As the world continues to embrace remote work as a new way of life, it's essential to navigate this evolving landscape

effectively.

Whether you're transitioning to remote work or looking for ways to optimise your current remote setup,

this blog post has got you covered.

As we embark on a huge global transition to remote working, this blog post will equip you with the knowledge and tools

necessary to adapt and thrive in this dynamic work environment.

So, whether you're asking your boss to WFH or already rocking your WFH status like a pro, we've got eight essential

strategies to empower you in your remote work.

Let's dive in!

Asking to work from home

The first step always looks the hardest. To combat this issue, it’s best to plan everything so that you are fully prepared.

Unfortunately, not all jobs are suitable for remote work, so it is important to make sure you can work from home

without any major issues arising.

However, if you’re searching for guides on how to work from home, it’s more likely that you do some kind of

office-based work.

Most office-based work is perfectly suitable for remote work, although there are some important factors to check

off your list before you run over to your boss and demand to work from home.

Factors such as:

1. Do you work on paper? E.g., financial documents (invoices, purchase orders, etc.)

2. Do you have any practical tasks that require you to be present on a day-to-day basis?

3. Do you have to talk to customers in person in your office?

4. Do you need to use any specific equipment that you or your company can’t currently afford to purchase?

Will make it very hard for you to work from home. Sometimes you may have everything you need to work from

home, but your company has rules in place to prevent you from doing so.

This could be due to not wanting to break down teams and create difficulties with communication, not to mention

staff playing games on their PC because nobody can see what they are doing.

For all these reasons and more, you may not be able to work from home, but don’t let that stop you!

How to improve my reputation so I can work remotely?

There are many steps you can take to sway your boss's opinion on working from home, so much so that they

may purchase that special equipment for you so that you can embark on your working from home experience.

How do you do this you ask?

A great tip would be to start putting in some extra hours at the office.

By showing up 30 minutes early or more, you show your commitment to your job, which can allow you to get things done

before your boss is even in.

Just imagine slapping down that report that he wanted at the end of the day first thing in the morning

before they even had a chance to sit down!

This will make it clear to them that you are not just here to scrape by.

By interacting with your boss as much as possible (without being a nuisance), you allow your boss to really familiarise

themselves with you and build a positive opinion of you.

What if I can’t reach my boss?

Some of you may work for large companies, and so your boss is on the top floor in their office suite, which is completely

out of reach for you.

This isn’t as big an issue as you’d think, your plan should now be to push that positive opinion of your work through all the

people above you, until you reach someone who can admit you to working from home.

What does this mean?

Well, what I’m saying is that you need to slap that report down early on your supervisor’s desk instead of your boss's.

This will then create a chain reaction where your supervisor will begin to express their satisfaction in your work

ethic to the head of department, and from there, it will reach someone with the ability to give you that amazing

work from home status.

Now this is completely hypothetical, so it’s not 100% likely that, in true Hollywood fashion, your boss will hear of

the prodigy that is you.

However, it’s more likely that you will influence the opinion of someone lower down the food chain, who can then

allow you to work from home.

How and when to pop the question to your boss?

If you’ve built up the courage to ask whoever’s in charge about working from home, make sure you follow these steps:

Ask in person – Asking in person is something that gives you many advantages when requesting something from someone.

Your presence makes the interaction more real, not to mention harder to decline.

It’s easy to just type “no” but it’s much harder to decline when you stand in your boss’s office, where you

can show evidence and refute any attempts to block your request to work from home.

Make sure to have a plan – It’s no good storming in there and laying down your demands, only for your boss to

just dismiss them all with an argument of his own.

By having a plan, you make it much harder for your boss to say something that you don’t have an answer for.

Now, we aren’t saying you must have a full-scale chess match conversation where you outsmart your boss, but we

are saying make sure you have an answer for any obvious claims your boss might make to deter you

from working from home.

Ask early and ask when they are free – Timing is everything when it comes to stating your demands. If you ask late

into the day, your boss may have just received some bad news, or the day may be going poorly in terms of figures.

This will ruin your bosses’ mood, and they will be much less likely to even speak to you about paying out so that you

can have your own setup at home.

To add to this, if your boss is constantly on the phone or staff are running in their office making requests,

don’t add to the problem!

Not only will you be interrupted every five minutes, but you will also just be seen as another nuisance on your

boss’s busy day.

