Remote Work Isn’t Rocket Science …Or Is It?

We have all seen the debates of remote work versus in-office work, and I think we can all agree that remote work is the clear winner. However, remote work has its pitfalls and challenges, which I don’t often see discussed, or I only see people and companies suggesting that the solution is to ‘get your ass back into the office.’

A month ago, I jokingly posted about feeling like an astronaut when working from home on LinkedIn. It was a fun comparison, but there’s actually more truth to it than you might think.

In remote work life, it is easy to fall into comfort and convenience when nothing is pushing you to get ready and out the door. Recently, I found myself slipping and realized I needed to make a conscious effort every day to stay healthy and happy, similar to astronauts living in space (should we call ourselves remotenauts?).

Don’t get me wrong here, working remotely is an amazing privilege and opportunity, but it requires a lifestyle and mindset shift along with it. You can’t just keep living the same way as when you worked in an office and expect everything to work out.

Up until this point, most of us have spent more time in the office than working remotely in our careers, so we never developed the social, physical, and mental health habits required for remote work life.

It’s like we just decided to jump on a rocket ship to live in space without proper training.

My Pre-Remote Work Life:

• Get up early
• Get presentable -> Clean clothes, deodorant, maybe even pants!
• Walk outside to the car -> sometimes in extreme cold -> Scrape windows if needed
• Drive in traffic -> park ->walk to the office -> maybe take some stairs
• Socialize with coworkers before starting -> sometimes talking with people I didn’t even like, yikes!
• Walk to meeting rooms, walk to get water and coffee
• Go for lunch with others -> probably walk to get there
• Do 1 on 1 walks (I miss these)
• Walk back to car -> drive home -> stop at the store if needed

Remote Work Life:

• Roll out of bed -> Apply video chat filter -> Work

Okay maybe not quite true, but I bet some of you could get away with just rolling out of bed and starting the day.

If we really compare these two different lifestyles you can see how remote work can start to lack in key areas of life pretty easily. Most notably:

• Your social interactions are non-existent (I don’t count zoom meetings)
• You don’t have to walk around and move your body very much
• You don’t really have to get yourself ready
• You don’t have to go outside at all
• You never have to endure discomfort in your day if I don’t want to

(Maybe I should just get a WALLE chair at this point)

The Solution Here Is Not ‘Return To Office’

Look, we don’t need commutes or an office to thrive in remote work life, but we do need things that push us out of our comfort zone and force us to move and interact with the world outside of our homes. Humans naturally gravitate toward comfort.

Before, we were forced into discomfort: we were compelled to move our bodies, leave the house, and talk to people, even if we didn’t know them well! All of these things are good for our overall health.

The longer you go without leaving the house, socializing, or exercising, the harder it becomes to make the effort. You lose your momentum, and discomfort becomes something you actively avoid. Social situations become more draining and awkward, exercising feels like an impossible task, and why would you want to step out the door? It’s essentially becoming a form of depression.”

“I could go to gym, but …”

“That’s like a 10 minute drive in the cold”

“I need to get gas in the car”

“I am already comfy in my PJs on the couch”

“Tomorrow is probably a better day for that”

Now, some of you will read this and say, ‘I don’t have any of these issues,’ and that’s great! You’ve figured out the routine, habits, and discipline needed, or maybe a lot of these things come naturally to you. Perhaps you had many friends outside of work, a solid gym routine, and outdoor hobbies when working in an office.

But many of us don’t have life outside the office figured out yet and are learning the hard way that these support systems are critical to our long-term health and happiness.

For some of us, our social lives revolved around our work friends. We would bike or walk to work, live in a beautiful place where the commute wasn’t a problem, and didn’t have to consciously think about these aspects of our lives as we do now with remote work.

Healthy Remote Work Requires Conscious Effort

So, look, the purpose of this article is to emphasize that your lifestyle and mindset need to adapt if you want to thrive and reap the benefits of remote work. Everyone will have a different approach, but here’s what is currently working for me.

I created a Notion template that allows me to monitor daily activities I consider important. I know I won’t complete each one every day, but this serves as a reminder and check-in to ensure I’m working towards thriving. There are plenty of apps and tools out there for tracking activities like these, so I encourage you to start exploring them and take control of your remote life.

If you want to try Notion (no, this is not sponsored), it’s completely free, and you can customize it however you like. If you need help setting things up or want someone to be your ‘accountability partner,’ I encourage you to reach out to me, no strings attached. We can communicate in whatever way you’re comfortable with — video call, any messaging app, text — just let me know!

Free template: Link

Reach out through the links here: bio.site/Ianfield

If you are reading this article and you are an expert or someone who can add value to the conversation in anything that was covered or a related topic, I would love to have you come on the Pixelated Futures podcast to discuss! Reach out to me at bio.site/Ianfield