4 advantages to remote work

As I reflect back on remote work, I have found that remote work has brought many enriching opportunities into my life.

Here, I will share just a few:

1: Find more time to take care of myself.

One of the best parts about remote work has been the time it has given me back to take care of my well being.

One specific example of this has been with exercise. When I used to commute to the office space, it was just so hard to get exercise in. When I used to live in NY, I had to wake up at the crack of dawn to get to the pool before work. It was brutal. I tried so hard every morning to NOT get to the pool.

Since working remotely, I find that it’s way easier to get myself to exercise. These days, I am able to make it the pool at least 2x a week and and make it to dance class atleast once a week. This has been great for my overall health and just one way which I can focus more on my well being.

2- Encourages an increase in my productivity

Another reason that I have loved to work remotely has been the increase in productivity in my day.

The constant distractions was something that I used to dread in an office space.

Every 30 minutes, I would get tapped on the shoulder or Slacked which would be take away the time from being able for me to focus on my task at hand.

With my flexible schedule, I have a lot more time to make “deep work” happen. This is the type of work which I can tune out distractions and just focus on the type of work that needs my full attention. Sometimes, this is writing an article, listening to an important podcast, or coming up with a new strategy.

These days, it’s a lot easier for me to create those boundaries to make time for this kind of work and in return, it feels that I get to make more stuff happen.

3- Meeting people from all around the world

Another maybe not-so-talked-about advantage of remote work for me has been being able to connect with some really cool people from around the world.

When I was in an office space, most of my co-workers were also from the US — they either have moved from the west coast or were east-coasters.

Since being able to work remotely, I have also been able to have remote teams from literally everywhere. I have worked with people from Colombia, India, Pakistan, Australia, UK, and now Ireland.

I love being able to expand my perspective in this way and learn how different cultures work.

While most times I realize we are in fact, all the same, it has been cool to see some of their cultures from behind the Zoom screen. For instance, my Colombian colleague used to tell me about his adventures in Medillin and practice spanish with me, while my Irish colleagues now sometimes share pics of themselves going to the pub. All of these cultural differences, I really love to see!

4- The ability to live where I want

It would be hard for me not to state this last point, which is the fact that I get to work from wherever I choose to work.

After growing up and living in NY, I felt the itch to leave the city in 2019 and try somewhere new to call home.

Without remote work, this would have never been able to be possible.

I wouldn’t have been able to up and move to Spain, Buenos Aires, Colorado, Florida and Mexico City. Without being able to work from wherever then I would have never had the opportunity to test and try out these super cool places in the world and expand where I could believe that home could be.

These are the ways that remote work has influenced my life in a more positive way.

How about you? Is there anything that you would add or take away from this list?