Today, I’m going to show you how to get (and stay) fit while working remotely.
In a world of diet fads and 60-second abs, I’ll walk through a habit-based approach that focuses on adherence.
(In other words, this approach helps you stick with fitness.)
Here’s what most remote work advocates don’t talk about…
How easily bad fitness habits form when you work remotely:
In this post, you’ll learn how to transform Slack into the central nervous system of your productivity hub.
Note: Slack is my messaging tool of choice, but these principles apply to any messenger service.
With remote and hybrid work becoming the norm, messenger services are ubiquitous. However, few best practices exist on how to use these apps for work.
When we use the default settings, Slack becomes a distraction abyss.
It’s unhealthy to be anxious about this nebulous software application on our computers and phones.
To protect our productivity, focus, and yes, health, we need to be more intentional.
Let’s dig in.
Your goal: turn Slack into your productivity hub. The first step is removing distractions preventing you from doing your best work.
Today I want to share tips on how to integrate remote work into your life.
While there’s no “right way” to structure your work and life, seeing examples of how others “counter-program” against the 9-5 can inspire you to tweak your schedule to live a happier, more fulfilling life.
I hope this guide inspires you to experiment with 1 or 2 small changes that’ll save you time, money, and make you more productive at work.
Note: Every quarter I publish an update on goals set for the year. You can read my 2022 Q3 update here.
My colleague Alison Kaprielian recently introduced me to the concepts of “Segmentors” vs. “Integrators” in the context of remote work:
Today I’ll show you how to banish remote work anxiety. You’ll get more done at work. More importantly, you’ll feel like you’re able to actually switch off when you’re not working.
Working remotely for 9 years has been incredible for my career and life.
For most of that time, I’ve also dealt with low- to mid-level anxiety. Never to the point where it was debilitating, but more like this background noise I’m unable to switch off.
Because I can work anywhere, anytime, it felt like there was always something I could be doing.
I’m going to show you how to build a fantastic remote onboarding experience. This works whether you’re onboarding your first remote freelancer, or you’re looking to refresh your company’s entire onboarding process.
Employees are at their peak motivation during the first few weeks in a new role. They want to make an excellent first impression. Investing in onboarding keeps that motivation and morale high for the long term. This means a happier, more productive team that sticks with you through the highs and lows.
Unfortunately, remote onboarding is still nascent.
There aren’t defined best practices.
At best, companies try to “port over” their IRL onboarding experience but don’t account for working remotely.
Over the last 10+ years, I’ve worked 7 remote work roles. That’s 7 different remote onboardings.
Here are the 6 things that separate good onboarding experiences from poor ones:
Today I’m sharing 3 frameworks to accelerate through the “messy middle” of your career.
Push through the messy middle quickly and you’ll earn more money, faster, and be happier at your job.
What is the messy middle of your career? It’s the volatile period filled with uncertainty and struggle. As Brian Balfour put it:
Everything is always changing. New roles and functions are always emerging, the underlying knowledge for tech is accelerating, nothing is a linear path. As a result, navigating this part of the journey is chaotic and volatile (source).
This period is critical. The middle makes or breaks a career.
Unfortunately, because there’s no clear narrative arc (hence the “messy”) people rarely talk about it. Or they put too much stock in Steve Jobs’s idea that “you can only connect the dots going backward.” (Arnold was guilty of it, too.)
Instead, here are 3 frameworks to grab the reins of your career and navigate through the messy middle:
Let’s jump in.
Today, I’m going to share my favorite tips and tools for working remotely. This list has been refined after:
Only 16% of companies are fully-remote businesses[efn_note]https://www.apollotechnical.com/statistics-on-remote-workers/[/efn_note]. Companies will spend the next 20-30 years addressing working remotely challenges. This means it’s our responsibility to create a great remote work experience.
By optimizing how you work remotely, you’ll drive more impact, get promoted faster, and earn more money. Plus, life is just more enjoyable.
The problem is most people treat remote work as working at the office… but at home. It’s not. Instead, they need to rethink every aspect of their work processes, routines, and cadences from a remote-first mindset.
Note: if you’re looking to land your first remote job, check out my article here. And if you’re trying to break into tech, read this first.
Remote work is a skill. The better your skills, the more successful you’ll be in a remote-first career. Here are 7 tips to improve the skill of working remotely:
There’s a great Jerry Seinfeld story. It goes like this:
A young, up-and-coming comic name Brad Issac asked Seinfeld for advice.
Seinfeld told him to be a better comic, he needed to create better jokes. The way to create better jokes was to write every day.
“He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day.
“‘After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day,’ Seinfeld said. ‘You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.’”
The message: Consistency wins! Consistency over intensity! Don’t burn out, don’t overextend. Keep showing up every day.
I had a different email planned, but last week I tested positive for Covid which threw that off schedule. Fortunately, my symptoms were mild, and after self-isolation ended, I re-joined Amy in the not-so-delicate juggle of childcare and working from home. It was a flashback to April 2020, our first foray into lockdown life.
Despite having both Oliver and Annabel this time (AND one-third of the living space we had in Albany), everything felt… easier.
Part of this is attributable to greater certainty around Covid:
None of this was true 18 months ago. As difficult as it is, we’ve made progress. It’ll continue to get better.
Sometimes you go slow to go fast.