Nowadays, in the technology oriented world we live in, we know how popular working remotely has become. Without the need of going to an office, employees can get their work done working from anywhere they want. 

Even though this is something that could be beneficial for the employee, it is not as easy for everybody, as it’s important to have good time management skills, as well as remote work skills in order to be efficient.

[Is a Remote Internship for You? The Pros and Cons of a Remote Internship]

Time management is important in an onsite internship, but it’s even more important when doing a remote internship! Why?

There are a few elements that would contribute to being more productive when working remotely, however, there’s a key element called Time Management. Within time management, you can find the best practices for remote internships, also applicable to remote work.

In this article, we are going to provide you with 5 time management tips for remote internships to increase your productivity:

1. Choose a dedicated work space

You need to feel comfortable in the place you choose to work from. As you are not in an office with coworkers (where there is a work environment), you have to create your own workspace to make sure you are efficient and productive. 

It could be easy to be distracted by other things, that’s why you have to choose carefully where to work from, feel comfortable spending a few hours of your day and be able to concentrate on your work.

2. Set goals

Every morning, before you start working on your daily tasks, it is important to know what you will be doing and to keep yourself organized. A good practice could be making yourself a schedule (on google calendar or on a notebook), this way you can see and keep in mind what you will be working on ahead of time.

It is also important to prioritize your tasks, to make sure you work on tasks that are more important or have a shorter deadline than others.

3. Communication with coworkers is key

Interning remotely doesn’t mean you will be working alone. Even though you will not be physically with your coworkers, you will be with them as long as you have a good communication channel. 

Communication between coworkers and departments is crucial for all the members of the company to go in the same direction, as well as to improve teamwork. This also means to save time, as sometimes conversations or meetings can solve more difficult problems than back and forth emails or messages.

Furthermore, although your coworkers will be in another timezone, it is recommended that you show interest in talking to them “face to face” and be present somehow in the verbal communication of the company, as your opinion as an intern also can bring fresh and new ideas to the table.

Most of your job when interning remotely will be by writing, however it's important to communicate with other members of the team through other channels such as Skype, Phone, Google Hangouts, etc.

4. Multitasking

As we said before, it is important to prioritize the most important tasks. However, you will probably be assigned more than one task that requires the same level of priority. 

In this case, it is important to multitask and be able to take care of more than one task at the same time, without losing focus on what we are doing. 

If we manage to master multitasking, we will be able to be efficient with the time we have in our working hours and getting everything done without something being forgotten.

5. Avoid procrastination

We all have been students and procrastinated which leads us to feel stressed later on. We all have experience in that and already know the struggle. It is important to avoid procrastination, we need to keep it professional and meet deadlines and expectations.  

Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can accomplish today - this applies perfectly to the daily tasks you will be assigned when interning. 

This will definitely help you realise that you can do things on time, manage your time and will also show the company the commitment that an intern has for his/her professional development.

With these 5 time management tips to intern remotely during summer, we are sure you will be time efficient and will get the best out of your professional development while you get to practice remote work skills for a potential future remote position.

[What's a Remote Internship Program?]