Time Management When Working Remotely

I once spent an entire remote workday doing almost nothing. Laundry, YouTube rabbit holes, reorganizing my desk, making elaborate lunches. By 5pm I'd written maybe 10 lines of code. My manager asked about progress on a feature and I had nothing to show.

That's when I realized remote work isn't just "office work from home." It requires a completely different approach to managing your time and attention.

The Real Challenge

Remote work has obvious benefits - no commute, flexible schedule, working in your underwear. But without the structure of an office, it's easy to lose entire days to distractions. Nobody's watching. There's no pressure to look busy. The fridge is right there.

Whether you're at home, a coffee shop, or a coworking space, the lack of external accountability can destroy your productivity if you're not deliberate about it. I've learned this the hard way - multiple times.

What Actually Works

After years of remote work, I've found that having a system matters more than willpower. Here's what works for me:

I break my tasks down by importance and estimate how long each will take. Then I pick from a few techniques depending on the type of work:

1. The Pomodoro Technique
2. The Flowtime Technique
3. Deep work

The Pomodoro Technique

What's a pomodoro? According to wikipedia

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. Each interval is known as a pomodoro, from the Italian word for 'tomato', after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Cirillo used as a university student.

The idea is simple: work with complete focus for 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break, repeat. Four cycles (about 2 hours) earns you a longer 30-minute break.

I use Pomodoro for admin tasks, emails, and anything I'm likely to procrastinate on. Knowing the timer will ring in 25 minutes makes it easier to just start. "I only have to do this for 25 minutes" is a powerful mental trick.

The breaks matter too. I'll get up, make coffee, look out the window - anything that's not a screen. These small resets prevent that burnt-out feeling by end of day.

The problem with Pomodoro

The main problem I have with Pomodoro is the timer itself. When I'm deep into solving a complex problem, that 25-minute alarm feels like an interruption rather than a break. I'll be mid-thought and suddenly - beep - time to stop.

For coding tasks that require holding a lot of context in my head, Pomodoro can actually hurt more than it helps. That's when I switch to flowtime or deep work instead.

Flow - Getting In The Zone

Have you ever been so immersed in something you lose track of time completely? Hours pass but it feels like minutes. That's flow - a mental state where you're so focused that everything else fades away.

Hungarian-American Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi researched and named this phenomenon. The key insight: flow happens when a task is challenging enough to engage you but not so hard that it frustrates you.

To achieve a flow state, a balance must be struck between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur.

I hit flow most often when working on interesting technical problems - refactoring complex code, building new features, debugging tricky issues. Boring tasks rarely get me there.

The Flowtime Technique

Flowtime is Pomodoro without the rigid timer. Instead of forcing breaks every 25 minutes, you work until you naturally need one.

Pick a single task, note your start time, and just work. When you feel yourself losing focus or getting tired, take a break. Track how long you focused and how long you rested.

I like to listen to music and let everything else melt away. Some days I'll work 90 minutes straight before needing a break. Other days I'm done after 30 minutes. Flowtime lets you follow your natural rhythms.

This article from Zapier goes deeper into the technique.

Deep Work

I discovered deep work through Lex Fridman's podcast with Cal Newport, and it changed how I approach complex tasks.

Deep work means blocking off 3-4 hours for a single cognitively demanding task. No email, no Slack, no quick checks of anything. Just you and the work.

This sounds extreme, but it's where I get my best work done. A 4-hour deep work block produces more than a full day of fragmented work with constant interruptions.

The trick is protecting that time. I block it on my calendar, turn off notifications, and tell my team I'm heads-down. It takes discipline, but the results are worth it.

What Works For Me Now

After years of experimenting, here's my typical approach:

• Pomodoro for tasks I'm avoiding (emails, admin work, documentation)
• Flowtime for regular development work where I want flexibility
• Deep work blocks for complex features or problems that need sustained focus

I also learned to stop cramming too much into each day. We consistently overestimate how much we can do. Giving myself realistic timelines means I actually finish things instead of carrying half-done tasks forever.

The best productivity system is the one you'll actually use. Try each technique and see what fits your work style. You'll probably end up mixing them like I do.