How To Overcome Challenges of Working Remotely
In today’s time, remote work has become very common and professionals from all careers are involved with it. The concept of remote work, for many people and organizations, is still relatively new, as people are so used to working from their offices, which used to be the only method of working in the past. But as time goes by, remote work is becoming common in almost every type of organization. But organizations are not the only entities that can make use of remote work. Businesspersons, entrepreneurs, and freelancers make use of remote work as well. Remote work has many benefits for everyone. But before we get started, let’s consider what remote work actually is.
What Is Remote Work?
In very simple and brief words, remote work is a manner of working in which the professionals are allowed to work outside of their offices like people usually do. Look at remote work in this way: instead of working from an office each and every day, with the help of remote work, people can work on their projects and their goals from anywhere that they see fit or want to. So, remote work offers many conveniences to those who adopt this manner of working.
Is Remote Work Problem Free?
This is an important question here. No, as with all things in the professional world, remote work is not “problem-free” and it has its fair share of issues and inconveniences as well. There are many challenges that come with the process of remote working, but if they are dealt with in a smart way, these challenges are easy to overcome and remote work can be very beneficial and rewarding as well.
Is Remote Work Suitable For Everyone?
It depends on what the job requires from the person, but to a major extent, for the people who run their own businesses, and the entrepreneurs, working remotely is very suitable and convenient as well. But then there are some jobs that require people to be present on-site in the offices so in such a case, remote work isn’t convenient.
Remote Work & Fitness Trainers
The common method of work for the fitness trainers and wellness coaches was in-person training and coaching. But, like with everything else, as time went by, the fitness trainers and wellness coaches are able to offer their services remotely as well. They are able to offer their expertise and training while operating remotely. Thanks to remote work, interacting with, and training the clients has never been more convenient for the fitness trainers and wellness coaches. Remote work is convenient not only for the trainers and coaches but it provides benefits to the clients as well in many ways.
While there are many benefits of operating remotely, there are a few challenges as well that come along. But dealing with these challenges in a smart manner can make things very convenient and easy for everyone; the trainers and also the clients.
Overcoming Challenges Of Remote Work
Though working remotely has a lot of benefits and advantages for everyone, it does have some challenges that can make things become a little frustrating and complex. But if you overcome these challenges in the right way, remote work can become the best manner of working in every way possible. The following are some of the major challenges that people face when they working remotely.
Lower productivity problem
One of the biggest challenges that people face in remote work is that they experience lower levels of productivity as compared to when they are working from their offices. This is among the most common problems that almost everyone faces when working remotely. But there is nothing to be worried about. The solution to this issue is very simple.
The reason for lower productivity in remote work as compared to working from an office is that when you are operating remotely, you will most likely be at home, and at home, or almost anywhere other than your office, you will get lots of distractions bothering you all the time. These distractions can range from the urge to check your phone, watch a video on YouTube, or just a simple lack of motivation to work due to feeling too comfortable at home.
All of this is absolutely normal and happens with all of us. The solution to the problem is to take short breaks frequently so that your mind can stay fresh and active. These short breaks each hour can help you maintain your high levels of productivity by keeping the distractions at bay. So, try this simple method to overcome the challenge of low levels of productivity in remote work.
Socializing with your co-workers
When you are working in your office, you are among your co-workers and you can socialize freely and easily with them. Socialization with co-workers can help with work and can make things easier. Your productivity level also stays high when you are cooperating with others at work. But when you are operating remotely and are working from home or any other place, other than your office, socializing with others become a major issue.
Socialization is necessary for everyone but when you are working alone from your home or any other place, you face challenges when trying to communicate with co-workers. Online communication with others can be very problematic and difficult. As a result, your socialization levels go down and this can lead to a decrease in your productivity and overall output. But there is a simple way to overcome this challenge!
Because socialization is very important for all of us and can help us be more efficient and effective in our work, if you are working remotely, you will be facing the issues of being unable to interact with others. The easy solution to this is that you should take the time out, at least twice a week to go and socialize with your peers! Go work at a friend’s place or go to your office if you can. Just socialize enough each week to keep yourself from feeling too “isolated” and alone. Socialization is essential, so make sure you get your fair share of it even when working remotely!
