My 7 Secret Remote Work Best Practices For Success

It’s time I shared my 7 secret remote work best practices for success. 

As a lifelong remote worker, I swear by these life hacks for remote work. They’ve improved my health and productivity and helped me secure top-paying remote jobs.

Want to do the same? Let’s roll.

My 7 Best Pest Practices For Remote Work

Here is my list of 7 best practices for remote work:

1. Set clear goals.
2. Use the right tools.
3. Socialise with your coworkers.
4. Understand your productivity.
5. Monitor your time.
6. Build boundaries between work and life.
7. Embrace further training.

Let me walk you through these best practices for remote work. We’ll start with the most important one: setting clear goals.

1. Set Clear Goals

You can’t measure your success without setting clear goals. So, get in the habit of setting yourself measurable goals. I typically set weekly, monthly and quarterly goals.

Here’s an example:

• Weekly Goal: Write 4 blog posts and 1 newsletter.
• Monthly Goal: Increase traffic on the website by 2,000 visitors.
• Quarterly Goal: End Q2 with at least 20,000 monthly blog visitors.

But wait, why set clear goals?

Because it’s one of the best practices for remote work, clear goals hold remote workers accountable for their work. When they feel accountable, they take ownership, and that’s the secret behind remote work success.

It’s also one of the secrets behind Mark’s (Sauce Remote’s CEO) success when hiring remote employees.

But you can’t just set goals and hope you’ll achieve them. You need to use the right tools.

2. Use The Right Tools

You need some of the best remote work tools if you work from home. I typically always ensure I have at least the following tools:

• An instant messaging app, like Slack.
• A complete workspace and file-sharing platform like Google Workspace.
• Something to help with project management, like Notion.

These tools, including some remote work apps, help boost my productivity. They also keep things neatly organised and easily accessible from anywhere in the world.

And instant messaging apps, like Slack, help me connect with my coworkers.

3. Socialise With Your Coworkers

The National Institutes of Health found that being social can significantly increase productivity while lowering stress levels.

Sadly, as remote workers, we can’t socialise with our coworkers around the water cooler, affecting our mental health and productivity.

It gets worse. Made of Millions found that lonely workers report feeling less productive and engaged. They are five times more likely to miss work due to stress!

So, how can you overcome one of the worst remote work challenges? 

Easy. You use your remote tools. Messaging apps like Slack are great for random banter. But here’s one of my favourite best practices for remote work: invest in online team-building activities.

These activities can improve employee morale and productivity.

4. Understand Your Productivity

You can’t talk about remote work productivity without first understanding what it means for you.

Look, no one is perfect and brimming with energy all the time. It’s simply impossible to work at full speed all the time. 

However, the flip side is also true. You can’t slack and avoid work for most of the day.

Luckily, you have access to some of the best benefits of remote work. And the best benefit is having flexible hours.

Here’s what I do:

I’m more creative in the mid-afternoons, just after lunch. So, I schedule creative tasks, like writing this blog post, for those hours.

In the morning, I’m fresh and more analytical, so it’s the perfect time to research and compile some reports.

You may work better late at night or early in the morning. My point is this: choose when you’re most productive and work around that.

You must also learn to monitor your time no matter when you're most productive.

5. Monitor Your Time

If you’re looking for the best remote work practices, you must master the art of tracking your time.

Why? Because Bloomberg found remote workers are likelier to overwork than their office-bound coworkers. Another Monster poll found that 69% of remote employees will experience burnout at least once in their career.

So, how do you avoid burnout and ensure you use your time effectively?Here’s how I do it:

• I use a tomato timer to help me manage my time. 
• I’m also pretty nerdy about tracking how long it takes me to complete a task. This gives me better insight, which allows me to set realistic targets.

You’ll quickly find that you’re more productive and healthier. And while we’re on that topic, let’s look at the next best practice for managing remote work.

6. Build Boundaries Between Work And Life

You must learn to build a solid boundary between work and life.

Don’t believe me? I said this when I shared my secrets for remote work management. 

Hell, I even mentioned this when writing about setting up a home office for remote work.

Here’s my point: working from home blurs the lines between the office and home. Before I could blink, I’d check my emails, reply to a DM, or research the next exciting article on my to-do list.

This harmed my mental health, which, in turn, lowered my productivity. I quickly felt tired, burned out and unmotivated.

These days, I’m a big advocate for locking my home office door when I’m done for the day.

I’ve managed to separate my work and personal life. Here’s how I suggest you do the same:

• Set your regular office hours and stick to it.
• After hours, mute all those notifications.
• Realise that you’re more than your work.

Got that? Good. Let’s move on to my final tip on this remote work best practices list.

7. Embrace Further Training

The future of remote work is bright, but it’s constantly changing. However, you must embrace further training to avoid being replaced by AI or some new app.

And I’m not just saying this.

All the big companies invest in employee training. Just look at the best remote companies to work for. They found that educating employees builds morale, increases productivity and helps them retain their top talent.

So, how do you do this, especially if you’re a young company with limited resources? Here’s what I suggest:

• Join webinars related to your industry or even the tools you use daily.
• Host learning sessions where team members or leadership can share valuable insights.
• Invite remote work experts to talk with your team.
• Read blogs like this one to learn more about remote work.

This brings me to my final tip: embrace new technology. Even better if it’s tech that can automate mundane, routine tasks, leaving you free to tackle the more intense (and hopefully fun) tasks.

Continue learning, and you’ll succeed.

My Final Thoughts

And there you have it! I’ve shared my 7 secret remote work best practices for guaranteed success. Does success happen overnight? Nope, but you can achieve it by following my tips. Good luck!