Would you work outside or inside?

When it’s sunny and warm out, would you rather be outside or inside? 

It’s summer and I’ve seen photos of people sitting in lounge chairs next to the pool, relaxing while typing on their laptops. It looks fun, but I don’t think I could do it. I would be one of those people who would flip my laptop onto the concrete floor while reaching for my ice-cold drink.

It’s nice to have a change of scenery if you’re like me and you work indoors at a desk. I was at the park, enjoying the view, when I noticed how much time was put into the care of the flowers and how evenly spaced they were (because that’s what you notice if you’re a copyeditor and you’re always checking the organization of sentences). 

I searched for brides in the garden since it was a sunny day and it was a popular photo spot. A day like this is wonderful for photographers. Colorful flowers, photo spots, and weather that’s warm but slightly overcast so your subjects aren’t squinting in pictures.

This weather is perfect for gardeners. Sunny and dry. I’ve seen gardeners working outdoors in the pouring rain, mowing the soaked grass, or using a leafblower to push damp leaves. I would never do any yardwork in the rain, but it’s different when it’s your job. When it’s a warm and sunny day, it’s good to be outside.

What would you do when the weather is nice out?

5 Reasons to Love Remote Work

Remote work has made it possible to work anywhere, anytime. This work setup is perfect for those who enjoy a flexible work schedule, instead of a rigid 9 to 5 with a set lunch break. You have fewer distractions and you can work when you’re most alert. These aren’t the only reasons to love working from home. Here are five reasons to love working remotely.

1 Seeing a different side of your coworkers

You see a whole different side of your coworkers that you wouldn’t if you worked in a traditional office. These virtual meetings can be a great conversation starter with coworkers: What are those books on their bookshelf? How long have they had a cat? Why are there apples in a box for peaches? You also catch some awkward moments, such as talking to your coworker when her arm shoots out to block her husband in his shorts before he walks past the webcam. (True story.) You learn to carry on with the meeting like it’s business as usual.

2 Increasing your productivity

Assuming you have an optimal work situation at home, without family members or roommates to distract you at inopportune moments, working from home increases your productivity. You won’t have coworkers wandering past your cubicle to have an unexpected conversation about something you’re not interested in when you’re focused on a task. Instead, conversations with coworkers are scheduled as virtual meetings with set start and end times. During breaks, you can take a few minutes to throw a load of laundry in the wash or vacuum the floor while you brainstorm project ideas.

3 Maximizing your time and schedule

Your commute time is just a few minutes, so you’re maximizing your billable hours at work. Compare this schedule to a one-and-a-half-hour, one-way commute to work without pay. Remote work situations may also offer flexible schedules so you can leave work to pick up your kids from school or work on a Saturday so you can go to a medical appointment on a Wednesday morning.  

4 Relaxing your dress code

Working from home will save you money on clothes. If you don’t have a meeting that day, you can wear whatever you like, including mismatched clothes or clothes to lounge around the house. You don’t need to plan a business casual outfit or put on your makeup. However, you might dress up for one-to-one meetings or company meetings. Even for an on-screen company meeting, you only need to worry about your appearance from the waist up. (So a crisp shirt with jogging pants and slippers is totally fine.)

5 Choosing your office location 

Your remote work office is wherever you want it to be as long as you have a stable internet connection and can concentrate on your work. It can be a home office, kitchen table, corner at a coffee shop, table in your garden, or a hotel room while you’re on a business trip. 

Key Takeaways 

Remote work offers many advantages compared to working in person at an office. Five reasons to love remote working include seeing a personal side of your coworkers, decreasing your distractions so you get more accomplished, having a schedule that works for you and your coworkers, a comfortable dress code, and more options for your desk location. Remote work is a trend that started when technology made it possible and will continue for as long as people enjoy the work-from-home lifestyle.

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How Often Do You Say Hello?

Some random trivia I came across today: the song “Hello My Baby” was meant to poke fun at some trendy slang from the time. That new word was “Hello.” Alexander Graham Bell suggested “Ahoy!” as the proper way to answer this new invention called the telephone. Instead, people were taught that “hello” was the proper way to answer the phone. The song (shown below) made fun of how people sounded when answering phones was still a new phenomenon. How far we’ve come since then! Hello is now just a regular part of the English language.

English is a Difficult Language

English is a difficult language. For each spelling rule, there is an exception, such as “i” before “e” except after “c.” Yes, “pie” follows the rule. However, “height” does not.