Personal and professional life getting merged
Another major challenge that people face when they are working remotely is that they cannot determine the boundaries between their personal and professional life. When people are operating from their homes, the boundary between personal and professional life seems to fade away, which can cause the work-life balance to be disrupted significantly. When people are operating remotely, they are always feeling relaxed and feel comfortable in their own preferred environment. This takes away the feeling of operating in a professional environment and the “work” aspect of life seems to fade away. This makes people feel uncertain about the boundaries that differentiate their work and personal life. This can lead to confusion and the feeling of not being able to enjoy the personal life to the fullest. As a result, the overall work output goes down and the happiness in terms of personal life drops as well, leading to an unproductive environment where work doesn’t seem to get done and all that exists is uncertainty, unhappiness, and lack of motivation.
The solution to this challenge is all about setting a routine and structure. What you can do is that you can define your work time and not engage in professional life, other than the defined hours that you have set yourself. This will restrict your professional life and you will be able to maintain a solid boundary between work and personal life. So, keep your work life separate from your personal life and things will go well in terms of remote work.
Burning out by working too much
Sometimes people end up working way too much while operating remotely due to the unrestricted work environment. While people believe that remote work will make sure that they won’t burn out by working too much, the reality is actually the opposite of this. When people are working remotely, they are unsupervised as compared to working in an office and being under the supervision of a manager. Being unsupervised can make people feel that they aren’t working enough and they don’t realize how much they’ve achieved for the day when they are isolated and working alone. The end result is that they end up overworking. This can make them feel exhausted burnt out very quickly and it drains the energy that they need to operate properly.
This is a serious issue as it can make people feel stressed out. The solution to this is to monitor your work by creating goals for each day. You should set out specific goals to achieve each day in terms of work and once you have achieved them, you can consider the work to be done for the day. This tactic will make sure that you don’t stress yourself out by overworking. Not monitoring your work will surely lead to overworking, so be wise and plan things for each workday to make sure that you achieve the results without stressing yourself out.
Becoming lazy in terms of overall health
When people work remotely, they start leading a sedentary lifestyle which can harm their overall health. Look at it this way: you are working from your home and once you’re done with work, you’re still at home! When people operate remotely, they tend to become lazier and this harms their health. If people go to their offices each day, they engage in at least some sort of physical activity such as walking. But remote work can adversely affect health if it is not taken care of. The solution to this challenge is fairly simple as well.
What you need to do is make sure that each day after work, you take some time out to go outside and engage in physical activities to keep your health in check. When you keep your physical health in check, you will feel better and hence, work better! So, make sure that you keep your health in check and stay fit!
Time zone issues
When people are freelancing, they engage in remote work and the biggest issue for the majority of freelancers is the time zone issues with their clients. You might be in one region and your client in another, and this can lead to uneven work schedules and routine that can disrupt the overall life, significantly. This issue is very common and most people working remotely experience this. Unfortunately, there is no proper solution to this challenge and the best thing that you can do is to make sure you schedule your work according to the time zone of your clients. This will make sure that the work takes place in an even and smooth manner.
Technology-related issues
When you are working in an office and some of your work equipment or software becomes problematic, you will be able to get an expert on it right away and get the problems fixed. But, when working remotely, such problems related to technology can take a lot of time to get fixed and this can disrupt the efficiency of work and overall output. This issue is very common and almost every person working remotely faces this at some point in their work life.
The solution to this issue is to keep a proper check on all your technology that you use for your work and make sure it’s working properly to avoid the drawbacks that can arise when things become problematic.
Different Ways People Can Work Remotely
Most people think that working remotely only refers to working from home. While working from home is one form of remote work, it is not all that remote work is. There are many different ways in which people can work remotely. The following are some of the major ways in which people work remotely.
Working from home
This is the most common form of working remotely. Working from home means that you operate and do all your professional work from within your house. All the freelancers are doing this and in today’s time, most organizations allow their employees to work from home as it has many benefits in terms of work efficiency and costs saving. Working from home is apparently becoming the new normal manner of work now. Working from home allows people to do all their work in an easy and comfortable manner that increases their efficiency and effectiveness. So, this is one of the most common manners of working remotely.
Working while traveling
Another manner of working remotely is when people are traveling. Thanks to the technology that is portable, even when people are traveling, they can do their work with ease. This makes sure that people never delay their important work just because of traveling from one point to another. So, working remotely while traveling is very beneficial for those people whose jobs require them to travel frequently.
