Manage Common Problems

Without the structure of office life, your schedule can easily devolve into anarchy. You have a meeting at 10 and a deadline at 5 . . . and everything else is up for grabs. How do you explain to your coworkers and friends that your nontraditional arrangement is still real work? How do you stay on task when your kids come home from school? You can get stuff done when no one is looking—and stay sane through it all.

Managing your workflow while keeping your own sense of well-being intact can be a tricky balance. To establish boundaries around your workday, you’ll need to find ways of limiting unwanted intrusions from colleagues, friends, and family. But for your professional reputation as well as your own mental health, you’ll need to stay connected to those very same people. This chapter will guide you through this seeming paradox, so that you can maximize your productivity—without compromising your happiness.

Set and maintain a schedule that works

As a virtual collaborator, you can theoretically work anywhere, anytime—except it’s not that easy. It’s not just a matter of discipline or self-control: You begin the day with the best of intentions, but life is disorderly and our brains crave distractions. Maybe you’re getting a late start because the babysitter was delayed, or perhaps there’s too much ambient noise in the airport lounge.

You can’t make your babysitter punctual, but you can structure your own schedule to maximize your output while adapting to the natural patterns of daily life. The following best practices will help.

Have a workday. Whether you’re working nine-to-five or overnight, setting and sticking to regular hours will help your brain focus and make you a more reliable collaborator. Your decision here depends on your working conditions—whether you need to keep the same hours that a home office keeps, overlap with colleagues on another continent, or be available for domestic life during certain hours. Experiment with these parameters to find the schedule that works best, and review the tips shared earlier in the section “Establish a code of conduct.”

Develop a routine for getting started. The usual going-to-work drill (get up early, dress professionally, and so on) can help you get in the right frame of mind. Develop habits: Make coffee, walk the dog, go to the gym, clean out your e-mail inbox, review the work you did the day before, and so on.

Set realistic expectations about what you can accomplish each day. Build in time for breaks, distractions, logistics, and annoyances. Consider journaling how you spend your time for a few days, and use that log as a template going forward.

Chunk your day. Don’t just work your way down a task list—plan how you’ll use different parts of the day. For example, maybe you prefer to do writing-heavy work in the morning, leaving the afternoon open for interpersonal tasks. Be thoughtful about the sequencing, too. Which activities exhaust you, and which give you an energy boost? When are you at your best for phone calls, video chats, and in-person meetings? What do you need to get done before your colleague logs out for the day or before your kids come home? Remember to schedule breaks, too, since your brain needs downtime.

Moderate your time on the web. Being outside an office environment can make it harder to rein in how much time you spend clicking link to link when researching a colleague’s question. Avoid sites you know are particularly dangerous to your focus. Experiment with briefly turning off your Wi-Fi to power through a difficult task.

Quit while you’re ahead. Don’t try to wrap up everything before you stop for the day. If you pause in the middle of something, you’ll have an easier time getting back into the flow tomorrow.

Make your work visible to others

Many people still don’t “get” remote work. Do you have a friend who doesn’t understand why you can’t meet for a two-hour lunch in the middle of the day if you’re “just” working from home, or a colleague who thinks that “virtual collaborator” means you’re MIA? Their (annoying) ideas about your work matter for three reasons. First, if they don’t value your labor, they won’t value your time. You’ll be more vulnerable to interruptions from all sides. Second, it’s demotivating when others don’t recognize and respect your work. We all have a basic human need for affirmation, and work is no exception. Finally, if your colleagues don’t believe you’re working hard, they won’t trust you. You’ll watch your ideas get shortchanged and your responsibilities shrink.

So what can you do? Shape the perceptions of family, friends, colleagues, and clients—and manage the relationship when bad impressions persist—using a variety of strategies.

Stage your workspace. Select a location that projects the image you want to share with your colleagues. If you can, pick a background for your video calls that matches the look of your company’s headquarters. Keep your desktop neat, and clear out nonwork detritus. Is the nude pencil-drawing behind your desk too much? What message does the tangle of winter coats and boots over your shoulder send to your colleagues? Set up a practice video chat with a friend who will tell you what your makeshift office really looks like. (If you’re looking for workspace options other than a home office, see the sidebar “Tips for Picking a Coworking Space.”)

Pay attention to your presentation. You want people to see you as a true professional, so give them some visual cues. If you’re going to be on a video chat, dress as if you were going to an office. Look at the camera, lean forward with an attentive posture as you would at a real table, and don’t multitask.