English also has many silent letters. For example, the “gh” in “through.” English also has a long history which has contributed to these silent letters. For example, the word “knight” has a silent “k” in modern English. In Old English, you did pronounce the “k” and the word sounded more like “kneht.”

English has borrowed words from other languages, such as the French word “chic.” If we followed English pronunciation rules, we would say, “chick,” which is incorrect.

Even if you are a native speaker of English, you can still spend a lifetime learning the language. New words and expressions are always being created and grammar rules are always being updated to current usage.

What is an English slang term you just learned? How about new jargon in your field or industry? Comment below!

Image credit: original source unknown

5 Tips for a Remote Team to Stay Productive and Organized

How do you stay productive and organized while working on projects with team members you rarely see in person? Most startup companies I’ve worked with don’t even have an office where team members can meet and discuss their work. Despite this modern-day work challenge, working efficiently as a team is possible. Let’s look at five tips to help your remote team stay productive and organized, even if your team lives in different time zones.

Tip 1 Establish Clear Communication Channels

One of the most important tips is clear channels of communication. At the traditional office, you can have an impromptu discussion at the water cooler, pop into a coworker’s cubicle to ask a quick question, or pick up the phone for a brief call. When working with a remote team, you need ways to connect using technology. You can use messaging apps for quick messages, virtual meetings for longer discussions, and project management platforms to track the progress of tasks.

Regular, scheduled meetings are important to check how people are doing on tasks. Small group or one-on-one meetings are crucial for more opinionated discussions. Impromptu or scheduled one-on-one meetings are the best way to discuss sensitive messages because tone and emotion can be misinterpreted in lengthy texts.

Project management software and regular updates provide transparency and keep team members on track. Everyone can see the progress of a project, who is responsible for a task, and when the task has started or finished.

Tip 2 Define Clear Goals and Deadlines

Clearly defined goals and deadlines provide your remote team with direction and purpose. I’ve worked on teams without clear goals and deadlines. The chaos that ensues can be mentally draining and emotionally frustrating. When all team members understand the team objectives and the timeline for project completion, tasks are prioritized correctly and effectively.

Clear goals, such as clear priorities for the week, allow the team to see who has too many tasks to juggle, who needs help with a task, and who can take on more tasks. 

Tip 3 Define the Responsibilities of Each Team Member

In a remote team, defining each member’s responsibilities prevents confusion and overlapping efforts. One way to do this is by mapping out the flow of work and assigning one team member to be responsible for that task or stage of the project.

One project I enjoyed was creating Trello cards. Each card was named one stage of the project flow. On each card was a list of tasks for that project stage. Team members moved and added cards with a description of their responsibilities until we mapped out the entire team’s workflow for a typical project. Anytime we had another project to complete, we followed that map as each team member fulfilled their list of responsibilities and tagged the next team member for the next project stage.

Tip 4 Clarify How Files Should be Organized and Documents Stored

Remote teams need an efficient way to share files instantly and electronically. Most remote teams share and save information on the cloud. When several people share the same drives (like sharing the same office space) you need to be organized or frustration is guaranteed to occur. 

You’ll need to standardize ways of naming files and folders. If everyone names files the same way and organizes them the same way in folders, it will be easy to find a file, even if you’ve never worked on it before. 

Tip 5 Time Management by Coordinating Work Schedules

Remote teams that have team members located in multiple cities, time zones, or even countries will have a different workflow than an office with team members all starting and ending their work day simultaneously.

It is important for team members to familiarize themselves with core working hours (times when most of their team is online) and when team members work. For example, if your team member starts work hours before you, consider leaving them a message that will be answered by the time you start your workday. Also, you may need to anticipate questions to ask while they are still online so you can complete your work on your own when they are offline.

Fun fact: those who live on the west coast will start work as if they are entering a bustling office, with plenty of emails and messages to catch up on. Those on the east coast will start the day with messages and emails that were sent the day before. And on the west coast, it does get a bit quiet and lonely at the end of the day when the team members on the other side of the country has logged off. (A little like staying behind at the office when others have gone home.)

Key Takeaways

By implementing these five essential tips, your remote team can achieve greater productivity and organization. Establishing clear communication channels, defining goals and responsibilities, organizing digital files, and managing time effectively are key to an efficient remote team.

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