3 Biggest Remote Work Lessons I’ve Learned

Remote working is absolutely amazing, it comes with so much more freedom and flexibility than any of my other jobs could have ever offered. But that’s not to say it’s all sunshine and rainbows.

My name is Allie and I’ve been working remotely for several years now as a project manager in marketing. In this post, I’m going to be sharing 3 of the biggest remote work lessons I’ve learned (the hard way) so you don’t have to.

If you are new to remote working or are interested in how to work remotely, these remote work tips will save you SO much time, money and stress. So, make sure to save this for later and share it with a friend who needs to hear it.

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Remote Work Lesson #1: Everything will be labeled “urgent”… but most of it isn’t

How many of you guys have been told “Fire drill!!! I need this ASAP!” but then found out the next day, it wasn’t really “urgent?” *Raises hand*

I work in marketing and let me tell you, clients and coworkers love to label anything and everything as “urgent.” But the truth is, 90% of the time it’s not really urgent. I used to fall for the trap and would find myself working all hours of the day to get my tasks done the moment they were handed to me. But the impact of that was a snowball of tasks on my to-do list that left me overwhelmed and burnt out.

I went to my manager and explained what was happening, how I was feeling, and that I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to let my team down but I could not physically nor mentally keep working that way. It was getting harder to keep up with my workload and I was afraid I’d drop the ball eventually.

And you know what she told me? Advice I want to preach to EVERYONE who is working remotely. She told me the best way to handle these situations while earning respect from your coworkers and clients is to do these two things.

First, ask for clarity on the root of the request. What is truly needed and when is it truly needed by. More often than not, you’ll find out more information is needed, they were scrambling for a solution without having the full details, and/or they don’t really need it until XYZ date/time (in other words, not now).

Second, based on the request and when it’s needed, evaluate what you can realistically achieve. If it’s the end of your day, ask yourself if there is someone else working in another time zone that you can hand it off to. Can you move some meetings around and take care of it the next morning? Maybe it can be achieved right then and there, and maybe that only requires 30-60 minutes of effort. Sometimes this means staying on late. But working late hours every day should not be the expectation nor become the reality.

Once you determine what you can realistically do, have an honest conversation with your coworker or client. A good approach is to start with the positive and end with the negative. For example, “I understand you need _[task]_ accomplished and I can make sure to get this done for you. While I am unable to get this done by _ [today]_, I will prioritize this first thing _[tomorrow]_ and follow up with an update by _[before end of day]_. Then, create a to-do list in order of priority to help you make sure nothing gets missed. Whatever you promise, just be sure to deliver accordingly (the key here is to make sure you are NOT over promising and under delivering).

Following this advice and not treating everything as urgent has truly saved me a tremendous amount of time and stress.

Remote Work Lesson #2: If you don’t protect your time, no one else will.

When you work from home, you don’t have a boss or manager hovering off your shoulders telling you when to take your break or when to log off for the day. There is no “office closing for the day” or “turning off the lights and locking up.” Your home is your office and you are the person responsible for protecting your time.

So it is crucial that you are intentional with your time every day. I personally love time blocking and use this method by blocking a recurring 30 minute appointment on my calendar M-F which tells others I’m busy (aka taking lunch break). This helps ensure people don’t book up all 8 hours of my day, leaving me no time to take a break.

To help log off on time, I highly recommend also time blocking the last hour of your day to complete follow-ups and wrap up whatever you were working on. I do my best to avoid meetings the last 30 minutes of my day because I almost always need 15-30 minutes post-meeting to do follow-ups. If I were to have a meeting the last half hour of my day, this inevitably would mean logging off late.

And listen, this doesn’t mean you can’t be flexible. Sometimes people book over my lunch break or will book me right before logging off because it’s the only time that works for the team. I am willing to make the exception so long as it is only an exception, and not the standard. If you let it become the standard, I can assure you that people will take advantage and they will begin to view you as available 24/7. Don’t be afraid to set the boundaries and politely remind your coworkers of your working hours.

The important thing I want to get across here is that taking your breaks and logging off on time is how you stay fueled, focused, and able to show up every day as your best self. Treat this like a non-negotiable and watch how it transforms your day-to-day.

Remote Work Lesson #3: Meal planning not only saves you time and money, but it saves your sanity.

I used to think meal planning was too much work, not worth it, and that I would be just fine preparing all of my meals each day as I went. Boy was I wrong.

When work gets busy and your calendar gets jam-packed (which will likely be most of the time), I’m telling you that you aren’t going to want to cook. You might also tell yourself you can skip lunch and just eat when dinner time comes around. But then you find yourself losing focus in the middle of the day, feeling hangry during your meetings, and gradually declining in productivity.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to plan and prepare your meals. Meal planning will save you so much time and stress as a remote worker. This doesn’t necessarily mean you must fully cook and store 7 meals before each week. In fact, I know many people who DON’T prefer this method because it means more time than usual in the kitchen on Sunday’s, having to take up a bunch of freezer space, and then reheat frozen food on the weekdays (which by then, may have lost their flavor).

My favorite hack here is to create simple snack trays. Chop up fruits and vegetables, add some variety of nuts or crackers, make a mini charcuterie board if you will. Store 3-5 snack boxes in the fridge and pull these out whenever you feel yourself getting hungry.

Additionally, have soups or broths ready to go for a quick lunchtime meal. Prep salads by chopping the lettuce, onions, tomatoes, or cucumbers so you can quickly assemble the salad on your break. Write down 5-7 meal ideas on your fridge so you have an idea of what foods you want to cook, then thaw any meats, chop up things like onions, garlic, or butter, and set aside any seasonings.

These sorts of simple tricks can save you an immense amount of time, money, and stress while working remotely. And more importantly, they’ll help deter you from picking up the phone for the 3rd time this week to order off Door Dash or Uber Eats.

Share Your Remote Work Lessons

Remote work is genuinely one of the best things to ever happen in my life — but it came with lessons I had to learn the hard way.

Whether you’re new to remote work or just trying to avoid burnout, these three habits will help you stay productive, protect your energy, and actually enjoy the flexibility you’re working so hard for.

Drop a comment down below and share your experiences working remotely. How long have you been working from home and what remote work lessons have you learned? Did any of these 3 remote work lessons resonate with you?