How do you stay on task?
Interview with Josephine, an integrated content producer traveling the world
Airtable, dailies and check-list of tasks.
1) Airtable - I like to see different views of my priorities - whether it may be in a kanban board or a calendar, Airtable does a good job of helping me stay on track and remind me of what I should be focusing on.
2) Dailies - we do daily stand-ups, which allows me to think about my tasks for the day. Presenting it to the team helps.
3) I repeat the process on paper in my notebook.
The physical action of crossing things out is so satisfying.
Also taking breaks! I do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, so I have a way to let out steam (and healthily too)!
Josephine got a dream gig of traveling while engaging in her passion for digital storytelling. Hear about the work she is doing to bring awareness to remote work.
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Interview with Wilbert, an ESL teacher that remotely teaches English to kids
Now I know some of you might still have trouble managing kids. I mean, they normally have short attention span. Meaning they tend to not focus in class.
You just need to be a little more patient with and try to understand your students more. Like, what are they into? What food they like to eat? Who is their favourite superhero? And so on. Every student is not the same, so you have to be more flexible and just have fun when doing the class.
In order to maximize your time for the day and get a lot of students to teach, you need to open a lot of what we call "slots". This is in order for the students to see if you are available in that time of day so that they can reserve it for their lesson.
Do not teach or open slot on days where you think that you are going to be busy or having a bad day.
Because what is going to happen is that you might not be able to provide a excellent quality lesson to your students if you are in a bad mood. And you might get a bad review for that as well. Bad review means, less students.
Wilbert is an ESL (English as a Second Language) Teacher that made the jump to remote work to gain more freedom from his office job.
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Interview with Drei, a WordPress Developer describes her methods for staying focused
I basically discipline myself to allot specific times of the day to do or complete my tasks.
What I do is I set multiple Spotify playlists with a different number of songs that keep my momentum up, so the first playlist would have about ten songs.
After the playlist ends, I take a 30-minute break then I start a new playlist with 20 songs. After that, I take another 30-minute break and start a new playlist with 30 songs in it.
So, that goes on until I am satisfied with my daily tasks.
A demanding office job gave Drei the motivation to seek out remote work. See how two surprising entertainment apps & a six-hour workday allow her to live her best remote work life.
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Interview with Mike, a business developer with a one task a day remote work routine
We only focus on one task each day. Sometimes two, if they are smaller, but one of them always has a higher priority than the other.
What’s important here is that we rarely have tasks with conflicting priorities. It really helps, as it’s much easier to stay on track if you’re not distracted by other tasks with the same level of importance.
Mike had a lackluster experience with remote work 12 years ago. Today, he has embraced location-independence. Hear about his "one task a day" routine & vital tip for job seekers.
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Interview with Hrishikesh, an entrepreneur helping to shape remote work
I personally feel if I adhere to a regular sound schedule including sleep, meals, and workout, it helps me stay at my productive best at work.
My routine usually gets disturbed when I am travelling and I have to put in the effort to stay focused at work consciously.
In essence, I try to keep it simple - stay as much on schedule as possible while getting sound sleep, proper food, and a healthy workout!
Hrishikesh's platforms are helping to shape the world of remote work and the gig economy—see how he mobilizes his remote teams to facilitate this new future of work.
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Interview with Erin, a videographer who found her freelancing niche
I kind of talked about this earlier, but one of the great things about working remotely is that you can organize your day however you want. Although that can make it really difficult to keep yourself on task, it can also be really helpful if you can figure out the way you work.
I know that in the mornings I finish tasks quickly and bigger projects don’t seem as daunting. Then at around 3 pm, all that productivity just drains from me, and it’s super hard for me to get over that hump.
So, I really try to organize my day around that. During my 3 pm slump, I try to have mindless tasks to do so I can have music or tv playing in the background without worrying about being distracted. It doesn’t really feel like work when you can listen to some Seinfeld episodes while you’re doing it!
Erin is a videographer who carved out a successful freelancing niche—see how she optimizes her time and plans for the ups and downs of freelance work.
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Interview with Emma, a founder helping companies shape their remote work policies
My Trello board is great in terms of adjusting my “to do” list. I also diarise due dates in my calendar and make sure I am proactive rather than reactive.
Emma carved out her own remote work niche—see how she manages her own virtual law firm while maintaining work/life balance.
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Interview with Rose, a co-founder growing the impact of remote work
Keeping my goals and whys front and center. I have written out what is important to me and why I do what I do in front of my desk. That helps me to stay on task.
I also layout what I want to achieve at the start of the week, and track it during the week via Trello checklists. I also look over what did or didn't get completed at the end of the week. This helps to keep me honest.
Rose balances part-time SEO work with leading Grow Remote—see how she optimizes her time to build a community and resource for remote workers.
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Interview with Mary, a remote senior marketing content writer who maximizes downtime
I write everything down to make sure that I'm not forgetting anything and to stay on track. That includes writing things down in a Franklin Covey planner and also in a notebook for further information from meetings or notes/ideas for future blog posts and content.
I try to be in bed and reading a book instead of being on my phone by about 10:30 PM, so I get a solid number of hours of sleep for a smooth start each morning.
Sometimes, of course, I wind up mindlessly playing Candy Crush or scrolling through Facebook instead of reading, and I can always tell when I've done that because it throws my sleep off. So taking that half-hour of not looking at a screen really helps.
With the help of a Franklin Covey Notebook & a few rounds of Candy Crush—Mary shows how important downtime is to remote work. See how she maximizes her time and puts work-life balance first.
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Interview with Andriy, a Wordpress developer & consultant
That can be a challenge sometimes, especially if the task is boring.
But the biggest thing that helps me is to stay off my phone and social media.
That helps me focus a lot.
If the task is a big one, I usually break it down into smaller tasks and do them one by one.
Andriy has a simple approach to productivity—learn about his one essential remote work tool & his strategy for selecting clients.
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