The 'wilderness' of home and office
With great interest I read the threads on hard work, retirement, and commuting. They made me think about a different kind of survival.
It is not necessary to be lost in a jungle to be in a survival situation. In modern life we may have to face never-ending red tape, frustrating options, demanding careers, incompatible neighbors and colleagues (and spouses! ), you name it. Add a few more worries about the future (career, kids ..etc. ) and it gets pretty interesting.
On the home front I am trying to run a home-based business, and have a long list of DIY projects to make the house "prepared and ready" for any kind of event. That is easier said than done given that DW does not share any of the above and wants to enjoy life without worries.
On the work side, I have to face a special type of extreme commuting (several 40 minute trips everyday). In one trip , the kids want my attention to their school problems, in another trip I try to plan to finish some office work before the next trip starts, and in a third trip, I have to convince my colleague that his zealous dedication at work is producing more harm than good, since it has assured managers that (all is well) and no need to spend money and improve the work environment.
This is enough to shatter anyone's concentration, but that is not all. Think of working on several projects with different project managers who don't sit together and synchronize their plans. Add to that endless distractions like salespeople coming into office in the least favorable or expected times.
On the positive side, my work at the office is somewhat flexible. I can grab a few notebooks or papers, and copy the working e-files on a flash drive, then drive for 30-40 minutes to a client meeting. After the meeting, it is sometimes not feasible to drive back to office, so I may drive home and finish work in my home office. I like this flexibility. However, there are times when bad luck hits. Last week, I was copying some e-files in the last minutes before driving to a client meeting. A colleague came into office and started some technical discussion. For him, it was still two hours before the end of the day and he was in no hurry. But for me , I was the end of my day in office. In those few remaining minutes, my brain had to split between our quick discussion, and figuring out which files I should be copying for working at home. I got it right, but halfway down the road to the client, I realized that my friend's unexpected visit has distracted me from taking an essential notebook without which I couldn’t work at home on an urgent project. Ouch !!
What do you guys think and do about it?
I think that we have to prepare for “normal” days just as we do prepare for emergencies. The continuous flow of challenges is no less damaging to us than disasters or emergencies. At least emergencies are noticed and rescue may come to help, but “normal days” harm us without anyone noticing. We have got to be prepared for them. And you cannot be too prepared in today's light-speed living and (multi-tasking) lifestyle.
Let me start thinking about solutions and strategies.
One of the neat things about mobile phones is their versatility. My Nokia doesn’t contain many music files, but its memory card has about 400 MB free space. That is like having another memory stick available for those unexpected times when you wished you had another one.
Yeah, and those other features are great like scheduling meetings ..etc. But I need to remember to use them. Last week I was up to my ears discussing a stupid red tape technicality with a colleague and so I almost missed a meeting ! I arrived half an hour late (#%$#@) and the chairman asked me if my cell phone had a reminder function ??!
Having two of everything is not a bad idea either. So, I have two cell phones, two cars, two BOB's (or kits) . No need to get fancy here. The backup cell phone is just the same old one that I had for years. Oh, and I have 2 hard disks in my office computer. Not a partitioned hard disk, but two physically separate disks. I use the second hard disk for frequent backups between CD-Backups. If I used CDs for all those backups I will be having a mountain of CDs in my office.
Another useful strategy in these frustrating days is not to completely forget old ways. Don’t rely completely on electronic gadgets. Sometimes older ways are safer or more convenient than newer ones. This is why I have PRINTED phone lists in each car, in the office and anywhere I can think of (in the BOBs for example).
One of the most frequent problems these days is having to be in two places or do two things at the same time. Sometimes there is a job I have to do for a private client (my home-based biz), and at the same time the whole family has to move to another town to attend cousin's marriage or uncle's funeral or just spending a few days of our vacation there. Going on such social gatherings takes me away from home office, where I keep my books and other resources. What I did is re-design my room at my dad's house – in another town- with a mini home office, keeping copies of references and other materials handy. Now, I can take the family there, attend those occasions, and sneak in the mini-office to work on my projects that can't wait .
Certainly, some of these strategies help improve your job performance, but they also help ease the tension between you and DW, like when she insists you attend her sister's marriage, and you have a deadline to meet the day after.
Now its your turn. Any genius ideas ?
I appreciate anything that can help us to survive (the wilderness of home and office).
Previous Topic
Index
