So, you have a job. You are working 9-to-5, and the only thing you can do during that time is work.
No distractions until the lunch break, which doesn’t give you really enough time to do other important things, maybe doing some small errands like going to the bank, or paying your rent.
So what do you do if you need more time for personal things? You have to wait until finishing your shift, and just then, tired, you can attend to any other thing that might be part of your personal interest.
Working remotely gave me the opportunity to focus some of my time on a really big goal of mine: building a house for my family.
Once I started, I was overwhelmed with the incredible amount of time, effort, coordination, and people involved in building a house.
But as I don’t have to be in front of my laptop in a fixed time shift, I was able find a time window to deal with the house project, buy bricks, sand, doors, discuss with the contractors, architect, plumber, and find a good time to work, while being happy to also see how the house project moves forward, not having my job to suffer.
This is something that is almost impossible to do having a normal job, unless you have the opportunity to make 30 phone calls a day while being at the office, and your boss doesn’t get mad with you thinking that you are not working enough.
Working remotely is about freedom, and you are the one to use that freedom wisely.
In my situation, I manage my day-to-day work with building my house. So I choose to be available for the house during the morning, from 8 a.m. to noon (when the phone isn’t ringing), then have lunch, take a coffee, and after that, work for 6 hours until the late afternoon.
Then I get my wife from work, have dinner, and continue a couple of more hours after that, to finish with some programming tasks. Sometimes I also use Saturday morning to peacefully do some programming, without thinking about the house.
When you are in the middle of such a big project, programming is like fresh air.
What’s great about working remotely is that it gives you the opportunity of, among other great things, having flexible work time.
That enables you to organize your day with some thought. All of a sudden you’re not only working, but also splitting your time according to your personal achievements and needs, like taking your children to school, doing a workout, hanging out with friends, taking a course in something you’re passionate about, traveling, and a vast amount of etceteras.
Not only that, you might even build an entire house for your family. Here’s the progress of my own:
Working remotely is, in my opinion, the way to go in terms of personal development, performance at work, enjoying family moments, and, last but not least, enjoying your job very much and when you prefer.
If you can take your laptop with you, and you love to organize your work in your own way, you should not hesitate about trying it once; you won’t regret it, and, for sure, you won’t want to take a common on-site job again.