Is Your Remote Work Strategy Outdated? Here's How to Fix It

No more commute. No more packed lunch. No more Bill from one desk on staring over your shoulder. Things should be awesome... but something's off.

You're working longer hours, feeling more stressed, and your productivity's tanking.

Here's a gut punch. You might be working from home, but that doesn't mean you're truly working remotely.

Look under the surface, and you'll see a troubling pattern. Many professionals have unknowingly created home office replicas of their old office lives.

Your dining table is your new cubicle. You're still on the 9-5. And somehow, you're in even more meetings than before.

This is just in-office in disguise.

But here's the good news: you're just a few key tweaks away from the remote work dream you've been chasing.

It's time to ditch the 9-to-5 mindset, update your strategies for remote work, and unlock that productivity and flexibility you've been waiting for.

Signs Your Remote Work Strategy is Outdated

Think you've got this remote work thing figured out? Let's put your process to the test with 4 questions that'll tell you if your remote work strategy needs some work.

Question 1: Is Your Home a Carbon Copy of Your Old Office?

You've recreated your cubicle in your living room, complete with:

• The same rigid 9-to-5 schedule
• A calendar that's more colored blocks than white space
• Stress levels pushing you dangerously close to a desk flip

If your new remote work style looks eerily similar to your old in-office routine, you're not remote working - you're just working from home.

The flexibility of remote work is still within reach, but you'll need to drop the old office paradigms.

Question 2: Is Your Productivity Playing Hide and Seek?

Your day feels like a never-ending sprint.

Unpack the dishwasher. Write that quick impromptu status report. Check the laundry's hung. 

When you finally close your laptop, you realize you've been busy all day, but your actual to-do list hasn't gotten any shorter.

Between the constant distractions, the blurred boundaries, and the digital chaos, your productivity has gone MIA. And it's taking your job satisfaction with it.

This productivity drain is real and quantifiable. According to Workamajig, the average worker loses 6.5 hours to distractions each week.

But real remote work gives you MORE time, not less. 

Question 3: Is Your Day a Constant Game of Communication Whack-a-Mole?

Slack pings. Zoom invites. Emails marked URGENT!!! (Spoiler: they rarely are.)

Your day has become a frantic dance of real-time notifications, leaving you feeling more like a 24/7 switchboard operator than a remote professional.

This digital downpour isn't just in your head.

Grammarly's 2024 State of Business Communication report found that knowledge workers now spend an astounding 88% of their workweek communicating across multiple channels. 

The result was:

• Increased stress for 51% of workers
• Decreased work satisfaction for 35%
• Decreased confidence for 31%

Question 4: Have Your Office Hours Become All the Hours?

Quick question: When was the last time you went for a walk without your work phone as an uninvited guest?

Can't remember? Houston, we have a problem.

You're skipping lunch, taking phone calls during family time, and checking emails at midnight. Your work-life balance has been vaporized.

Lost to real-time communication across time zones, inflexible work arrangements and ever expanding work hours.

This always on mentality is more common than you might think. 

Buffer's State of Remote Work 2023 report reveals that 81% of remote employees check their emails outside of work hours, with 63% doing so on weekends and 34% while on holiday.

Update Your Remote Work Strategy

If you found yourself nodding in agreement to any of these questions, congratulations! You've identified some areas primed for improvement.

Let's run an update on your remote work strategy.

1. Adjust To Your Flexible Work Arrangement

Take a good hard look at your work-from-home space - both physical and mental.

You should be looking at a work-space that energizes you and a schedule that is aligned with your natural rhythms.

Remote work is your chance to design a work life that actually works with you. Not against you.

It's time to seize that opportunity and craft a style that unleashes your full potential.

Here's where to start:

• Map Your Energy Flow: Track your energy levels throughout the day for a week. Identify your peak productivity and creativity windows. Align your most mentally demanding tasks with your natural power hours.
• Craft Your Ideal Workspace: Design your environment to boost your energy. Experiment with lighting, ergonomics, and background noise. Dial in your adjustments for different work modes - deep focus, creative brainstorming, and casual convos.

2. Reclaim Your Productivity

Remember those 6.5 hours per week lost to distractions? Zoom out and we see more than a month a year vanishing into thin air.

Imagine what you could accomplish with an extra month of focused work every year. 

An industry-changing project complete. A new skill mastered. More stress-free time to recharge and avoid burnout.

Reaping the productivity rewards of remote work is all about knowing your distractions and creating an environment that lets you slip into deep work and get sh!t done! It's time to stop playing catch-up and start dominating your workday.

Here's where to start:

• Embrace Monk Mode: Schedule 2-hour blocks throughout your day for uninterrupted deep work. Grab a glass of water, turn off all notifications, use a physical Do Not Disturb sign. Whatever it takes to enter a state of flow.
• Conduct a Distraction Audit: For one week, note every interruption that pulls you from work. Categorize them: internal (your own habits) or external (notifications, coworkers). Then ruthlessly eliminate or mitigate each one.
• Implement the 2-Minute Rule: If a task takes less than two minutes, do it immediately. This prevents small tasks from piling up and becoming overwhelming distractions later.

3. Tame the Communication Beast

Microsoft's 2023 Work Trend Index found that employees spend 57% of their working hours communicating across meetings, email and chat.

That's right... just communicating.

There's no denying that great communication is the secret sauce of successful virtual teams. But not all communication is created equal.

The real problem lies in constant, unnecessary interruptions.

Meetings that should've been Looms. Quick real-time calls that pull you out of deep work. Incessant Slack pings fragmenting your day.

Insiders know that asynchronous, NOT real-time, communication is how you reclaim your day - unlocking hours for meaningful, deep work.

Here's where to start:

• Adopt a Communication Protocol: Set an internal standard of before COB for non-urgent matters. This gives you control over when you engage with messages while keeping your team in the loop.
• Create a Communication Charter: Establish team-wide guidelines for which channels to use for what purpose (casual, medium importance, real emergency). Stick to it religiously and hold others accountable.
• Batched Your Responses: Set specific times for checking and responding to messages. This keeps communication predictable for your team and protects your focus time.

4. Reclaim Your Work-Life Balance

All that time you've saved by dropping the commute and office small talk is yours. 

Not a bonus for your employer.

Remote work should give you more space for living life, not less. Yet many have fallen into the always-on trap, trading office walls for mental ones.

It's time to introduce strategies that leave you with enough energy for those long-neglected hobbies. Time to be truly present with loved ones. Space to simply... be.

Here's where to start:

• Implement Tech Sunsets: Set your devices to automatically switch to do not disturb mode outside of work hours. Create a digital barrier between work and personal life.
• Start Building Micro-Boundaries: You don't need an overnight overhaul. Start with small work-life boundary adjustments, then gradually increase. Build a habit of disconnecting and claiming time for living.
• Schedule Worry Time: Set 15 minutes aside at the end of each day to write down work concerns. This mental offloading helps prevent work thoughts from invading your personal time AND sets you up with a targeted list for tomorrow.

Unleash the Power of True Remote Work

Don’t recreate your office at home. With remote work you can create  something MUCH better.

You're now equipped with top strategies for working remotely.

An energizing workspace. A schedule that vibes with your rhythm. Productivity hacks that actually work. And a communication strategy that doesn't eat your day alive.

It's time to stop just working from home and embrace the art of true remote work. Enjoying all the productivity, flexibility and top shelf work-life balance it has to offer.

Ready to go a bit deeper? Check out our articles on WFH distractions, asynchronous communication and mental health to set your remote work strategy to hyperdrive.

Your move.