It's been a little over a month of me working remotely now and so I thought I'd reflect on how it's going and how I feel about it all. But because it's been quite some time, I'm going to break it down a bit between a few posts. This is all about week one!
My very first day of working remotely was so refreshing. I had caught a red eye from Honolulu to Seattle and arrived that morning to drop my stuff off at my friends apartment. We caught up for a little, I freshened up and then I went to the nearest Starbucks. There was plenty of seating and I got a nice cozy spot by the window where there was a beautiful ivy covered brick building in my view. It was so nice to just be in a different environment and be able to just kind of wind down and get to work.
I had worked the day before too back in my office and so it was just the next day, but in a different city. And since I was now three hours ahead of everyone else, I didn't log in to a million missed emails and there was no one online yet, so I could get a solid amount of work done pretty quickly. This was so different from what I was used to, and it made me feel so much more productive. And I had a conference call at the end of my work day too that I could take while I was travelling around. The flexibility was amazing! Then, later on, when I was done with my work, I was able to go around and explore. In Hawaii, the sun sets during the summer around 7, but up in Seattle, the sun doesn't set till 9! So there's still a lot of time to go do things while the sun is up!
So, needless to say, my first day was so refreshing and exhilarating. But it was just one day. The next week, I did half my week working from my friends house and the other half I went into work with her in Bellevue and found spaces to work in there. This helped me very quickly experience different settings and ways of working.
Day two of working remotely was out and about. I started my morning by working at a Capitol One Cafe, which to me was a concept I've heard of before but never actual experienced, so it was cool to check that out while I was working. I stayed there till I finished my tea and till I absolutely had to go to the bathroom. That was the first thing I quickly realized was a downside of working in public spaces - I couldn't just leave my stuff, I had to pack everything, go find a bathroom and then find a space to work again. But then I went and I found another space inside the food court-ish area of Lincoln Square. That's the building my friend works in and so we went to go grab lunch together. She works at the Pokemon Company, and so we took our lunch back to her lunchroom which had an amazing view!
After we ate, she gave me short tour of her office which was really cool. I then went back down to where I was earlier and continued working there. And while I spent my time working there, I had two people walk up to me. One just gave me a voucher for a free day pass to work at their co-working office. And the other was asking me about what I was doing and wanted to see if I wanted to get a coffee. I wasn't interested and I was working so I politely declined, but I thought it was so cool to have these things happen. And then the last thing I had on my calendar was a conference call. It was pretty noisy where I was, so I had to go find somewhere quieter. And the best place I could think of was over across the street to the park where I found a nice shady bench where there weren't really any other people in earshot. It was a slightly stressful day as I discovered the cons there were to this approach - which I'll explain in a bit - but it was still new and exciting still.
The other day that I traveled with my friend to work I had more of a game plan. I'd go work at the closest Starbucks in the morning and make sure I had an outlet seat. And in the afternoon, my laptop should have enough juice that I could go find a nice shady spot in the park again and work there. I was able to do this and there was an added bonus that the Blue Angels were practicing that day so working in the park, I got to watch them while I worked!
Now on the days that I worked from her house that week, I was pretty much confined to the house - given I didn't have a key. But it's okay, I was there to work and spend time with her and I got to take some breaks playing with her dog. So after working both ways, I already quickly had a pro and cons list for both which kind of go interchangeably.
First off, was the bathroom situation as mentioned earlier. This was definitely a con of working in public and pro of at home. Secondly was power outlets. Also, a con of working in public. It's not always easy to find a seat in public with a power outlet and the stress of having to find one if your computer is about to die isn't fun. Thirdly, finding lunch gets more expensive - unless of course you packed one, but that's not something I did yet. And it's not just lunch, if you're working at a cafe, you can't just work there, you do have to buy a drink or some food. And the last con to working in public and pro of at home, privacy - and that's a big one. I was lucky to find a nice quiet park to go take calls in, but even then, I wasn't fully in control of the sound levels. When the blue angels were practicing, it was so loud! And it's not just noise and privacy of phone calls. In my profession, the things I work on are extremely private and I can't have anyone really watching my screen. So I always had to make sure I was by a wall or something so no one else could see my screen. Or if I couldn't situate myself like that, I had to make sure I wasn't working on anything sensitive at that moment.
Now on to the cons of working at my friends house and the pros of working in public. There are less of these, but they have a bit of a bigger punch to them. First, when I worked in public, I got to explore. I was working yes, but I got to work in so many different settings. And I could take my breaks walking around or going to find new places to work at. It gave me the ability to continuously give myself a new setting and that was refreshing. Secondly, I had more opportunities to learn about new stuff and meet new people. As mentioned earlier, I got to see so many things and talk to new people. And lastly, even though in public, there can be a lot going on around me and you would think being in such new settings would distract me, it was quite the opposite. I felt like my focus was much stronger working in public than it was staying at my friends house. I think it might have to do partly with the idea that people can see what you're doing and that puts some kind of pressure to not feel like an impostor. And another part of it has to do with that it feels motivating to want to get all of your work done so you can go walk around and explore. Whereas when you're alone in a big house, it's easier to start to feel bored and not as focused.
But all in all, I think my first week went very well and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was only week one though, and the rest of my time so far hasn't been in the same set up as this. So stay tuned as I post about how else it's been going! I'll be posting that soon!
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