What I Mastered About Remote Working

What I Mastered About Remote WorkingWhat I Mastered About Remote WorkingIts been almost a year since I started working for remotely from Dublin. And Im excited to share that weve joined the Global Work Remote Dayand our whole kollektiv will be working remotely on August 4th Today, we have a number of remote employees in Dublin, London, and Barcelona, while the HQ and the majority of the colleagues are in hauptstadt von bulgarien, Bulgaria. I have experienced both the challenges and benefits of working as the only remote team member from Dublin. It allows me to get into the flow state quicker and stay focused for longer. I have also put a lot of conscious effort to master remote working and to deal with the risks of Feeling isolated Getting demotivated disengaged to deliver Disconnecting with people and companys problems In the past year, Ive tried various approaches. Today Im at that point when I can say I nailed it I mastered it How do I know I succeeded? The short answer is Im h appy and productive, most of the time. To master remote working, I focus on 3 main things Creating following a routine Mindfulness (Re-)connecting with the teamCreating and following a routineIts easy to just go with the flow and depend on the energy of the rest of the team when everyone is in the same room. Its hard to rely only on your energy and motivation every single day when you work remotely. Before I started at I dedicated some time to think what will give me energy and help me tune into my own rhythm. I created a daily balanced routine allowing me to deliver daily. Im still following it almost a year later. This is what most of my days look like7 am wake up, fill in my Five Minute Journal, shower, do exercises, make breakfast and (sometimes) lunch for work 8.30 am walk to Cluster, my co-working space, and grab a herbal tea on the way (that used to be a single espresso shot in Kaph, but I gave up on coffee a week ago, as it was making me too anxious) 9 am in the office and ready to kick off around 12.30 pm lunch I always have a 30- or 60-minute slot for that in the calendar even if Im having a lunch on my own. The team in Bulgaria is two hours ahead of me, so when its lunch time for me in Dublin, they have just had their food and want to call me. If I dont have the slot blocked, its very likely Id skip lunch and the break and thats notlage sustainable when you want to deliver daily. at a random point of the day dedicate 15min technology free, to relax my mind6 pm usually done by then. I make sure I finish by then, so I can enjoy the evening, rest well, and come back fresh in the morning.11 pm go to bed, (hopefully) read a bit, fill in my Five Minute JournalThis table in my personal notebook works as my daily checklist. It allows me to stay accountable to myself if I stick to the things that are important for me as a routine. If Im not, then I can dig deeper and decide if I should drop this activity or approach it in a new way. Its not about a 9-to-6 mentality. Respecting my time outside of work and enjoying it with people who I care about is what allows me to get into flow state in seconds, and be in it for hours every day. Interruptions? No one interrupts me in Cluster, the coworking space I work from. Everyone is disciplined and focused on their own work (okay except for one guy who watches Netflix) I love that everyone is friendly and ready to help out if you want to talk or need advice. MindfulnessMindfulness has helped me approach and successfully deal with anxieties and frustrations. Remote workers are more likely to burn out. Its easy to leave the office when everyone else leaves. But its hard when you are the only person and theres so much more to do and you want to get this one more thing done. Its important to know when your working day is over. What helps me stay productive and deliver daily without burning out My routine I know when its time to leave My productivity planner I focus on the top 3-5 things th at absolutely need to happen today. These are things that are urgent and important and would have a direct impact on the companys bottom line. I make sure I actually have the time for those things by blocking slots in my calendar not just for meetings, but also for executing work. That makes my daily planning more realistic. No distractions during meetings I focus on the hangout where the call is taking place. I dont open any additional tabs and I put my phone away from me. I noticed that when Im in a meeting and trying to get a better use of the time by doing something while in the meeting has the opposite effect. It results in anxieties and frustration. For a while Ive been strict about it not getting distracted in meetings allows me to get the most of the meeting and feel better. (almost) Daily sync with a founder when I am physically far from everyone else, its important for me to feel close and to be heard. The founders Georgi, Dimitar, and Volen, take this very seriously an d on most days I talk to at least one of them on a work-related or a personal topic. This goes both ways and we feel close to each other. We work as one.View from my desk ??Remote workers are more likely to get frustrated. Its easy and natural to feel supported by colleagues when they are physically around you and can notice a change in your mood or energy. They can come to you and talk to you. Thats why its important to know how to deal with frustration on your own. Heres how I do itMy Five Minute Journal filling it in is the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing I do before I go to bed. I keep the journal and a pen right next to my bed. A walk in the neighborhood moving helps me relax and clear my mind. Sometimes I go to a coffee shop for a tea (now that I dont drink coffee..), to a museum or a park. Finding something inspirational takes the stress away and freshens up my mind. A power nap when I feel tired or overwhelmed and a walk wont help, I restart my mind by taking a 20-minute power nap. Luckily, theres a tiny, yet cosy couch in the room of the startup Restored Hearing and Rhona, Eimear, and Chrissy dont mind me sneaking in for a bit. Talk to someone immediately there are two people in Cluster who are my close friends, amazing professionals, and I love talking to them about anything Clusters owner Goodwin, and Louis (creator of the Everyone Hates Marketers podcast Hotjars content strategist). I have laughed with them, cried with them, shared insights with them. It makes all the difference in the world to have someone physically next to you. A blank piece of paper + a pen when Im dealing with a complex problem or challenge, having access to all of the resources in the world doesnt help. In moments like that, I switch off my laptop and put my phone away. Instead, I take a blank piece of paper and a pen. That pushes me to simplify the problem, structure it, and solve it piece by piece. Once I have this high-level plan, I can easily div e deeper and outline the details.(Re-)connecting with the teamAt we have a number of tools and mechanisms that allow each team member to stay up to date, feel connected, engage and bond with the others. Using Slack, G Drive, Intercom, Trello, etc solves some aspects of it. What truly makes an impact for me are The one-on-one meetings I have with various people in the company Face-to-face time I go every 2 months to Bulgaria and spend 1-3 weeks with the team in the HQ. Some of those trips are for our annual retreat or power weekEnhancers visit Dublin Tanya, our blog editor media relations, was the first team member who came to Dublin for a week. Getting to know her and having her as a guest at home was very different from the way we had engaged with each other in the office in Sofia or during a Power Week. Georgi, co-founder CEO, is in Dublin at the moment. He came over for 3 weeks so we can kick off the hiring of Head of Marketing, Digital Marketer, and Customer Success roles f or the office here. (The timing was perfect so he can join my housewarming party)Being remote with other Enhancers Volen, co-founder COO, and I spent a whole month working remotely from Lisbon. Related articlesHow Hotjar built a 100% distributed companyStop with team building events, try a retreat insteadWhy we joined Bynders Global Work Remote DayBuilding relationships on trustAnd I build trust on open communication and transparency by being specific and giving the context. I add everything in my calendar and my colleagues can see what I do before, during, and after work. So if Im offline when they need me, they would know if Im at a work meeting, an appointment with a doctor, focusing on a job spec offline, having a coffee with a friend, or attending an event. In this way, they also know how quickly Id reply and if they need to call me to reach me immediately.How do you work remotely?I would love to hear your thoughts on remote working. Feel free to post them as comments or emai l me directly at vessy.com. Im based in Dublin, so shout out if you are around for a coffee.