I have been working remotely for some time now, so I would like to briefly discuss my thoughts during this period.
More time for exercise. The biggest change for me in the past month has been an increase in exercise time. I have been recording three to four exercise sessions per week, either playing basketball or running outdoors. This is thanks to the free time in the evenings and having friends to exercise with. I remember when I was in Beijing before, I would arrive home late after work, and all I wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. However, at home, after having dinner around seven, digesting for over an hour, I would go out for an hour of exercise, which has almost become the norm.
Less communication, more focused thinking, but sometimes more fatigue. Unlike working in an office, remote work isolates me from others, indirectly reducing interruptions from others, allowing me to focus more on my tasks. The advantage is that I can efficiently handle problems that require thinking, but the downside is that it's easy to lose track of time and end up sitting for several hours, which is not good for my health. In comparison, when I was in the office, I rarely had long periods of focused time as there were often interruptions such as communication and meetings. Because of this, I could slack off during work hours, although the overall working hours were longer, I didn't feel too tired. However, sometimes I feel more tired when working from home.
More efficient use of time, time is my own. Remote work doesn't necessarily require strict working hours, as long as the tasks are completed and communication and coordination are done well. It's possible to compress an eight-hour task into two hours. You don't have to worry about pleasing someone or inefficiently dragging work until the end of the day just to pretend to please the boss.
Idle, yet busy. Although remote work saves a lot of time, it often gets quickly filled up with other things. When I used to work outside, I had a clear routine: wake up, take the bus to the office, have meals provided at specific times, and go home when there was no work to do. The day was monotonous and orderly. However, when working from home, sometimes I have to cook, sometimes I have to go out to help, and there is no regularity or order. Without the boredom during commuting, I have even abandoned the habit of listening to podcasts.
Overall, remote work is quite suitable for me, except for the slightly lower salary. However, occasionally I do miss going to the office, because if I continue like this, I might lose my ability to communicate with others.