High Performance Environment (WFH Edition)
7: Give yourself an edge...
Hello ladies, gents, cartoon animals, and others.
Another lifestyle one. Since most of you work remotely, you should focus on your surroundings and how they affect your performance.
Why it’s important?
We know that you are a high-performing individual or yet to become one. Meaning you must optimize everything you can to increase output and efficiency.
Surroundings matter to YOU and others (at least the background that will be visible during your video calls). Have you ever had calls in the past where you could see the background of another person and start thinking to yourself about what kind of individual you are dealing with?
We had quite a few.
Not saying you need to have a Manhattan penthouse view in the background. But I don’t suggest having video game posters either or anime ones. Can’t help yourself and decide to show off whatever you are into in your background?
You better have a good story and reasoning behind it.
Environment?
Not sure if this is the proper headline name, but...
You are working from home, one of those “lucky ones”.
Not really a lucky one.
But you made proper moves and managed to setup up you're for success by getting the remote role. Most will never understand how working remotely is a blessing.
Let’s look at a few positive points:
No more getting to the office and back
Not having regular “happy hour” - everything except happiness
Less talking with Karen from HR about how she spent her weekend hiking on a local hill
Less “junk food” and snack on candies (at least that’s what we have experienced)
Few mentioned should provide you with more clarity on why going remote should be your goal if you are not working remotely already. Another great thing about working from home is how easier it is to start WiFi money and side income which all should strive for.
We understand all the benefits of working from home. That’s why all of us choose it. But what about the WFH environment?
Your goal should be the most output with the least input.
Environment Shapes You
Why is it important?
Space around us shapes us and makes us think differently. We could also discuss how working remotely in the space around us serves as a workspace. You get the point.
Exactly why you will hear individuals complaining about how unproductive they are when working from their homes. Quite normal for those who are starting to work from home.
At the same time, it’s not the easiest thing to have that switch on / off sometimes. Extra points if you are sharing your living space with someone else.
The best you could do is set yourself up with a smaller room and separate space (if possible). Make it an office-like type of environment. Remove all the distractions and keep it as clean as possible. Our minimalist recommendation is to keep it half-empty as the best option.
No PlayStation, tablets, and books - all of them are potential distractions.
The point we are trying to get across is to separate your "remote workspace” as much as you can from your “daily” life. That’s how you will never have problems getting into that work zone or having on / off switch problems.
There will be no need to worry about whether you are in the mood or not. Are you in that workspace? That only means one thing.
You are working on your income.
Friendly reminder to not be cheap on your monitor, chair, or desk. All of them should be considered tools and investments in your productivity. Got in a role where the employer gives you an allowance?
Perfect.
You better buy the best possible equipment. The best thing is that you will use that same equipment to work on your side income and WiFi money. Without a company laptop (we hope our readers are not having those ideas).
Small Details Matter
Worth to mention that if you are going to be having video calls please take care your background seriously. One of the easiest examples we could think of.
People judge each other. The same applies to your background or anything else. We were never fans of those you can set from the application itself. But in some cases, it will be better for you. Make sure also to clean your camera in case you have not in a long time.
Those small details make you look unprofessional.
Young readers making WiFi cash from your rooms, dorm rooms, or whatever. Try to make it as less a college as possible.
What does that mean?
No posters, no video game figures, or bongs. In case you have one of those you must have a perfect story behind it otherwise you will be looked upon (still no bongs).
Once you are done with your background you should already know the drill.
Principles apply to you as an individual well. You have to make sure you look presentable. Haircut, well-kept beard, and low bf% all play a certain role. You don’t have to wear a suit and tie during video calls. But don’t be in your Costco pajamas.
An additional read worth reading.
Tips And Tricks You Should Utilize For Maximum Results
Applicable advice for daily remote work use…
Max three tabs open at any time: in most cases, you will have more than enough information to do what you are supposed to. The only exception here is the programmers as it’s in their nature of the job to search multiple terms at once.
Use headphones: You are on call? You MUST have headphones. Don't be that CEO who is not using headphones during a call. Nothing more unprofessional than having a kid yelling in the background, a dog barking, or a garbage truck picking up the trash in front of the house.
Personal phones: Must be away from you. No need to check social media and text with your buddies - do that during your break. Pure distraction.
No music in the background: Working with and without music is completely different. Silence with your thoughts will get you further than music with your thoughts.
Notebook And Pen: Should be with you all the time. Write down everything tasks, ideas and “challenges”. Writing down “challenges” makes them easier for some unknown reason.
Clean your workspace: No water bottles around and protein bar wrappers. Remember this is your workspace.
Natural light: Get yourself plenty of it if possible. There is something unique about it when compared with artificial light.
Work laptop: This is your WORK laptop. It’s not used for anything else except work and youtube for the music if you need to listen to it. Everything else should be done from your personal laptop.
Organize everything: This will make working from home easier in the long run. The key here is to make sure everything is at reach to you.
No private emails and social media on your work laptop. You would be surprised how much your IT team can understand certain things. You have been warned.
Hoping we have managed to bring awareness on how to work effectively when it comes to remote work. Giving you a heads-up that small details count and that the apartment is not just a place to sleep. But also a workspace that will serve you to make more money.
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Implemented this over the weekend. Today, I had my best day productivity-wise this year.
Cleaned desk off, made my working areas very sparsely decorated and had no more than 5 tabs visible to me at any given time.
Sky’s the limit from here 🫡
About tabs, that is truth. Today, i use the extension ONETAB for me help with all research and anything about work: I open the maximum links which i want/ i have interested and click on extension for stack one by one. After this, i will kill one by one too, very calm.