You’ve been hearing about this remote working craze going around. It comes with different flavors like work from home, nomading, work from coffee shops, etc. But it sounds too good to be true! So, what’s the catch? What’s the challenge of working remotely?
Some say the catch is losing the socializing part of working from an office. I’ll tell you if you rely on your office to be sociable, then something is wrong in the first place. Others say it’s the distractions found in our homes. But those haven’t tested an open space office for sure. Or maybe it’s the feeling of being in an office. Sorry, but no one is missing the commute.
There are too many misconceptions out there, but I’ll tell you what’s the real catch. The biggest challenge of working remotely is the lack of structure. Let me explain!
When you work from an office, most of the decisions are taken for you. You need to work from 9 to 5, take a lunch break, socialize after work, etc. You feel that your life is “figured out”.
This frees the mind from making so many decisions, but it’s also very limiting. It’s an imposed structure centered around work and pushing everything else to fill the remaining chunks of time.
When working remotely however, you should take all these decisions. Your working time, social time, free time, etc. It’s nowhere near autopilot for sure, but you have the opportunity to design your own structure.
Having a doctor’s appointment in the middle of the day? No worries, you can shift things around. Need to pick up the kids sooner? Same, adjust your structure a bit. A last-minute personal errand? No worries, you can do it. Now good luck adapting your structure in an office environment.
The lack of structure is disorienting, and this is the biggest shift you’ll experience when switching from an office job to a remote position. It’s not going to be easy for sure! But the sooner you figure out your structure, the quicker you’ll enjoy remote working!
But “making all the decisions†and “structure” sounds a little overwhelming, isn’t it? How can I plan everything? What should I plan in the first place? What methods can I use? What does a structure look like?
It’s hard to fit these in one post, so we’ll take it slowly. Join the newsletter, and keep an eye on this blog, as we’ll be sharing all you need in the upcoming weeks.