You hopped into your proverbial Argus and escaped from a ubiquitous Sea of Cubicles.
You work remotely for your employer or you run your own business.
You have the liberty to work when and where and in the manner you please.
You are free.
A few months down the road, bankrupt of the daily water cooler banter, you start talking to yourself in your home office, which evolves into full blown conversations with imaginary associates, which tumults into your recruitment into covert CIA assignments, and if you've watched A Beautiful Mind, you know how this story ends.
Whether you are working remotely for your employer, as a solopreneur, or running a small amorphous company, the prospect of working "alone" for a significant portion of the day, every day, can be daunting at times. Having escaped the confines of a cubicle-ridden life about 18 months ago, and having my fair share of meetings with imaginary staff members, here are my 3 tips to stave off insanity as a power workshifter.
Work around people.
a couple times a week (at least)
Just because you are technically "on your own" now doesn't mean that you need to ostracize yourself from society in an underground bunker (aka your home office). Meeting new people and engaging in small talk about current events, politics, culture, or what the hell the producers of "Lost" are smoking serves as a rejuvenating break during the workday. The obsequious office chat that helped make days livable in your former life now serve a different purpose.
If you work from home, find a cozy, little coffee shop near your house to work from twice a week. If you travel a ton, work in the hotel bar or lobby area every now and then. Although at times distracting, just working around people, engaging in the occasional casual chit chat, keeps you from engulfing too far into the deep end of work. I have some great conversations, meet several fellow workshifters, and have developed a couple business relationships simply by choosing to spend the majority of my workday in public places.
Find an inspirational spot.
once a week
Remember when you were a kid, when you were in your treehouse or at the beach or at the park, those were the times when you were most creative. You would figure out new uses for your toys. You would make up new games. You would figure out how to cross the monkey bars using only one arm. Nothing changes as we get older. The toys are different, the games are a bit more complex, the monkey bar maneuvers have ROI considerations. But our creativity is still predicated on our moments of inspiration.
Find an inspirational place to work from just once a week. Maybe just for a few hours. It may seem weird and it's definitely unconventional, but there is something about being surrounded by inspiration that empowers your mind to go places it just can't go hunched in a corner looking at your wall all day.
Embrace the Twitterverse.
every day
Presumably many people reading this are probably already on Twitter. However, if you have not quite taken the sojourn to the Twitterverse, then allow me to be the first to formally invite you. No matter what type of work you do, no matter where you are in the world, no matter how tech savvy you are or are not, you will find a community of Twitter peeps that are helpful and that want to engage with people like you.
With all this talk about people leveraging Twitter as a marketing tool, it sometimes gets lost, that at it's core, Twitter is a community of real people, not just company logos and celebrities. There are weirdos everywhere, but in my three years on Twitter, I have found that by and large, the Twitter community is represented by kind and caring individuals that are simply seeking and willing to engage and share with others.
To start finding people that are into what you're into, you probably need to download a Twitter client (I use TweetDeck), and search terms or ideas or people or industries that you find interesting. Then just start hopping into conversations and introducing yourself. It might feel strange at first, but it's no different than being at a networking event, except they don't make you play stupid ice breaker games.
I am by no means a Twitter celebrity, I only have a couple hundred followers. I'm just a regular dude that has embraced this very unique tool to connect with people of like mind across the world. But I personally have met several clients, developed quite a few real friendships, and have a repository of fresh, relevant information shared with me daily, exclusively on Twitter.
So, remember these three things as you continue to hone what your life as a professional WorkShifter will look like:
people good. inspiration good. twitter good.
What tips do you follow to stay sane as a workshifter?
