We hope you liked this article about remote work. Browse the other articles of the series:

• Pt. 1 – What is a remote team (and is it for you)?
• Pt. 2 – How to Hire Remote Talent?
• Pt. 3 – How to Build a Remote Company Culture?
• Pt. 4 – How to Stay Motivated When You Work Remotely?
• Pt. 5 – Can a Long-distance Relationship Work in a Corporate Environment?
• Pt. 6 – Effective home office with kids? We'll show you how!

Nowadays, IT is one of the few sectors that gives you full freedom to work outside of the office. Whether it's your own apartment or a café, you can easily do your daily business anywhere, all you need is a laptop and internet access.

Aside from the considerable benefits, unfortunately, a home office has its own set of challenges. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of working from home is losing or missing motivation. This can have a serious impact on our efficiency, it can make us unhappy and also affect our colleagues.

Sometimes there are moments in life when even the best work can drive you crazy. Commitment typically diminishes after a while, and we need to do our part to regain our initial enthusiasm, because every job is just as good as we make it.

But what can you, as an employee do to boost your motivation a bit?

Self-knowledge in the workplace

The first and perhaps most important step in finding motivation is self-knowledge. You need to know your abilities, your personality and be aware of your strengths as well as your shortcomings. This is essential if you are to be driven not only as an employee, but also to have a serious career aspiration.

You need to know yourself, why you chose this profession, what you want to achieve through your work and if it is even achievable in this profession?

Set smaller daily goals

Yes, it may be tempting to set big goals, but start with a small one at first! Break down your daily tasks into blocks, set smaller goals. Small tasks that are achievable in a short period of time can easily motivate people because they get a sense of accomplishment.

At Further, we are committed to agile software development, which works on the same principle. A larger project is divided into smaller parts (sprints). At the end of each sprint, there is a "retrospective" where we review the completed and unfinished parts.

Create an appropriate work environment

If you regularly work from home, it is vital that you create the right working environment. If you are unable to have a separate room for an office, you should choose a spot and use it exclusively for work! With a comfortable office chair, a well-organized desk and proper lighting, it is important to create a nice working place, as you spend most of our day working.

Get out

As members of a remote team, we sometimes have the urge to replace our comfortably designed home office with a busy coffee table or to sit in a quiet park, depending on what inspires us.

Some of our colleagues often do daily work in a community office. Working at a coworking office is good because you can enjoy all the benefits of office life, but you can still split up your working hours. It is not devoid of stimuli as the home work environment, but it is more comfortable and quiet than a café.

It can be a great opportunity to break out of your home and meet new people. In these types of offices, there are lots of people of different occupations and personalities who sooner or later start talking to each other. The brainstorming session will start, which can lead to new joint projects. Community agencies offer a sense of belonging that is definitely worth trying at least once.

Create a routine

In a home office, your morning routine can slowly disappear and you suddenly notice that you're working in pajamas and reading your emails with a toothbrush in your mouth. Proper rituals can be extremely motivating. Determine when you get up and when you want to finish your work day! As you adapt to your daily routine, it is much easier to stay motivated and achieve your goals.

Get up earlier

Getting up early is difficult enough when you need to get to the office every day. You'd rather just hit the snooze button. However, if you work from home and are not on a fixed schedule, you often feel too lazy to get out of bed. If you want to stay motivated, set a specific time and try to keep up with it every day!

It is important to mention that we are not all the same, many are active in the morning and others are night owls. Find out when you are most productive, when you can focus best.

Draw the line between work and private life

The 8-hour working day can be easily extended in the home office. Often team leaders are unaware of the amount of work behind your performance, so it will be less impressive to see what kind of work you do.

Sometimes you may feel that you are not working enough, and in this case you lengthen your day by a couple of hours to finish a particular project. You are a perfectionist and you are afraid of making someone disappointed, so you often work hours in a row and notice that the whole day has passed.

Try to distance yourself from your work! That means leaving behind your phone, chat, corporate emails, in short, everything. When you have done your job for the day and you have done it the best you can, simply leave the work behind you and forget about it.

Take a break

Work can often accumulate and it may seem the best solution to fill the gaps in your free time. Do not do it! Many people do not know, but if you take a break, your productivity will increase.

At Further, we often use the Pomodoro technique. We divide the work into 25-30 minute intervals, including a 5-5 minute break or a larger 20 minute break (for example, lunch). Of course, a single task does not necessarily fit into a 25-minute time interval, so we need to determine in advance how many of these sections are to be done. This is a great technique for those who perform better under pressure.

Eliminate distractions

If you work from home, you can be easily distracted in the world of housework and comfortable sofas. It is very easy to lose focus and at the end of the day face the fact that even though you have been busy all day, there is little to show for it. Family can easily distract us while we work, thus losing focus and taking time to get back to work. That is why it is advisable to clarify with them in the beginning when we are available to them.

As you can see, motivation is a very complex thing, especially as a member of a remote team. It is difficult to strike a balance between freedom and flexibility, self-discipline and focus in order to feel successful and productive. As an employee it is primarily our own thoughts and feelings that can solve our problems and motivate ourselves.