The top reason individuals fail to succeed at operating remotely is they don’t see the need for good quality organisation and solid self discipline.

I have been toiling remotely for almost a decade since I first unearthed [1] Quickbooks online an [3] ‘on demand’ [4] small business accounting software service and was spellbound by the fact that if you can do accounting on the Internet then why shouldn’t it be workable to do other key types of of work remotely?

Whilst working remotely has many benefits there are numerous mistakes that people make which turn into problems that cause reduced work output and reduced morale. The key reason for reductions in productivity in remote workers is disturbance and it is a confirmed and well publicised fact that it can take a worker up to twenty minutes to establish their original output level after experiencing a disruption.

Studies also show that persons who are regularly experience disturbances are more likely to suffer from reduced memory power and are prone to developing mental health problems in old age. We live in an over communicated time and it is imperative that you recognise the issues this causes before you commence working remotely. Whilst operating remotely you must do everything feasible to reduce the jeopardy of being disturbed.

Here are things that really do work:

1, Get a routine, communicate it to absolutely everyone and stick to it!

Good examples are a specific time of day when you check or write and send electronic mail and make or be available for phone calls. Before I began working remotely I used to get in the region of 200 electronic mails a day. Now I think I am unfortunate if I get greater than four. To ’reset’ my electronic mail experience I changed my e-mail address and vigorously took steps to shield the details being made available to anyone. I then educated every person who I gave my e-mail address to, to use it with special care. I also set up an auto-responder that swiftly told anyone sending me mail my schedule for attending to mail and if someone should have my immediate attention to mark it as ‘Urgent’.

2. Get rid of alerts.

Turn off every feature that can send you a visual or audible alert. This includes mobile and
ordinary handsets and types of alerts from electronic mail such as visual alerts, warning sounds, screen changes to your inbox list and of course facing a window. Get a door on your office and put up a ‘do not disturb’ sign on it.

In ‘Remote Working Part 3 – My list of essentials’ I will reveal my favourite tools and software.