Virtual Commute

We all now live in a world where Remote working is a normal, accepted way of working. I know it has significantly improved my work / life balance as well as my productivity when at work. But not everyone finds making the transition from being office based to working at home easy. One of the main challenges some people experience is making the mental switch between home and work life. Your home is, after all is said and done, where you relax. However, it is important to realise that just because you no longer need to go into an office, you do still need to 'go' to work. Some techniques like ensuring you still follow the same routine you would've done if you were going into the office can really help. Getting up at the same time, getting dressed for work (instead of staying in your comfy clothes) all help you to make that mental flip into work mode. But another idea that has worked well for a number of developers is the idea of a virtual commute.

What is a Virtual Commute?

One great benefit from remote working is the time saved commuting to an office. But the commute is more than that. It is where you start to mentally prepare for the day ahead. Thinking about the tasks that will face you when you get to the office, the meetings you have planned etc. And at the end of the day, it is where you start to think about what you will have for tea, any evening plans you have. and start to mentally unwind from the busy workday.

A virtual commute is about giving yourself the space and time to make these mental switches without the actual need to go anywhere. Hopefully at least one of these ideas will resonate with you and be a useful addition to your daily routine to help you feel more productive when working and more relaxed when not.

Ideas for your own virtual commute

There are lots of different ways you can add a virtual commute into your routine. Here are some ideas for activities you can use as your virtual commute

Go for a walk

Going for a short walk can really help you to make the mental flip. Getting some fresh air and a bit of exercise is really important, especially if your remote job is working on a computer all day. So adding a short walk to the start and end of your day can be a great solution, especially if you have a dog to take with you.

Listen to an audio book or some music

One of the things we tend to do on a commute is listen to something while driving or taking public transport, so why not keep that same habit.

Exercise

If you are someone who likes to go to the gym, or use an exercise machine like a treadmill, rowing machine or exercise bike; adding that to the start or end of your day can be a really useful virtual commute.

Sandwich your day with useful habits

If you always start your day with building your daily todo list, that can be used as your morning virtual commute, and then at the end of the day, perform an exercise like writing a journal entry of how your day was, or use a mindfulness app to close off the working day.