Editorial Team
Being Detail-Oriented While Working Remote
There’s never been a better time for moms who want to continue their careers while also staying home. Since 2020, more and more companies are shifting from in-office to remote work plans.
While this is great for helping moms and families achieve a work-life balance, it doesn’t come without its challenges. It can be particularly difficult for detail-oriented employees to maintain a separation between their work and home lives when it all happens in the same space — and often at overlapping times.
If you’re a detail-oriented person, you know you feel most comfortable when you’re able to lean into that skill set in all parts of your life. Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons associated with being a detail-oriented employee and how you can use those to your advantage while you are working from home.
You Turn in Accurate Work
As a detail-oriented person, you probably have a reputation for turning in work that is immaculate and error-free on the first try. You are likely accustomed to going over your work with a fine-tooth comb, and proofing every sentence before you send it off. You look for typos in your emails before you hit send, and you triple-check the numbers in a spreadsheet before you present them to your team.
This level of accuracy can come at a cost. You might be making dinner or getting ready for bed when you think about that blog post scheduled to go up first thing in the morning. Instead of finishing your meal or skincare regimen, there’s a good chance you’ll hit the pause and pull up your laptop to review your blog post one more time before you’re able to get back to your personal life.
To limit the chances of your high standards of work infringing on your life, consider yourself done with a task once it’s completed, and put it out of your mind. While this may be difficult at first, practice makes perfect. To give yourself more peace of mind, make a checklist for your usual tasks and build in a step to review your work. Once you’ve checked off “edit and review,” consider that job complete, and don’t question yourself.
You’re Organized
As a detail-oriented person, it isn’t just your work that demands tidiness, but your home and workspace. When you first make the transition to working from home, you may find the extra office supplies and equipment needed to do your job clutters up your space, and in turn, makes it harder for you to do your job.
To give yourself the organization you need to thrive, take time to set up a home office with a designated place for everything. If over time you find your home and workplace quickly becoming cluttered, you may need more room to balance your work and living space.
If you own your home, now is a good time to look at its current value and how it compares to others in the area. While doing a comparative market analysis, you may be pleasantly surprised to discover that the profit from selling your home could be turned over into purchasing a new property that’s better suited to your work-from-home lifestyle.
When in doubt, talk to a real estate agent to find out if there are properties in your desired area that can give you the space you need for a home office. Be sure to find an agent who understands all of your work and life needs so they can find a property that will help you and your family thrive.
You Make Time Management a Priority
If you’re detail-oriented, you are at your best when you’re on time, or better yet, early for all of your tasks and responsibilities throughout the day. That means you want to be logged into your conference call before it begins and in line at the school for pick-up before the bell rings.
It can be difficult to balance the schedules and demands of work and family obligations. And when those schedules come into conflict, you may get down on yourself or feel like you aren’t functioning at your full potential.
To help yourself stay on time throughout the day, make sure to have set office hours. Whether you’re working for yourself or for a company that schedules them, having your work hours laid out to begin and end at specific times will help you when it comes to scheduling everything else.
If you’re having to balance things like school pick-ups and extracurricular activities with a standard 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. job, communicate this with your supervisor. With effective communication, you can ensure that meetings aren’t scheduled while you’re on driving duty, and likewise, you can schedule playdates around your work obligations.
You Can Ask Tough Questions
Detail-oriented employees have a reputation for being able to ask tough but important questions when it comes to a project or task. You’re not afraid to ask “what if” and to analyze all of the information you have available to help your team make the best decision possible.
If you’re asking difficult questions at work, make sure you also do this regularly with your own life. Are you happy with your current work situation, or is it time to move on? Are you struggling with a part of your job? Are you having issues with a boss or a coworker? Are you happy with where you’re living?
In the past, moving into a new home may have seemed impractical or undesirable because of its proximity to your office. But if you and your partner are working from home, you have more freedom to move to a new part of town, or maybe, even a completely different city. Do your research and put those analytical skills of yours to use to find out if there is another city that better suits your lifestyle now that you’re working remotely.