Be smart! Wait for a quiet day so you can fully discuss the possibility.

Celebrate your success!

Hopefully your boss said yes after you made it almost impossible for him to say no; if so, then celebrate before you

start the next step of your plan.

If, by any chance, your boss said no, make sure to take on their criticism and try again. Once you’ve proved that

the statements, they first made are no longer true, they will have no choice but to give you your freedom.

Now you’ve secured your Work from home medal, we can move onto ways of making your experience as

perfect as can be.

Create a workspace

When it comes to getting the most out of working from home, your workspace is everything.

It is the hub for all your work-related endeavours, and so it must be able to inspire both your productivity

and your Instagram follower’s envy.

Because you’re at home, it’s important to create a space whose sole purpose is work.

Most of us just decide to put our desks in our bedrooms or just work at the dining table, but this is very

poorly optimised for many reasons.

Our bedrooms are for sleeping, watching TV, or even playing games, so adding work to that mix just doesn’t work.

You’ll find yourself working with your TV above your head, tempting you with that show that you love, or you’ll be

wishing you could just have a nap because your bed is so close.

This is a very poor environment to be in if your goal is to be focused and work hard.

This is why it is so important to have a space that is solely work related.

Now that you have a rough idea of the good and bad places for your workspace to be situated, we can move on to

filling that space with some useful objects.

Should I ask my boss to fund my setup?

Now, for this to go smoothly, you should review your options.

If you got your working from home status by the skin of your teeth, then I wouldn’t recommend you ask your

boss for some equipment.

On the other hand, if your boss is happy to let you work remotely, then I recommend you ask him for some equipment.

Due to the rise in popularity of jobs that work on a remote basis, many companies are now offering entirely

remote jobs where they include equipment to help build your workspace.

This is amazing, and if you’re lucky enough to work for a company that offers this to you, then take it!

Now there are downsides to this; those of you who aren’t used to being given gifts are probably screaming at me, but

in my opinion, there are a few negatives to your boss giving you equipment.

For starters, you most likely will not have any choice in the equipment you receive, so for those die-hard

Microsoft fans, get ready to receive your first MacBook.

Not to mention that they may give you a very low power laptop or PC, which can cause many issues such as long

loading times or crashing of applications.

This all eats into the amount of time you spend working and will affect your performance.

But if you’re not loyal to any operating system and don’t mind a bit of load time while you work, this is perfect

because of how much you save.

This massive savings allows you to purchase some great extras for your workspace.

Do I need extra monitors, laptops and massage chairs?

The answer to these questions varies from person to person.

I would say the more the merrier, but once I review my bank account, I’m not so sure.

For most, a laptop or a PC with one monitor should be more than enough to carry out most normal tasks, but if you’re

planning on carrying out multiple tasks at once or are just interested in increasing your efficiency at work, I

recommend investing in a second monitor or an entire PC if need be.

Laptops are great in terms of portability and being able to lay in bed and work at the same time. However, they

really lack the ability to multitask.

Every time you want to check a sentence on another tab or move data from one spreadsheet to another, you must

change tabs in applications.

This gets very annoying after a while, and if you know that your job is constantly switching through different

applications, then I recommend either a large laptop or a PC with two monitors.

Spend budget on equipment that matters

A workspace isn’t just defined by a big, fancy monitor and a huge, powerful PC.

Other equipment, such as your chair and mouse pad, all play a part in how comfortable your workday is.

Most of us only think of the technology we are going to be working on, and because of this, other aspects of what

makes a good workspace are lost.

Nobody wants to be sitting on a chair at the kitchen table doing their work, your lower back will begin wishing

you’d have just bought the cheaper laptop and spent more money on a comfy chair.

Comfort is a huge factor that you must keep in mind when creating your workspace, as without it, your strong,

hard-working attitude can dissolve into “I’ll just go on my phone for a bit”.

Before you know it, you’ve been scrolling through social media for an hour, and your boss is on the phone

asking if you’re ready to do that presentation a bit earlier than expected.

From my experience, I’ve always wished I had a larger monitor. From a writing and marketing perspective, a larger

monitor is always appreciated over a faster PC because it allows you to create on a larger canvas with more

colour depth.

This allows you to spot any mistakes you may have made as well as have a larger screen to appreciate while working.

Desk

Another piece of equipment that should be carefully chosen is your desk.

