agent know about these little issues. A week passed, no change, I called again. Being busy myself, I didn’t push it at first. He was clearly busy too, but it became delay after delay. Two months later we finally had the issues resolved, I did the tap and key myself, but the contract amendment still took an age.

Now imagine if he had just gone and done these 3 relatively simple tasks within the first week when he said he would, then extra energy and time (on both sides) wouldn’t have been wasted. It took more energy than it ever needed to, as after I fixed the tap and cut the key, I still then had to chase the refund.

It’s one thing to say, I can’t do that right now. Fair enough, we can both at least get on with something else, but to be ‘available’ and then just say you will and then never do, then you just create a waste of time and energy.

Setting boundaries are important both ways. They let each know when something can get done and when something can’t. When working remotely it’s even more important to know this as there’s not just someone somewhere in the office who can run an errand etc.

The same goes for telling yourself to get something done. Either do it there and then, schedule it for later, or just let it go completely.

How To Work Remotely: Setup A Work Station (& Supplies)

You know what your office desk looked like, but maybe you don’t have the same tools or equipment at home, and you certainly won’t if you are working remotely in outdoor or cafe locations.

Therefore, it’s worth considering what kind of tools you will need to have on you. I don’t go anywhere without a little notebook (there’s a psychological reason why writing ideas in a paper notebook is actually better for your memory than writing them on an app). I also have my laptop and a spare battery, and a pair of noise-canceling headphones.

Often, less is more. The less you have to mentally consider the more room your mind has to think about the problem at hand.

You should also consider what it was about your previous working environment (at work) that worked well for you, and then see if any of it can also be applied to the different environment you are in.

For example, if we are talking about a work-from-home environment, is it possible to set up a desk to work on, a separate room to focus in, recordings of office sounds playing as white-noise in the background or through your headphones, set a similar schedule etc.

Replicating your best productivity output is a wise idea. Can you also get supplies easily if you need them? Do you have or need a printer at home? All of this sounds quite obvious because it is, but there are countless times we try and set up our workspace only to realise we have forgotten something. Do you have adequate space for a bit of food and drink to keep you going, for example. Do you need a noticeboard or a whiteboard to run through ideas or problems?

Think about your office space as much as you can and then try this trick. Pack away everything other than the essentials. If you don’t need that after a week or two of working at home then you probably don’t need it. Just keep it in the box or get rid. You’ll find you need a few things you didn’t think of and don’t need half of the things you thought you did.

How To Work Remotely: Deal With Distractions

Dealing with distraction was covered quite extensively beforehand so just to add to this slightly.

Whilst we know distractions can come in the form of unwanted noise around us, they can also be distractions in your own mind. Having all your devices open, TV on, music playing, and somehow thinking you can focus well at home (or wherever you are remotely) is simply just false hope.

The best thing you can invest in is 3 simple things. A good pair of noise-canceling headphones, a timer timer to keep you on track, and a couple of apps that ensure you’re not going to be easily taken in by the digital void.

I wrote an article on Adult ADHD organisation that can help anyone be less distracted and more focused in a distracting world, regardless of whether you have ADHD yourself or not.

How To Work Remotely: Adjusting To Time Zones

Adjusting to a change in time zones is a different type of change to adapt to. It’s like when you go on holiday abroad and get jetlag as a result. During this time you find it really hard to focus on anything other than just staying awake.

If you had to adapt to a new working time difference, such as having clients from another country, then you need to allow your mind a day to adjust to the changes and then play around with the most effective time in the day to both get your work done but also to liaise with clients.

It’s a bit of a balancing act at first but a good tip is to not try and change your schedule to fit into the client’s time zone, but instead to just fit into the natural light of the new place you are in. If you got up at 7am at home then do so in that new time zone.

Your clients will know that you aren’t on the same clock, so they shouldn’t expect you to suddenly work through the night. If you aren’t used to it then you won’t be very productive doing it. Your mind will likely go into slow mode.

Instead, work out when their 8am is. Then figure out how to get on with the work before they wake up and deliver it to them before you sleep (depending on your time zone), so they have it fresh in their box before they wake, but also make them aware of your contactable hours (translated for their time zone) too.

How To Work Remotely: Adjusting To Change

When a change happens it takes us a bit of time to get used to it. We can try to liken the conditions would make the change easier to adapt to, but even if you did try to replicate the environment, our brains aren’t stupid. It knows it’s not the same essentially.

We are subconsciously aware that there’s something different from what we are used to doing, and as much as we try to trick it into work mode it will need time to adjust to what is essentially a new setup.

Therefore, as much as establishing a new routine would help our brains get used to the change and to find focus again, we need to establish a pattern of change that we can accept as the new norm.

So, don’t expect a change of work environment to just fall into place immediately. There will come a point where your mind says it wants to go back to the familiar. Allow it to sense this but keep going and you will adapt fine in time.

The Future Outlook For Working Remotely

In the future, it’s highly likely that we won’t all just head back to offices, or even be confined to our homes. When our minds get used to adaptive change then we generally don’t like being put back into boxes.

Yet, the solution for each person will be different. Some might want to head back to the office as that environment just seemed the ideal to them in the end. At first, some might have liked the change from the office, but over time grown sick of it. Others will want to work remotely from now on. Some, and probably most, will fall somewhere in between.

So hopefully, this guide has shown that there’s pros and cons from all the different type of options to work remotely, but to get the best out of all of them it’s clear we need to adapt, and this leads me to believe that the hybrid working environment will become more and more likely over time, as people do learn to adapt.

Guides Disclaimer: The only way I can afford to write such long, detailed articles that do take a long time to research, write and edit is by either turning them into an ebook or by displaying affiliate links to related products and services, so some links you see on this guide may link towards commission so I can continue creating such articles for you.