How do you decide priorities?
Interview with Tyler, a director of customer success models how to start a remote work career
I report to our CEO, and we collaborate on what's important to move forward on each week. Many tasks that I touch on have a direct revenue impact, so it is fairly easy to measure and prioritize the things that move the needle for us
From networking to land a remote work gig, to building out an exceptional remote work tool stack, Tyler has quickly figured out how to thrive in remote work. See his tips for starting strong.
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Interview with Michelle, an organizer of digital nomad experiences
I always have the bigger picture in mind. Everything I do has to benefit our long term goals, and my daily to-dos are part of that.
A solo backpacking trip led to Michelle organizing co-travel experiences for digital nomads—hear how she manages working while traveling.
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Interview with Pilar, director of Virtual Not Distant
I prioritize a lot of the time depending on when things are due, and also on whatever I fancy doing the most.
Hear about Pilar's flexible approach to managing Virtual Not Distant and the career-changing advice she received from a friend.
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Interview with Paul, a remote product designer who has found his zen
This depends on my objectives and project deadlines.
The COVID-19 pandemic drove Paul to embrace remote work. See how he has adapted his routine to this new normal, and the one tool that keeps him organized.
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Interview with Nico, marketer and advocate for remote worker mental health
I typically like to tackle "smaller" projects first. If I look at Trello and see there are a few "low hanging fruit" tasks I can knock out within an hour or two, I'll do that first before jumping into a "larger" project that might consume the rest of the day.
"I've felt burnout HARD in the past. When it hits, it HITS, and it can be tough to recover." In this interview, Nico shares his strategies for balancing work and life and reveals the key to avoiding burnout.
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Interview with Tara, a remote director of research and administration
The calendar often decides priorities for me. Each search has a pattern of tasks that need to be completed in order, and we allocate a certain block of time for each.
Those tasks always take priority. When I have downtime, I flip over to my list of ongoing background work, things like social media posts and administrative work.
A move to be closer to a spouse's job led Tara to remote work—see her tips for staying productive and organized as a full-time remote director.
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Interview with Deborah, a remote entrepreneur changing perceptions about remote work
Generally, if there's something I'm putting off or I have an uncomfortable feeling about something in the pit of my stomach, then that's the thing I'll tackle first.
It's never as bad as you expect it's going to be. Otherwise, it really depends on my deadlines and sometimes what I'm in the mood to do. Some days I feel really creative and can spend hours focused on a single task. Other days my attention span can be really short, so I'll do all my organising, emails, and other quick tasks that are still productive.
Deborah has traveled the world sharing her research about the pros of remote work. See how she is helping companies and clients understand the importance of location independence.
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Interview with Emma, a freelance marketing consultant
With the help of my to-do list! Usually, it’s a case of what’s the most urgent piece of work, or alternatively what’s going to have the most impact.
This has to come from being 100% aligned with the client too in terms of their objectives.
I make sure I set up weekly calls with each client from the start of engagement so that these objectives are monitored and the client is also happy that everything is on track.
Emma is thriving as a freelance marketing consultant—see her tips on managing client demands & making yourself marketable as a freelancer.
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Interview with Cecilia, a content writer managing her remote career in Dubai
My priority is client work, even though it's challenging to combine it with my personal projects. But by focusing on doing my best work for my clients, I can build better relationships with them, learn more every day, and make a good name for myself that my clients can stand behind.
Cecilia got her start translating blog posts, and in 2018 she went fully remote. See her tips for managing an international remote work career.
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Interview with Mehmet, a nomadic digital maker and entrepreneur
I’m actually not good at identifying my priorities well. I often find myself spending too much time on one thing that may not be the absolute best thing I should spend my time on.
I tried a few different techniques for this. The usual urgent/not urgent, important/not important matrix translated into an Airtable sheet where I scored each task/initiative with different factors and had some formulated mechanism to determine the priorities for the upcoming day/week.
Eventually, all of these methods fade out for me. Right now, for long, I’ve been using a “highlight” of the day approach where I pick only one thing to accomplish for the day. It sounds like an underperforming approach, but I don’t pick 15-minute tasks for the highlight of the day. They are generally high level and more like milestones than tasks.
And naturally, a lot of related ”tasks“ follow or are bundled together as one big ”accomplishment“ like ”submitting a proposal to X“ or setting a team-wide goal that I try to supervise like ”go live with v2.0 for project Z.“
Mehmet has embraced his remote team leadership style. Hear about his most helpful productivity trick and why he has "quiet" days for his staff.
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