You may be quite expressive when you talk, so I would recommend a standing desk over a boring sit-down one.

If you are willing to spend a little extra cash, you can get yourself a desk that is height adjustable.

These are amazing as they allow you to choose when you want to stand and when you want to relax.

To add to this, you can even get a treadmill to accompany the desk, which allows you to walk and work at the same time.

Apart from the fear of falling over or breathing heavily down the mic while on call with someone, desk

treadmills are a great addition to your workspace as you are constantly doing a form of easy cardio

throughout the workday.

Not only is this good for keeping fit, but you are also releasing endorphins from exercising, which will help you feel.

happy at work.

This boost in your mood is yet another way you can improve your efficiency, as you are less likely to feel stressed while

exercising.

Should I neglect my PC?

We aren’t saying you should have a potato PC and the most comfortable workspace you can afford, just don’t spend

your entire budget on a computer and then wonder why you hate working from home because you get back pain.

For some people, a comfy chair and a nice mousepad might be all they need to feel comfortable.

What I mean by this is that even if you buy a slightly cheaper setup, you don’t need much to make a comfortable setup.

Obviously, as time progresses, you can add to your remote workspace, but first impressions are always crucial as they will

define your opinion of working from home.

Create a routine

When it comes to working in an environment on your own, it’s so easy to just give up or get distracted.

Whether it's your TV at home or your phone, anything can distract you while you’re at home.

If you have no structure to your day, then you’re more likely to get bored and step away from your desk or begin doing

something else that isn’t contributing to your work.

It is for reasons like this that it’s so important that you create a routine and stick to it at all costs!

There are many easy ways to create a routine, and I truly recommend that if you ever plan on working from

home, you create one.

Block your time

Whenever you hear anyone talk about being successful, they almost always talk about blocking their time.

The thought process behind this is quite simple in that if you constrain your work into a timeframe with a

deadline, you are more likely to finish it within that time.

To add to this, it also allows you to work on multiple tasks in one day rather than working on the same one until it’s done.

It’s well known that the longer we spend on the same task, the lower our efficiency becomes.

After around 3-4 hours, we are so bored that we begin losing interest, and this is where you will walk off to have

a break and never come back to your desk.

On the other hand, if you were to block your time, at the end of your block, you are still working at what is potentially 90%

efficiency. This is opposed to working for 3-4 hours, and by the time you’ve finished your task, you’re working

at around 40% efficiency or less!

The smart approach is clearly blocking your time because you can save so much time by using it.

By just moving on to something else, you allow yourself to do something fresh, meaning you are much less likely

to become bored and slow down.

The only thing that I believe this approach doesn’t apply to is creative work.

For some, creativity is a state of mind that cannot be forced, this means that a person cannot simply switch on

their creativity and then paint a beautiful painting.

This applies to other forms of creativity, such as writing, as well.

A writer may sit and think for anywhere from 30 minutes to hours!

This makes the blocking of time useless, as some writers would only actually begin writing when they had 30 or

fewer minutes left.

Take mini breaks

Whenever you start to feel like you’re getting a bit bored, I suggest you take a small break—nothing large, just around 5-10

minutes.

If you imagine yourself at work, you will have these mini breaks throughout the day anyway, getting water and chatting to

colleagues, making coffee, or walking over to your boss or a colleague to speak to them about something work related.

If you had these small breaks at work, then why stop now?

Small breaks are a great way to get a breath of fresh air, stretch your legs, and refocus so you can begin working without

distraction.

These can be anything from going to get a drink/snack to going outside to get some sun.

Focus on results, not hours spent working

I know I just told you to block your time, but unfortunately, your boss doesn’t care about the number of hours you

spend on your work, they care about results!

This doesn’t mean you should scrap your time blocks and continue working without a plan.

Simply by adding goals to each time block, we make your routine so much better suited to your boss’s ideals.

This then supplements your time block, so you’re not only constricting your time, but also adding a goal that you

need to reach at the end.

This is such a massively efficient way to work if you know your limits, and it will ensure that you smash any expectations

that either you or your boss have placed on the amount of time it should take you to complete a task.

Stick to your routine!

To make your routine an actual routine and cement the process of your day into your head so it becomes second

nature, you need to stick to your routine!

For how long, you ask? Well, most people say that, on average, it takes around 66 days to fully cement a routine.

