185: Working Remotely: No More Trading Schedules.

Hey, I need to wait around for a package to be delivered next Friday. Can you cover for me if I take your shift on Saturday? We all have things that need to get done and sometimes that means we have to be someplace other than at work. And it’s amazing how often this involves just waiting. Waiting for the phone to ring. Waiting for the mail or a package to be delivered. Or waiting for a certain time when you can pick up your kids from school. What do you do when you’re supposed to be at work? Well, if you have a job where you really do have to be at some location, then you don’t have a lot of options. But more and more, employers are realizing that the need for employees to be sitting at their desk in the office is not real. It’s a left-over custom that’s fading fast and really just means that your manager is too lazy to judge your performance unless you’re within sight. Some companies have no office at all and everybody works from home. They do very well and this trend is taking hold. The best employees are motivated as well as being good at their job. Once you’re motivated, you’ll find ways to get things done and don’t need a manager watching your every move. The only question remaining is do you have the skills required to get one of these jobs? I’d like to stop here a moment to make clear that you don’t have to have a job that can be done anywhere in order to be happy and motivated. I’ve worked in a factory before making integrated circuits and loved it. I was always on time for my shift to start and would often get so caught up with what I was doing that I’d look around and realize that everybody had already left for lunch. Listen to the full episode to learn directly from a friend of mine who works remotely. I had the chance to interview him and included the dialog in this episode. Or you can also read the full transcript of the episode below. Transcript We all have things that need to get done and sometimes that means we have to be someplace other than at work. And it’s amazing how often this involves just waiting. Waiting for the phone to ring. Waiting for the mail or a package to be delivered. Or waiting for a certain time when you can pick up your kids from school. What do you do when you’re supposed to be at work? Well, if you have a job where you really do have to be at some location, then you don’t have a lot of options. But more and more, employers are realizing that the need for employees to be sitting at their desk in the office is not real. It’s a left-over custom that’s fading fast and really just means that your manager is too lazy to judge your performance unless you’re within sight. Some companies have no office at all and everybody works from home. They do very well and this trend is taking hold. The best employees are motivated as well as being good at their job. Once you’re motivated, you’ll find ways to get things done and don’t need a manager watching your every move. The only question remaining is do you have the skills required to get one of these jobs? I’d like to stop here a moment to make clear that you don’t have to have a job that can be done anywhere in order to be happy and motivated. I’ve worked in a factory before making integrated circuits and loved it. I was always on time for my shift to start and would often get so caught up with what I was doing that I’d look around and realize that everybody had already left for lunch. These were twelve hour shifts from 7 am to 7 pm. There was no concept of working from home. Of course I had to be present at the factory in order to do my job. And I had fun. There were some times like holding my breath while scrubbing the inside of a large dome lid that I could stand up inside that weren’t the most pleasant. It involved a lot of quick ducking in and out so I wouldn’t have to breath the f