If you’ve never watched this video from the TED series, it’s well worth the 3 minutes it will take of your Monday morning. You may find yourself more focused, passionate, and, well, you’ll see the rest:
What did you think? Tell us in the comments.
Whether you’re a freelancer or a company lifer, you’ll always have the chance to get work done offsite. In fact, working somewhere other than your cube, office, or home can add a lot to your understanding of work/life balance. New scenery and new people can have you coming up with new ideas pretty quickly.
Of course, many of us head to the patron saint of offsite working, St. Arbucks. It was her CEO that happily said,
We’re in the business of human connection and humanity, creating communities in a third place between home and work.
But now, these third places are cracking down on those of us who like to sit and type our day away, logging billable hours or scheduling meetings. Some, as the Wall Street Journal reports, are banning laptops during lunch hours. Other coffee shops are taking away free Wi-Fi altogether. What’s a geek to do?
Of course, business is business. Shop owners need to make money, and someone who needs lunch and a hot drink is bringing in more revenue than you are (per hour, at least).
So tell us: If your third place or workplace did away with free Wi-Fi or banned laptops, what would you do? Go crazy? Protest? Find another location?
photo credit: Iván Santiesteban
You know that adrenaline rush and the pure focus that comes with the last few hours in the office before a vacation, when suddenly you know exactly what the most important next steps are and you don’t waste time on the piddly stuff? You know how you always wonder, why can’t I be like this when I’m not rushing out the door?
Well, at least I do. And I bet some of you do too. Now a study suggests that it may be exactly because we’re getting away that we do a better job at planning, organizing, and communicating. Or, as the WSJ.com article about the study says:
Working together to make sure each consultant got some time off forced teams to communicate better, share more personal information and forge closer relationships. They also had to do a better job at planning ahead and streamlining work, which in some cases resulted in improved client service, based on interviews with clients.
It’s not totally shocking, is it? There’s a good deal of common sense in the idea (and it’s definitely an area we’ve talked about before) but somehow still many of us don’t allow ourselves the time off we’d need to ensure that we actually experience this benefit.
It’s Thursday morning. What can you do between now and Friday afternoon to ensure that you can relax and enjoy your weekend? Ready? Set? Go.
photo credit: Giuseppe Bognanni
If you’re a manager, chances are you think your job is harder than that of your reports’. Perhaps it’s uncomfortable to admit, but it’s probably at least an occasional fleeting thought. And if you’re a ground-level player, chances are you think your job is harder than your manager’s job.
And how about those slackers in that other department? They always seem to be goofing off every time you go by for coffee.
You know where I’m going with this, I’m sure. Sometimes it’s easier to be hard on others than it is to empathize. But truly great accomplishments are rare when there isn’t a healthy spirit of collaboration and teamwork.
Yes, I know: teamwork. It’s a concept so overused by motivational posters and earnest HR professionals, I’m cringing even as I type it.
But like most cliches, it has roots in some grounded truth. Great things happen when we start looking at issues the way our colleagues see them, the way our customers and clients see them, the way our bosses see them. It takes looking beyond your day-to-day frustrations, and seeing new possibilities for progress.
Maybe this week is as good a week as any to try looking over the wall at what those around you are experiencing. There’s a chance you’ll be just the right person to solve someone else’s problem for them. And there’s even a chance that’ll solve problems of your own.
