Tag

productivity

Discipline Despite Distance

digital illustration of a notepad. It connects with the blog's concepts of discipline and remote work productivity. The image is a light blue notepad on a field of dark blue.

Everyone has that aunt. You know the one. She still has a rotary phone hanging on her kitchen wall – not ironically, not as décor, just because it works. And right next to it, a notepad. Notes from long friendly phone conversations. Who she should call back. Errands she needs to run. People she wants to send a letter – yes, a letter, with an envelope and a stamp. Everything written down, orderly, a list with no real order, but crossed off when done. She’s not particularly tech-savvy. She’s not type-A. She just figured out a long time ago that a good day doesn’t happen on its own. It has to be organized into existence.

She has never worked remotely. She has never managed a distributed team. But if she had, she would have been very good at it. Not that she would tell you so, you just know it.

Continue Reading

Busywork: the Job You Never Applied For

digital illustration depicting busywork in the freelance hiring process by showing a snake in a circle with its head eating its own tail. In the middle of the circle created by the snake is the word "busywork". The image is a light blue snake on a field of dark blue with the word in orange.

It’s Tuesday evening, and your actual work is waiting. The kind that has your name on it, the kind that moves things forward. But instead of doing that work, you’re rewriting a job description for a freelance project manager you need next month. You’ve already rewritten it twice. You’re not sure it’s right. You post it anyway, to three different places, because that’s what the freelance hiring process has become: yours to manage, yours to run, yours to finish when everything’s done. So you do.

Continue Reading

The Ultimate Home Office Makeover Guide: Design, Tech, and Wellness Wins

photo of a home office with a tan leather chair next to a desk with a laptop on it. The photo has the words "the ultimate home office makeover guide" in the lower left corner.

There’s something about the start of a new year that makes even the most rational among us believe we’re about to become better versions of ourselves. Better organized. Improved focused. More intentional. Maybe even someone who drinks water before coffee. Every year, January arrives and it seems like everyone resolves to undergo an ultimate makeover of something or other. While some resolutions fade fast, one reset that actually sticks is the one that happens quietly, every weekday, in the place where work gets done – a home office makeover.

Continue Reading