Obviously, this is generalised; it could take you a week to get really into your routine, but the idea behind it still

stands, if you want to create a routine, then you need to stick to it for a considerable amount of time.

At this stage, it is so important that you remember your routine and follow it religiously, if you fail to do this for even

one day, for some people, you may not remember it until a week later!

This can destroy your routine, so to combat this, all you must do is set a reminder.

You can do this by adding it to your calendar, adding it to your notes, setting reminders, or even putting post it

notes in your bathroom.

Eventually, you can take these training wheels off and become a fully-fledged routine veteran!

What to do when I’m busier than I can handle?

Sometimes you may find that the week or month ahead is going to be very busy, and your normal routine just isn’t

going to cut it.

Now this is where you would normally drop everything and just slave away for hours on end, frantically moving from

task to task, completely unsure if what you are doing is correct, let alone spell checked.

This obviously results in poor pieces of work that you then have to re-do, causing your workday to become even

more hectic.

This is where your plan can steal the show.

By creating a list of your tasks in order of importance, you can remove any unimportant tasks, this alone frees up

lots of time and will help calm your nerves for the future.

Once this has been completed, you can just allocate blocks of time to each task depending on its importance and

work through them until they are done.

This process is much more organised and stress-free than the alternative of running around panicking.

This is a perfect example of what working from home is all about.

There is no boss there to motivate you to get on with your work, you must take control, organise yourself, and

stay disciplined.

It’s important to work hard and stick to your routine, but there are always going to be exceptions or unforeseen

events that may influence your routine.

Keep your routine flexible

We all have off days, you can’t expect to be 100% efficient all the time, and this is where flexibility comes into play.

Keeping your day flexible is something that you should always attempt to achieve.

I personally believe that you should be able to completely restructure your plan for the day at a moment’s notice.

Unfortunately, our perfectly planned days don’t always go as smoothly as we wish.

Our bosses call us and ask us to complete tasks that we were not expecting, and events such as this need to

be accommodated for.

Flexibility is something that employers are always searching for, so it’s a great skill to practise by changing

our routine slightly to allow for that hour-long meeting or to write that small report.

Your boss will appreciate you being able to fit these events into your schedule and execute the completion of

the task so quickly without a long wait time.

They may even praise you if they know that you’re busy and still manage to get it done. Even if you have to remove

time from certain blocks and allocate it to a new one or remove tasks entirely for another day, your

flexibility will be appreciated.

Self-care

Self-care is an important part of working from home, just because you’re working in your bedroom doesn’t mean

you have to sit in your pyjamas all day.

We seem to forget how to look after ourselves after staying at home for more than a few days, so it’s important

to prioritise self-care!

Exercise

Healthy body, healthy mind—exercise is integral to taking care of ourselves as it allows us to keep fit and

releases endorphins.

As you now know, endorphins give us a long-lasting feeling of happiness and achievement, which is hard to come by

when you’re sitting at home all day.

We aren’t telling you to go crazy and attempt to look like Arnold, even 30 minutes of walking a day can be

beneficial to your body and mind.

Exercise can also help us maintain any muscles that we currently have, which we would normally lose from

sitting at home.

If, like most of us, you find running on a treadmill to be quite boring, then find some more fun ways of

getting outside and getting your cardiovascular system to work!

If you enjoy any, then perfect. Either practise from home or maybe even set up mini games with your friends so

you can all keep fit.

If you’re not a fan of sports but have a pet, then take them out for a walk (maybe not your pet fish). You could even

go for a walk with a friend and get a coffee.

The possibilities for exercise are endless, and for most, there is no equipment needed, as well as no age or

fitness requirements to perform these exercises.

Drink your water!

This might seem obvious to most, but I know a lot of people who forget to eat or drink until later in the day.

Obviously, this causes many negative events to occur, such as brain fog, fatigue, and, most notably, headaches.

These components can single-handedly ruin your workday by ruining your appetite for work, which has a knock-on

effect on the rest of your week.

You may find yourself snapping at your boss or stumbling over your words while on the phone with a customer.

This can easily be fixed by having a coaster on your desk where you will get a drink, which you will find yourself

sipping without even thinking about it.

When it comes to food, I also know many people who skip breakfast or only have a chocolate bar for lunch.

This is yet another poor habit that will affect your performance while working.

Lack of food, as we all know, causes us to have less energy and makes us “hangry”.

This is again easily solved by simply incorporating breakfast and maybe even lunch into your day.

