What got you here won't get you there

I have been working remotely since early 2020. It has been a roller-coaster ride, with ups and down, but the most important lesson has been that flexibility doesn't always mean freedom.

In my case, I understood pretty early on that working from anywhere, anytime is a double edge sword. For example, a 9-5 job usually means working 9-5, but we lose this divide when working from home.

There was a point I actually started missing my old routine of working 9-5! That was just a fluke, by the way. I don't miss that routine at all.

But the truth is that remote work if done incorrectly can cause you to burn out faster than a firecracker.

While working from home, there were days when I worked 12 hours a day. Sometimes this was because I had a lot on my plate, whereas other times, I was overworking because nothing was urging me to get up and leave.

If you have recently joined a small company that gives you flexible timings, it can be hard to adjust to the freedom and flexibility.

Here are three things that helped me improve my work-life balance as a remote developer

Have a fixed time for work

Yes, I know, you must be saying how flexible work is different if you are going to work at fixed times anyways.

But I want to let you in on a secret. When you are the one setting your time, it is going to be different. Remote and flexible should not mean all day, every day.

It should mean when you feel most productive during the day (or night). This will obviously depend on the kind of work you do, but with remote work, you do get the option to set your time blocks for work.

Set up a time frame in your day where you just work on whatever tasks you've got pending. Make it at least 3 hours long because otherwise, it might become difficult for you to get deep work in.

Pro Tip: I used to use Clockwise to manage my time blocks throughout the day. You can easily set breaks and work hours in it, and it will divide those into sections.

Have a dedicated place for work

Remote work means working from anywhere, anytime. Does it, though?

Working from random places gets old pretty fast because if you want to be at your most productive, you need to set up a place where you can work peacefully.

Having a dedicated space or office is critical for long-term success as a remote worker. If you have a place to work, you know you have to sit there on time and do something related to your job.

It does not have to be completely isolated just good enough that you can continue your work comfortably without distractions. It can be any place as long as it's a good environment for you to work in.

You don't need a dedicated office space to make this work. Even if you have a small place, just set up a corner in your house, it can even be your bedroom.

I have worked both from a bedroom and a dedicated office space in my house. However, if you are going to continue remote work indefinitely, I would recommend investing in a good setup. A sturdy table and a comfortable chair are a good start.

Pro tip: Get good noise-isolating headphones, and you won't be easily distracted by sounds in your surroundings.

Create positive constraints

Yes, positive constraints!

What do I mean by positive constraints? Structure your days.

Constrain yourself within those limits that eventually take you towards your goals.

For example, if you've got a task to do but you are feeling unproductive and unmotivated, what do you do?

You decide to purposefully make yourself work on it for an amount of time daily and don't get distracted by other stuff in the meantime.

You've constrained yourself to not do something but as a result, you've achieved something that'll improve your value.

Pro Tip: Doing a few hours of deep work is far better than distracted work. Aim to get 2-3 hours of deep work daily.

Communication is different

I specifically did not say difficult because many people attribute remote work as hindering good communication.

That's not the case. While working remotely, you just need to adapt to a different communication wavelength. In a team, especially if you are all working remotely, you need to redefine how you communicate with your team.

When you work close to your team members, the communication looks different.

In a remote setting, you don't have the luxury of going off the radar for a long time and appearing for updates only.

Especially when you are working asynchronously, good communication becomes essential.

You need to give daily progress reports whereas, in an office job, that's usually not the case.

Pro Tip: Learn the tools of your trade, whether you are using Slack, Discord, or Teams for your communications. Learn to use them effectively and communicate with clarity.

Last word

Remote work has perks and privileges; however, it comes with its own learning and lifestyle adjustment curve.

I hope you learned something from these points and will try to implement them in your life. If you have got any advice of your own, share them with me in the comments. 😊

You need to stick to a routine; flexibility doesn't automatically give you extra time rather it gives you the option to work when you function best.