Above all, be thoughtful about how you talk about your arrangement. “I’m wearing my pj’s and I haven’t even taken a shower yet!” might be true, but your boss and colleagues don’t need to know. It’s OK to show your real life happening in the background, but make sure the foreground looks right, too. You do take what you’re doing seriously—so make sure people can see that you do.

Focus on changing people’s behavior, not opinions. You’d like your spouse to respect the fact that you’re working, but right now you need them to hold their chore requests until you’re off the clock. And you’d like your colleagues to stop joking about how you’re on vacation while you work from home, but you need them to remember to credit you when they present to your boss.

Instead of having the whole “No, it’s actually a real job!” conversation, make specific, actionable requests of other people, and keep enforcing your boundaries.

• With colleagues, say something along these lines: “I miss the headquarters sometimes, but this arrangement works best for me right now. By the way, I’d like to call in to your Friday meeting with the team.” Or “Please copy me on e-mails about this topic from now on—it’s part of my role.”

• With your family, try this: “Let’s talk about this when I’m done with work, in three hours.” Or, “I’m still on the clock. Come find me at six.”

Combat isolation

Working remotely often means working alone. You’re constantly communicating, but sterile e-mail notifications and terse text messages can make you feel even more alienated. “Are you going to make the deadline?” and “See my corrections, attached here” don’t resonate like a friendly smile.

Even when you’re surrounded by people—at a coffee shop, in an airport lounge, at a makeshift desk on-site with a client—you may still miss the collegiality and sense of common purpose that an office provides. And you’ll certainly miss the talk. When your neighbor casually asks, “How’s it going?” you’ll find you have a lot to say.

The downside of isolation isn’t just emotional—it’s tactical, too. You may not receive key information that made it around the office because no one remembered to share with you. It’s frustrating and potentially damaging to your credibility to be left out like this. How many times are you willing to say to your boss, “What e-mail? I didn’t get it,” or “What error? No one told me about it,” or “What deadline? It’s not on my calendar.”

Even if you love remote work, you don’t want to be left out or left behind. So how can you adapt?

Be visible to your virtual colleagues. Let peers and supervisors know what you’re doing, not just your accomplishments, but obstacles and works in progress. Add some social or personal content to the conversations, even if it feels weird at first. If you’re having trouble establishing a rhythm, put your to-dos on a calendar. Send a daily round-up to your colleagues, such as a Monday morning greeting, with your agenda for the week. Ask them what’s on tap for them for the week ahead. Try out different options, and see what your individual coworkers respond to best.

Invite casual contact (when you want it). When you’re doing work that doesn’t require a lot of focus, let your colleagues know that you’re open to spontaneous interactions. Broadcast your status over Twitter or Facebook, or customize your IM or Skype message: “My door is open this morning! Feel free to reach out if you want to follow up on something or just check in.”

Stay connected to people in your physical location. Being around other people is essential to your well-being, so schedule regular face time. Friends, family, yoga buddies, local colleagues—cast as wide a net as you can, wherever you are. Put your plans on the calendar, and don’t let work encroach too far on them.

Make time during the workday for restorative activities. The time you spend alone doesn’t have to be cheerless. When you take a break, choose activities that you enjoy: Prepare and eat a good meal, visit your gym, check in with someone you love, listen to music, read or watch something you enjoy. Don’t limit yourself to the erudite or dignified, either—have a mini dance party, check your fantasy sports team, or take a short nap. As long as you return to work feeling energized and refreshed, you’re doing it right.

Commiserate. As you cycle through the natural lows and highs, the best thing you can do is talk about it, especially with your coworkers. Loneliness isn’t shameful—for all you know, your colleague is going through the same thing.

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There are a million ways to be a successful virtual collaborator. With diligence and some experimentation, you’ll find the way that’s right for you. Sometimes you’ll hit your stride and feel like you’ve really mastered this way of working—and other times you’ll find yourself neck-deep in e-mails, wondering how you’ll ever get the hang of it. That’s OK: As you become more comfortable and confident in your situation, the good periods will lengthen and the bad ones will shrink. Instead of dreading new tools, you’ll be thrilled to figure out how they can solve a problem or augment a relationship. As you find better ways to plan your schedule, you may find that you have more time than ever before—and that you’re more productive, too. And relationships that used to feel remote or awkward will gradually become collegial and, perhaps, will blossom into true friendship.