Black and Abroad: Quick and easy tips for successfully working remotely.
I’m Black and Abroad and I’ve been that way for sometime. I’m an original “OG” Black Digital Nomad. And I’m also a globetrotting mama who loves to share tips and advice for being Black and Abroad with other people looking to understand how they can work from anywhere. I’ve outlined some best practices for anyone Black and abroad and trying to figure out how to better work remotely.
1. #tip1 Have a dedicated workspace.
This should be a space that you use only for work – Nothing else just good old fashioned work. The space can be in your living space, or it can be at a shared working location. The rise of work from anywhere (WFA) culture means that most citizens have a co-working spaces that you can drop in on. All digital nomad hotspots all over the world have shared work in locations that you can either rent for a day, an hour a month, a week, as long as you need to. In addition, there’s always the oldie but goodie – a coffee shop.
2. #tip2 Have regular work hours.
Just because your work may be flexible and doesn’t mean you should just do it whenever you feel like it how big dedicated time that you do your work. For instance, for me, it’s easier to get a lot of my creative endeavors done in the morning, so usually from about seven to 11am (3 days a week). I am deep into work. It is also the time when my daughter is most focused on play so I can do some of my more intensive work during that time, I schedule afternoons, for a lot of my clients and one on one sessions while I’m talking to people and it’s a lot more flexible for me.
3. #tip3 Take breaks.
I’m gonna say this again for you guys take breaks, take frequent breaks. Get up, stretch your feet, have a coffee, have a chat.
Don’t go crazy with the breaks, but do take breaks. You need to stretch your legs and go for a walk. You need to have have a fresh smoothie, maybe even stop for 30 minutes and go paddle boarding if you live near the beach.
Give yourself an opportunity to rest your mind; to socialize to chat with people.
Again, don’t go overboard, but make sure that you do have frequent breaks.
I would say, I personally work on 45 minute increments. So I do intensive work for 45 minutes, and then I take a 15 minute break. I will play with my baby Ruth. I may just play around on my phone see what’s going on on Instagram. I may chat with a friend message a friend or eat bread and cheese on a blanket. But during that 45 minutes when I’m working, I am really, really working with very few distractions, except for my baby when she occasionally interrupts me.
4. #tip4 Stay in regular communication with whomever you work for.
If you are a freelance consultant at least once a week, send your client an update report on what you have worked on during the week.
If you have day to day coworkers who you engage with send them at the end of the day, or the beginning of the day a summary of what you’re working on what your work hours should be for that day when you’ll be online when you won’t communication is so key when you work remotely just letting people know when you’re available when you’re not setting up boundaries you maybe you’re not available at 10 o’clock at night and maybe your team works that time, just be clear on when you’ll be online and when you won’t, and what your expectations are for working. Make sure they’re aligned with what your team’s goals and expectations are so that you can maintain a healthy working relationship. Communication matters, especially when you are working remotely
