Working remotely has many benefits to both workers and employers, including no commute time, less late or missing days, and less overhead. But since the work-from-home environment has less structure than the in-office environment, it’s essential to create a daily schedule to remain productive, avoid working too many hours, and to maintain a healthy work-life balance. In this article, we discuss how to create this schedule.

Determine the Times When You Will and Will Not Be Working

To begin creating your schedule, make a list of tasks that you do regularly each day or week. You will use this list to schedule times in your calendar for doing those tasks. But first, you may need to time yourself to determine how long each task takes.

Without establishing the times that they will not be working, it’s easy for remote workers to fall into the trap of working all the time – even in the evenings or on weekends. This can lead to burnout. So, it’s important to mark your non-working hours on your calendar and let those you work with know the times that you will not be available.

Schedule Break Times

When working remotely, it can be easy to forget to take a break, but taking regular breaks is essential for physical and mental health. So schedule break times and vacation times into your daily calendar. Also, if you need to take time away for running a personal errand, it can be helpful to mark that into your calendar so that your team knows you are unavailable.

Leave Some Times Open

In addition to scheduling break times, it’s also important to leave some open times on your calendar. Sometimes, tasks may take longer than expected or an unexpected task, such as a call, may come up. By leaving some extra room in your schedule, it won’t be thrown off course when these circumstances arise.

Include Your Morning Routine

Creating a morning routine and adding it to your daily schedule can help to start your day off well. Some of the things you might include in your routine are exercise, morning errands, and meditation.

Schedule Your Meetings Effectively

If you are part of a virtual team, it is essential to stay connected with team members to share ideas and feedback and to know how each team member is doing. So schedule times for regular team / individual team member meetings on your calendar. A recommended strategy is to schedule meetings early in the week so that you can then focus the rest of your week on working on tasks and projects.

A coach can help you with developing effective work schedules for your business and teams. Get in touch today!