Figure this out before even thinking of becoming a remote worker
By: Rohan Anthony Smith
Tags: Digital Nomads, Remote, Remote Working, Work Life Balance, Remote Work

Finding your why !important

So you want to be a remote worker. Maybe is it because of the recent media attention digital nomads have been getting. Maybe you got stuck in traffic for 4 hours yesterday for the 5th time this month and you decided that you cannot live your life like this anymore. Or maybe you genuinely want to more spend time with your friends and family. Perhaps wish you had the time to do that one thing that you are really passionate about.

Whatever your reason, it is important that you have one. It is also important that you are personally motivated by these reasons and are willing to endure the negative tradeoffs of being a remote worker.

Before we look into the strategies, it is very important that you sit down and have a long talk with yourself. In this little self-to-self conversation, I want you to ask yourself a bunch of “why” questions.

Why do I want to work remotely?

Is it just the cool factor?

Do I want more flexibility?

Do I want to spend more time with my family?

Do I want to move out of a major city?

Do I want to travel to far-flung countries?

Do I want to work for amazing companies, not in my current location?

Do I want to earn foreign exchange?

Is it because I want a change in my career?

Do I want to work on more interesting projects?

Am I might just tired of seeing people?

Is the commute to and from work killing my productivity?

Do I want extra time to work on my side projects?

Am I sick of office life, politics and distractions?

Do I want to get out of a dead-end job?

Many of these may have directly hit the nail on the head but these are just the ones I have heard people saying over the years. If you are serious about taking the plunge into the remote working world. Take a few minutes to write down your thoughts, yes, stop reading now and write them down if you are serious about transitioning to this type of work environment. List at least five personal motivations you have for becoming a remote worker. Consider what are the most important push and pull factors, driving you to consider remote work as a means of achieving these outcomes. You may come to realize that remote work is not necessarily the only way to accomplish some of your goals. For example, you can spend more time with your family if you are more intentional about how you manage your after-work hours. You can plan more weekend activities or use more of your vacation time for family-oriented purposes. There are many remote workers who still spend little time with family and friends. As awesome as it sounds, remote work is not the cure-all of all work-related ailments. All great things in life come with their tradeoffs, many of them may even be worse than the problems you are trying to solve.

Now that you have taken the time to write down your own five reasons for why being able to work remotely is important to you. Here are a few more questions that are as important to consider.

Am I willing to take the negative trade-offs of working remotely?

Can I deal with extended isolation?

Will I be able to stay focused at home or in a noisy coffee shop?

Am I willing to sit down at a computer for 8 hours, every day?

Can I manage my health and fitness considering the extended hours of sitting?

Do I have alternate means of social engagement?

Am I willing to develop the self-motivation necessary to work from home?

Will I be able to balance my work time and my family time?

Will I be able to manage my coworkers and managers contacting me at weird hours?

This is just a peek into the dark side of remote work. These are also just a few of the possible negative trade-offs of working remotely. Take another few minutes and write down some of the negative trade-offs that are specific to your own circumstance. Ensure you are aware of these caveats before you proceed into this possibly life-altering change.

Now that you have a list of motivations and having considered a couple of the disadvantages. You are now in a better place to answer these questions.

Now pause and ponder on your answer to each question before moving on to the next.

Why do I believe remote work will be the only way to accomplish my goals?

Can I accomplish these same outcomes in a modified version of my current job?

Is there anyone who has accomplished these goals without a remote job?

Are the problems I am trying to solve simply the result of my habits?

Is it possible to partially fulfill these goals in my current situation? If yes, why haven’t I started?

It is very important that you have clear and direct answers to these questions. If you are honest with yourself, these answers will be the foundation of your motivation. I will be honest up front and say: for some people, this transition to remote will be harder than it is for others. Having a strong and solid purpose will help to develop a mindset that will keep you motivated. This is necessary in order to find suitable remote work and thrive in the most ideal remote job suitable for you.

You will come to the realization after doing remote work for a while that the life of a remote worker is not a bed of roses. Many books and articles portray remote work as a life sitting on the beach and drinking margaritas. A more realistic image for a large number of remote workers involves them sitting in their underwear in the corner of their living room, converted to an office, with head down, typing away for 8–10 hours of the day. Life can get very lonely for a remote worker, this is especially true if you are an extrovert.

This is not meant to be an article written to discourage you from trying out remote work, It is simply trying to dispel the many misconceptions at the very beginning. It is to flash before you the hidden realities often overlooked when considering this type of work. If you do not think this is the life for you, you should stop reading now and go back to your regular job. If you’re still reading, it should be because you have considered the tradeoffs of this lifestyle and have conceived of ways to manage them. Or at least you are willing to learn some of the strategies to mitigate many of the obstacles you will face.

There are many successful, thriving remote workers who would never consider any other type of working situation. There are ways to improve your working conditions: you can set up a really nice office, you can have organized working times, you can communicate your working hours with your co-workers to ensure that you have a structured time where you can limit work or separate work from life. This may not all come at the beginning, especially for novice remote workers, however, as you garner experience, and learn what best suits your personal work habits, over the years, you will develop an environment that suits your needs.

Keep a copy of the list of motivations you made earlier in this article, keep it somewhere accessible, preferably on a piece of paper so you can remind yourself of all these reasons you chose to work remotely. This will become necessary when inevitably you start to feel demotivated either while in a remote job or while searching for remote work. The remote work search can be dauntingly difficult at times, especially if you are new to the whole remote job search. However, I will be giving you tips, tricks and lesser know strategies on how to maneuver your way through the remote work lifestyle. These will be based on all the mistakes I’ve made in the past and what I have done to lessen a lot of the drudge work in finding and maintaining a successful remote job.