If you want to be a savvy remote worker, one of the top priorities is time management and how you can reduce your hours. Hours do not equate to productivity. In fact, we are not talking about working less hours overall, but working less hours at a job, so that you can work more hours on other income generating projects.
If you get good at three simple things, you will be well on your way to working less hours at your remote job.
From a Pareto principle standpoint, I would argue that these three factors make up 80% of what it means to reduce your hours as a remote worker without alarming your bosses and colleagues. If you do this correctly, you could then free up maximum time for yourself and build up other streams of income.
1. Set lower expectations
Yes, you did not read it wrong. Whether you are working in a corporate office or at home, the conventional mindset is to be an above average performer, impress your bosses, and climb the ladder.
Yet if you are working a job, the sad truth is that your salary is capped at a certain level, and no amount of hard work is going to change that quickly.
Sure, you can work super hard and be seen as a top performer, get thrown more responsibilities without more pay, until you eventually see a well-deserved pay raise (that is usually in the 2-5% range). Instead, a better option is to switch jobs every 1-2 years since switching jobs can raise your salary by an average of 15%. This option gives you more money without having to work as hard.
Thus, the good news is that you should slow down at your remote job and set lower expectations.
How does this help you save time? The answer is that you get to work less hard and have less responsibilities thrown your way from others (since they expect less of you).
Of course, you want to perform your job to a reasonable standard based on what you are hired for. But do not be seen as the top employee. You want to be able to get away with doing just enough. The middle of the pack employee has more leeway to improve or impress others when he wants to, and barely anyone will notice if he takes a foot of the pedal to “relax” a little. You get less attention, less complaints from bosses (since they will not notice a drop in your performance), and simply blend in with the rest.
You can convey the impression that you are working, simply by not shutting down the communication channel and getting tasks completed on time.
2. Batch your tasks
Next, you want to batch your tasks. Since you have set lower expectations, you can take a day or two to respond to certain messages and emails.
Batch those emails that come in on Wednesday by setting aside time to respond to them on a Thursday, all in one sitting. This is more efficient. You are not interrupted by emails all day.
You can also batch project related tasks. Sure, you may be able to work fast by completing tasks immediately, as these tasks trickle in on day one. However, it often does not hurt to give yourself a more lenient timeline. Wait a day or two, consolidate tasks for that same project, and “blitz” through them on the second or third day. Pace yourself better.
Remember that being productive and fast at your job does not bring in additional income, unlike being productive at building your side business would.
Thus, batch your mundane work tasks – you can always choose not to give your company the most productive hours of your day.
Sure, you may lose some political standing and work results. But so what if you are seen as an average employee? It does not matter as you are not trying to climb the ladder within your company (hint: switch jobs or start a side business instead). Other people will get accustomed to your pace.
3. Multitask
Working from home has opened up avenues of multitasking that were once impossible.
If you have to attend in-person meetings at your corporate office, you would only be able to work on your side hustle when you return home, after your commute – when you are already tired.
Yet, when you have remote meetings over Zoom, no one is peering over your screen and you can use that time – instead of wasting it – to carry out research for your side business (find products to sell, learn copywriting, etc.).
As you can see, the unnecessarily long corporate workday can be shortened when you work remotely. You can multitask more easily and cut out the dead time.
So the next time you must do “mindless” data entry/sorting for hours, you can afford to multitask. Instead of wasting your brainpower for 3 hours straight, do these easy, routine tasks alongside the more cognitively demanding tasks like writing or coding.
Code for 20 minutes, and organize your company’s google spreadsheet for the next 10 minutes.
If you aren’t in a hurry, you can even batch these mundane tasks to be done after your hardest tasks of the day.
This is just one way to multitask. Besides working on another stream of income, here are 8 other ways to multitask when working a remote job in order to improve efficiency.
Less hours at your job, more hours for yourself
In summary, the three methods discussed in this article will help be more productive. Do not forget that while a job gives you income to pay the bills, your income will not grow at scale but only at 2-5 percent annual increments.
Work less hours at your remote job, so that you can have more time to create additional streams of income.
Aim to become a time management master at your remote job, so that making multiple streams of income can be an integral part of your remote working lifestyle.