![\"challenges](\"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Overcome-Mental-Struggles-While-Working-Remotely-square.png\")
As a software developer, you have no pragmatic factors to stop you from working at home. After all, with most programming jobs, as long as you have access to a computer and a reliable internet connection, you\u2019re all set.<\/p>\nAs a software developer, you have no pragmatic factors to stop you from working at home. After all, with most programming jobs, as long as you have access to a computer and a reliable internet connection, you\u2019re all set.<\/p>\n
Despite this, and under normal circumstances, not every employer allows you to work remotely. With many organizations, convincing your boss to allow you to work from home may involve a lengthy and complex<\/a> negotiation process.<\/p>\n Situations such as the current COVID-19 outbreak<\/a> change all of this. When there\u2019s a quarantine in place, you no longer have to convince anyone to allow you to work from home. In fact, you are required<\/em> to do so.<\/p>\n However, being a remote worker isn\u2019t always as easy as it seems. If you are like most people in quarantine right now, you\u2019re working in an environment you don\u2019t normally associate with work. This drastic change in environment can create psychological barriers that make it hard for you to keep your productivity up. This is especially true if you have been turned into a remote worker involuntarily, meaning you haven\u2019t had a chance to properly prepare your personal environment for this task.<\/p>\n This change can be hard, but it\u2019s not impossible to overcome. Let\u2019s have a look at what problems you may encounter while working from home and how you can effectively get the better of them.<\/p>\n If you have never worked from home before, your subconscious probably doesn\u2019t associate your house with work<\/a>. This is, perhaps, the biggest factor that makes working from home hard.<\/p>\n Mental associations are extremely important. They lead to subconscious decisions we call habits, which are essentially effortless actions. If you haven\u2019t developed a certain action into a habit, performing that action can end up taking a fair amount of effort.<\/p>\n On the other hand, if you already have a well-developed habit that goes against what you are trying to do, it becomes even harder to execute properly.<\/p>\n This is why you should expect working from home to be hard if you haven\u2019t done it before.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n People largely use their homes for rest and entertainment, so that\u2019s the association they make with their homes. This makes it necessary to fight the urge to do the normal activities they enjoy while at home.<\/p>\n Perhaps, while at home, you spend most of your time gaming in your living room. In this situation, trying to get some work done will be extremely hard if the console is within reach.<\/p>\n Perhaps you like to keep your house tidy, and it\u2019s due for a cleaning. In this situation, you have to fight the urge to do housework and focus on getting your remote work done instead.<\/p>\n In order to be a successful remote worker, you need to develop a habit of getting into your work mindset while being in a nonwork environment.<\/p>\n Not everyone will find it difficult adjusting to remote work. However, even if you are one of those lucky people, you may still be able to improve your productivity by making some simple adjustments to your routine.<\/p>\n Fortunately, getting into a habit of being productive while working from home doesn\u2019t have to be excessively hard. There are certain tricks that can help you achieve your goals.<\/p>\n Here are four tricks I\u2019ve found to be extremely effective.<\/p>\n While these activities are fine for your at-home devices, keep them away from your work devices. Activities such as gaming or binge-watching are designed to trigger your body to release large quantities of dopamine<\/a>, which can lead to harmful habits such as addiction<\/a> if not kept in check.<\/p>\n Because dopamine (and the feelings it induces<\/a>) is addictive, it\u2019s usually very hard to resist the urge to engage in dopamine-inducing activities. After all, most of your normal work activities will be dull in comparison. This is why if you want to get your work done, you should keep your work device and entertainment devices separate.<\/p>\n This also means that you shouldn\u2019t use your at-home devices for work-related purposes. Because your brain has learned to associate specific devices with certain functions, using an entertainment device for work will make it much more difficult and way more time-consuming to complete whichever task you have at hand while remaining focused.<\/p>\n Even if you successfully manage to resist the urge to play video games or watch funny videos while you work, you would have spent quite a lot of energy fighting those urges, so the outcome of your work would not be anywhere near as good as it could have been.<\/p>\n It\u2019s always easier not to engage in nonproductive content consumption while you are in the office and people around you can see what you are doing. When you are at home, however, you only have yourself to police your behavior. But it\u2019s worth the effort to keep your work device for work only.<\/p>\n This rule is very similar to the first one.<\/p>\n If you have a big wide-screen TV in your living room with a gaming console underneath it, then the living room is probably not the best place for you to do your work. You will just be looking at your gaming console out of the corner of your eye. Eventually, you will either end up ditching your work to play the console or spend a lot of mental energy fighting the urge to do so.<\/p>\n This is the reason why many people who work remotely on a regular basis have an entire room in their house set up as their office. Being in a room dedicated to work will help you set yourself up with the same mindset you normally have at work and help you become more productive.<\/p>\n But what if you don\u2019t have the luxury of an extra room?<\/p>\n The good news is that there is a solution to this situation, as well. Just hide away all the things you associate with entertainment for the duration of your work session. Change your environment by making your room look different.<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t hide certain items that may be too big, or you just don\u2019t have the ability to hide them for any reason, then at least position yourself in such a way that you won\u2019t see them. Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes.<\/p>\n I will not go into the philosophy of improving your productivity by having a tidy desk. Other people<\/a> have explained this concept better than I can.<\/p>\n What I am talking about is making sure that the room you are working in is already tidy before you start working so the thought of doing housework doesn\u2019t enter your mind while you work.<\/p>\n People often try to kill two birds with one stone. It is tempting to get your house in order while you are working from home.<\/p>\n The problem with this approach is that multitasking doesn\u2019t work<\/a>, as has been proven by countless studies. If you try to do two tasks at once, you will probably end up doing neither of them to the quality that you would have done them on their own.<\/p>\n Making sure your environment is tidy helps you not want to do household chores while you are working. It will take these thoughts away from the forefront of your mind and keep your mind focused on what\u2019s important, your work.<\/p>\n If you normally relax around the house in PJs, then chances are your brain has learned to associate them with relaxation. Being dressed for lounging around makes it hard to get in the mindset for work.<\/p>\n Of course, if your place of work normally requires you to follow a strict dress code, it\u2019s not something that you have to do at home, too. But even if you simply make your bed, shower, and make yourself presentable<\/em>, it\u2019s easier to get into a work mindset, and you will no longer feel like you are on your day off.<\/p>\n By doing these small tasks, you accumulate small wins<\/a> right from the start of your day and set yourself up for a productive day.<\/p>\nWhat Makes Working From Home Hard?<\/h2>\n
How To Make Remote Work Effortless<\/h2>\n
1. Don\u2019t Consume Nonwork-Related Content on Your Work Computer<\/h3>\n
![\"Remote](\"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Work-Effortless.png\")
At home, you may have a powerful PC that you built for gaming. Or you may have a laptop you occasionally use to watch Netflix or YouTube.<\/p>\n2. Don\u2019t Work in a Room You Associate With Entertainment<\/h3>\n
3. Keep Your Work Environment Tidy<\/h3>\n
4. Wear Your Work Clothes as You Work<\/h3>\n
![\"Wear](\"https:\/\/simpleprogrammer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/clothes.png\")
Another productivity lifehack for remote working is to never do it in your pajamas.<\/p>\nBeing an Effective Remote Worker<\/h2>\n