Go outside

The great outdoors is something that most of us take for granted. Many of us go outside to get somewhere and

are happy to spend as little time outside as possible.

When we start working from home, in most cases, we have nowhere to travel very often.

Lack of exposure to the outdoors can have some very negative effects on the body and mind, so it’s important

that we try to go outside whenever we can.

I’m sure many of us have heard of cabin fever, but this is only a mild symptom of not going outside.

Most of us get irritable or feel confined when we have been at home for days on end, and much like the lack of

food and water, this will show if you have to interact with anyone.

You may just seem grouchy to most after a few weeks, but if you really neglect getting some fresh air for a long

time, many people have found a correlation between the lack of the outdoors and issues such as anxiety

or even depression.

Now, I’m not saying you have to go outside and do snow angels in the sun, but even if you spend 20 minutes

in the morning standing outside in your garden, that’s enough to keep you in tune with nature.

Communicate with colleges

Communicating with your colleagues is so important when working from home for various reasons.

Your colleagues help give you the inside scoop on the daily events in the office.

This helps to keep you in the loop with any changes that your company makes so that you can alter the way you

work before making any mistakes.

This makes you less of a liability, as your boss no longer must make sure that you are aware of any changes.

This is just one of the many positives of keeping in touch with your colleges.

Try not to become irrelevant in the work group

When you start working from home, it is easy to just cut off all contact with your colleagues and only email them to

help you with work.

This is a great way to make them resent you or completely forget that you exist.

If all you are to them is an email every few weeks, then you will quickly see yourself become irrelevant in the

company circle.

Because you are no longer a regular face at the office, some employees may begin to act as if you no longer work

at the company.

The easy solution to this is to show up to work occasionally, either for meetings or just to do a normal workday.

Make sure to attend any events that your company or colleagues showcase, such as company BBQ’s and parties.

However, this isn’t easy for some of us, as for some, the reason that we had to begin working from home in the first

place was due to our inability to get to work with ease or other responsibilities.

For example, some of us remote workers began working from home due to us moving away, or maybe we had

children and had to look after them, which means that we can no longer spend 10 hours in an office.

Now, I’m not asking you to get the next flight from Sydney to the UK just so you can show your face at work or bring

the kids to the office to join in on a meeting in the boardroom.

What I am saying is that you should show your face to your colleagues whenever possible.

This can be done simply by turning your webcam on during remote meetings or calling colleges rather than sending

an email so you can talk on video.

By doing this, you make it clear that you are still around and don’t just lay on your sofa in your pyjamas watching

Netflix with your laptop on your lap (even if you do).

Use fewer formal applications to communicate

When working remotely, it’s best to use fewer formal apps such as Teams or Skype to communicate with colleges.

This allows you to have a more normal conversation, which may include small talk or banter, which is great when

you’re sitting at home for hours on end.

Both Teams and Skype allow you to call your colleagues face to face, which allows you to show them your new set of work

pyjamas.

All of this contributes to your still feeling in sync with the company and any goings-ons that may be occurring.

Not to mention that you’ll get to catch up with friends and remove any gloomy cabin fever feelings that you

may be feeling.

Go out at lunch

Going out for lunch is a great way to get some fresh air and potentially check some tasks off the list for the day.

Now, I’m not saying you should go to a fancy restaurant and get a 3-course meal every day.

What I am saying is that going outside and walking down to the supermarket to buy some lunch is a great way to

cool off after the day you’ve had so far.

To take this one step further, going out to lunch with co-workers helps to make going outside much more social, which

could be perfect for you if you haven’t sent any emails or called anyone on that day.

This again helps to supplement your reputation as an employee of the company, as you’re showing up to meet staff from

many different departments.

Final thoughts

To sum up, working from home is great, provided you know how to follow these steps daily.

Some of us choose to work from home for comfort, some because we are moving away, but even so, it’s amazing that

we can now work from the comfort of our homes and still stay in touch with colleges no matter the distance.

If performed correctly, I believe that you can become more efficient by working from home because you control your

environment, meaning that you can remove all distractions so that you can have full focus and control over your work.

Once you’ve gotten the hang of remote work, you can even travel and work simultaneously!

This is great for those who love adventure and aren’t interested in being confined to the dull, dreary walls of an

office cubicle.

So, get out there and enjoy the perks of being a certified remote worker, you won’t regret it.