Working remotely while living abroad
Let’s assume that you get a job in one region and then you have to move out to another for any reason. Do you quit the job? The answer is: no, you don’t. Thanks to the ability to work remotely, people can work for organizations and businesses located in different regions. Many organizations are now hiring people from all over the world because remote work has made it all possible to do so. So, this manner of remote work is very common as well.
Home-based business
People who run a home-based business represent remote work as well. When people run a business that is based in their home, it is also a part of remote working. Running a home business offers many opportunities to the owners to keep things under control and in check. So, this is another form of remote working.
The Benefits Of Working Remotely
So, is remote work any beneficial for people? Well, the answer depends on a lot of reasons. First of all, the important point is that remote work is not possible at all with some job positions, and therefore not every person can work remotely because of the requirements of their jobs. But for the majority of people who can operate remotely, there are tons of benefits. Some of them are the following.
- Remote work helps people and organizations save a lot of costs.
- People perform more effectively when operating remotely.
- People are able to maintain their energy and motivation when given the opportunity to work remotely.
- Remote work also allows businesses and all organizations to be able to recruit and get the services of skilled professionals from all over the world.
- Remote allows people to complete their tasks even when they are away from their offices.
As you can see, the benefits and advantages of remote work are a lot more than we can count.
Can Fitness Trainers Work Remotely?
Talking about fitness trainers and wellness coaches, they are also able to work remotely to deal with their clients and offer them their services. Actually, if we consider every aspect of fitness trainer’s work and what remote work offers, we can see that the fitness and wellness coaches will be able to make the best use of remote work as they will be able to engage with and connect with clients all over the world, from anywhere they are at the moment. So, for the fitness and wellness coaches, remote work is the right manner of operating and will prove to be highly beneficial in every regard.
The Disadvantages Of Remote Work
Just like everything else, remote work also has some disadvantages that can be very problematic for people. The following are some of the major or key disadvantages of working remotely.
- Remote work leads to increased distractions which might hinder progress.
- Remote work can cause a lack of human interaction and relationships with other people or co-workers.
- Remote work can make communication with clients or co-workers very difficult.
- Remote can cause a disruption in personal life as it gets merged with professional life.
- Remote work can also lead to a lack of motivation to work overtime.
- Remote work can also make things difficult to manage as compared to working from an office.
So, these are the major disadvantages of working remotely. But these problems or issues can be solved and that means that people can reap all the benefits of remote work while minimizing the disadvantages.
Steps to Starting a Training/Coaching Career
So, by now you must have a good understanding of what remote work is and what it offers to people. You are also aware of its disadvantages and drawbacks now. In today’s world, remote work is starting to become the normal manner of working and it is increasing all around the globe. All the organizations have started incorporating remote work to ensure more output and productivity from their employees. Though people are not used to remote working as of yet, soon remote work will become normalized around the world and people will get the freedom to work and operate from wherever they want and however they want. Whether you are a fitness trainer or a freelancer or just someone who is working in an organization, working remotely offers many benefits and advantages to everyone.
There are a few issues or challenges that people face when working remotely. But these challenges do not outweigh the good side of remote work. And these challenges can be overcome with the right steps in an easy manner. So, overcoming these challenges can make sure that all you get is the benefits of remote work.
Check out this list of fitness careers that let you follow your dreams which includes what it takes to start a career in personal fitness training. This is your most affordable and fastest way to become a highly qualified personal trainer.
Is your re-certification coming up? Learn more about earning your CEU credits. You can find the full list of CEU courses here.
If you are ready to start your online personal training or coaching business, don’t forget to learn more about our online coaching course.
One of the most popular and fastest ways to get started working with clients while you travel is to coach/train online. You will want to learn more about GymGo. GymGo lets you work with clients and make money in different ways: online, live-streaming virtual training & on-demand training. Use our link to get yourself a free 14-day trial >>> https://www.gymgo.com/nesta
Remember, NESTA and Spencer Institute coaching programs are open to anyone with a desire to learn and help others. There are no prerequisites!
That’s it for now. Take action!
PS: Click here to see many helpful business/career resources
NOTE: When you take your fitness business home, you can also work with clients outdoors as you operate your business from your kitchen table and even coach clients online from home.
