Healthy habits for developers working remotely

A remote job is an excellent opportunity for every worker. No traffic, no strict schedule, flexibility, and the possibility to decide how to manage your own time. All that sounds great, though every remote worker has to define some rules to follow to work effectively and prevent distraction and potential frustration. I want to introduce you to 3 healthy habits for developers working remotely to stay healthy, fit, and mentally calm.

Stay disciplined and organized.

You are the owner of your time when you’re working remotely. It seems like a great gift. However, with this power, there comes a responsibility. You have to be careful so as not to get into a trap of laziness, social media distractions, and of course, the bed right next to your desk is calling your name every 30 minutes 🙂

Organize your time to work efficiently and constantly for a certain period. Then take a valuable rest, take a walk, eat something, etc. Finally, let your mind off and get some energy for another period of work.

Don’t let the distractions enter your workspace, and by distractions, I mean mainly regular checking social media profiles. Scrolling Instagram or Facebook makes us addicted to some external factors which take over our focus. It is more and more common that people get into checking social media and lose all the energy they gathered for a particular task at work. It happens everywhere. However, while working remotely, it might be even more challenging.

That’s why we need to stay disciplined and organized.

Take headphones and cut yourself off the entire world.

Mute the notifications on your phone.

Work in time intervals when your phone is far away from you (in the drawer, in another room, someplace where it won’t bother you).

Define working hours and rest hours for yourself.

You have to keep the balance while working remote as you must deliver some solution in a given amount of time. We can use the great opportunity of managing our own time and go swimming in the ocean in the middle of the day, but only if we’re sure that we will catch up with the project afterward or we’ve done already so much that we can get some nice reward.

Let’s use our time wisely and keep the balance. Work efficiently and rest efficiently!

Move

Sometimes we feel stuck with the project, nothing seems to get better and we start to get more and more frustrated. In this case the natural thing to do is just to force yourself to stay by the desk as long as you will get to the solution of the problem. Really often it is not the best option to pick. By staying long time by the desk we will not increase our work efficiency. We will do the opposite, the longer we will stay constantly by the computer, the more effort we will have to put into staying focused.

It is so important for people to move, and especially for developers. If your day is tough, that’s the extra call for you to give it a little break and move a bit. Go for a long walk, run in the park, workout a bit, go swimming in the sea – it will all pay off. Your health is really important, mental one and physical one. By taking an active break from work you are giving yourself a nice gift and your body will be grateful for it. Your mind will be released from the tension given by thinking a lot about some solution. Your body though, will be more relaxed and your muscles stronger and more stable (something necessary when sitting half of the day). In general you will recharge your batteries and make yourself ready for another part of the day.

Keep moving, for your body and your mind!Keep moving, for your body and your mind!

Find your daily routine and reward yourself

We all have some routines. That’s the way our bodies and minds work – they automate many activities performed by us so that we would put the least effort possible.

While working as a remote developer it is also good practice to create your own daily routines. It will help you to stay focused in particular parts of the day which is equal to working more effectively.

All the routines might be different as we all have some diverse habits. Some people would go for a run in the morning to get energy for the whole day, others would sleep until 10am to focus better late night on their tasks. The thing is, it’s all up to you and you have the freedom to plan your day as you want. Routines will affect you like a sportsman. Regular training will give you visible results – regular daily plan will make your life more efficient and organized.

Moreover, try to reward yourself for what you’ve done in certain amount of time. It might be some weekend trip or surfing session after finishing daily tasks – pick whatever you want. You will get extra motivation to stay focused on your work because afterwards you’ll enjoy your time. Rewarding yourself, gives you more confidentiality with work you’re doing because whenever you’re struggling, you subconsciously know that your reward will be some quality time. That helps you persist and stay on the right track.

Those are some healthy habits I could share with you so far. Stay organized, motivated and healthy!