Web Worker Daily

We’ve all read the news stories that identify social implications of a world increasingly conducted electronically, rather than in person. It seems that in an environment where individuals and organizations can manufacture themselves new personas, and nothing’s real until we broadcast it across a network of contacts, many web workers are feeling increasingly isolated. Read the rest of this entry »

Building a business is no easy feat, but certain traits can help you on the path to success.

1. Be goal-oriented, accountable and disciplined. Knowing where you’re going is the first step to achieving your dreams, and a clear vision and plan will help you reach them. Read the rest of this entry »

We talk a lot here on WWD about the benefits of being a web worker. But not everyone is suited to it, and not everyone likes it, despite the fact that the freedom and comfort of working from home can sound like nirvana. In “7 Signs That You’re Not (Yet) Cut Out For Teleworking,” Celine outlines seven traits that mean that web working could be hard for you. Maybe you see yourself in Celine’s seven signs, or you hesitate to describe yourself as outgoing and organized. Yet you still aspire to a web working career. What do you do?

After spending a few years as a self-employed web worker, I’ve assembled a list of a few traits that should be part of the optimal web worker personality. And there is good news, because they are traits that can be acquired through discipline and practice. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not unusual for web workers to get pulled into various efforts to get more people using a particular online collaboration tool. Maybe your company is implementing some collaboration software (wikis, blogs, forums) that employees are expected to use, or you are helping clients to use social networking software. In these situations, the software is always the easy part. Getting the people to actually use it is the hard part. Read the rest of this entry »

Last month — courtesy of Nokia — I had the privilege of attending one of the most exciting conferences in the technology calendar, TEDGlobal 2009. Though TED is invitation-only — and monstrously expensive at $4,500 — it succeeds in bringing together an extraordinarily diverse range of speakers and delegates…plus, everyone gets a really, really cool gift bag!

The final session of the week-long conference opened with Daniel Pink, a former speechwriter for Al Gore, now a “career analyst” investigating and examining the changing patterns of work around the world.

Pink has been the subject of much attention lately, with his assertions that “right-brainers will rule this century,” as well as high-profile appearances at TED and a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey. These assertions offer some intriguing insights into “the future of work in a post-broadband world” — notably the patterns of work, business relationships, structures and skills that we’ll perhaps require in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

I have a singletasking tip for you, and it’s an important one: Work like you’re on vacation. Before you type up the smart-aleck response, “You mean don’t work at all?” let me explain. I mean work like you’re taking a working vacation. If you’re a full-time remote worker, you probably know the kind of focused working vacation I mean. Sometimes, you can pull one off without your employer even being aware that you’ve taken a vacation at all, if you’re experienced in the art.

The key to a successful working holiday? Good time management and prioritization skills. Having fun and distracting things, settings and activities all around you has a way of throwing what needs doing and what can be put off into sharp relief. The result, for me at least, is a kind of highly motivated tunnel vision that has me blowing through high-priority tasks in half the time I would normally take.

Since you’re not actually always on vacation, how do you replicate the effect in order to trigger task triage? The solution is to bring back the motivation, if not the exotic locales. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you having a good day today? Remote working can be great, but it can also prove a lonely proposition; some days it can seem like you never leave the house, or as if no one knows or cares whether you’re working or not. For many, remote working actually means remote: The workplace of your employer is hours away; friends and/or other colleagues aren’t much closer. And sometimes it can seem as if the people who are supposed to be working with you are too busy with what’s going on in the office to actually give you what you need to do your job.

That sense of disconnection can be significant, it can be cruel, and it can be very difficult to overcome. If you’ve never had a day like this, lucky you! I’ve had my fair share, and though I’m no psychologist, I thought I’d outline my tactics for shaking off the remote working blues, just in case you ever face the same problem.

Remain Calm

Don’t hit the panic button just because you’re feeling the twin tyrannies of distance and solitude. You’re competent, capable and like everyone else, you suffer the occasional bad day. It’s cool. The fact that you may hate working remotely right now doesn’t mean you’re losing your remote working mojo — not at all! It just means you’re human.

Speak to Someone

I always find a bad day is most swiftly cut down to size if I tell someone about it. IM your best friend and let loose about how annoying it is trying to work with that guy in Marketing who never gives you the information he’s supposed to. Or call your brother and see if he wants to catch up on the weekend.

It may not matter who you get in touch with — usually I find that chatting with someone about something expands my horizons enough to remind me that I really am part of the world after all. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking everyone’s too busy to be distracted by you, either. Those closest will always have time for you, and if they don’t right now, they’ll call you back as soon as they do.

Immerse Yourself

Typically, my bad day is accompanied by a serious lack of motivation. One technique I use to overcome that is to try to immerse myself in an aspect of my job that I really enjoy. So I’ll look at my task list and pick the thing I want to do most, or what looks like it’ll be the most fun. This is a good way to remind myself of what I like about work, and gives me a sense of purpose.

If there’s nothing on your task list that you really want to do, some fresh air and a stroll around the block might make things look a little less bleak.

Arrange a Day in the Office

This may not be appropriate, or even possible, for everyone. But I find that, if I’ve been feeling isolated from work for a while, the promise of a day in the office — to reconnect with colleagues, make progress on particular projects that have hit hurdles, and remind myself how much I hate commuting — can perk me up. If you have friends in (or near) the office, you might even arrange to have lunch with them. You might as well make the most of your time on site!

I know a freelancer who, when he starts to feel isolated at home, either goes to a friend’s studio to work there for the day, or arranges a few client meetings so he has a reason to get out of the house and into the big, wide world. Do you have a cool friend with their own office, or a few clients with whom you could meet?

Be Kind to Yourself

I think the secret to getting through a bad day really lies in being kind to yourself. If I dread sitting down at my solitary old desk and starting my lonely old work, I’ll put on some good music, or take the laptop out to the deck (and the sunshine!) for a while. Perhaps I’ll treat myself to my favorite snack, call a friend to arrange to meet up later, go for a run, or spend a half hour looking at a book, magazine or site that really inspires me. These small indulgences usually make me feel pretty good, and, coupled with some of the points I mentioned above, can help me approach a mindset in which I can face up to the rest of the work day.

I know I’m not the only one to suffer the remote working blues. What do you do when they hit you?

I read about a study over the weekend that suggests the number of competitors can impact our motivation to compete. The researchers found that with a small number of competitors, people had increased motivation to compete, but even with equal chances of success, our motivation can drop when we are faced with large numbers of competitors.

“The simple act of comparing yourself against someone else can stoke the fires of competition. When there are just a few competitors around, making such comparisons is easy but they become more difficult when challengers are plentiful. As a result, the presence of extra contenders, far from spurring us on by adding extra challenge, can actually have the opposite effect. Garcia and Avishalom call this the “N-effect” and they demonstrated it through a number of experiments.” – Ed Yong

Read the rest of this entry »