HOT OFF THE PRESS: Working remotely & seeing humans don't exclude each other
The majority of the planet has only experienced pandemic-induced remote work.
The remote "movement" was a small niche before, including the first generations of digital nomads and remote teamwork trailblazers like Liam, Sarah, Iwo, ✨Mine, Chase, Lily to name a few.
It's, in a way, understandable that many people still immediately associate remote work with a lonely, isolating experience from their tiny spare bedroom.
So let's agree on a couple of things.
One.
Working from home on your own forever only works well for a small minority of individuals and does have some of the downsides well-known adversaries of remote work like Elon Musk and Malcolm Gladwell highlighted.
Two.
It *is* essential to nurture in each of our lives:
1. human, face-to-face connections
2. rituals like transitioning in & out of work via whatever habits might suit, even if it's not actually 'traveling' to work. They can be simple things like getting dressed, making a cup of coffee, using a certain table or corner of the house only for work, tidying it up, etc.
Three.
Working from home/remotely in general vs. from the office don't exclude each other, and aren't necessarily opposed to each other. There are numerous flexible, in-between, creative alternatives like:
✔️ working remotely from your own team/clients but from a coworking hub or shared office, where you meet other interesting humans and have meaningful interactions with them (trust me, I run one, and sometimes it gets even too "social" if you're not careful)
✔️working some days from home/remotely and some days from the office - the hybrid model, which is hard to get right management-wise but it's an option
✔️ working primarily remotely and meeting periodically for co-workations with your team to build context and connection.
Being remote-capable, and allowing people to have flexibility absolutely
does
*not"
equal
everyone pretending to work from their bed in their pajamas and never seeing humans again.
That's a lazy, simplistic, antagonistic mindset that doesn't serve anyone.
But hey,
Lazy, simplistic, antagonistic takes are what 90% of the public discourse is made of these days.
And if you're reading this, you're probably not part of the 90%. 😉
Happy working from wherever you're most inspired!
