Web Worker Daily

Does this sound like anyone you know?

I’m not qualified for the work I’m doing. It’s only luck that I got this far in my profession without being found out. I’ve forgotten just about everything I learned in school about how to do this job. Other people really know what they’re doing, and I’m just faking it. One day they’ll find out, and no one will ever hire me again.

If you think I’m writing about you - don’t worry, I’m not. Well, not intentionally. I could just be writing about myself, or about the thousands of others out there with a dose of Imposter Syndrome. Because we work without the benefit of in-person co-workers to compare ourselves to, web workers may be peculiarly prone to this disorder. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be scary.

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Ever had those clients who demand so much of your time? How about those who keep asking you questions with incredibly obvious answers? All web workers have had difficult clients, at least once in their career. Wouldn’t it be great if we could somehow change their behavior?

If you think you can magically make difficult clients behave better, then either you have a wild imagination or you’re approaching the problem in the wrong way. After all, a client’s unpleasant behavior might have more to do with the dynamics of your relationship than it has to do with them per se.

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Just because web workers have done away with the traditional office, it doesn’t mean we’re also rid of the stress that comes with working.

We encounter equipment failures, personal problems, and a scary client every now and then. Still, we need to keep our cool despite the stresses of web working.

Here are some ways to start…
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What do you do?

This is probably one of the hardest questions to answer. Some people hold more than one job, others have a new way of working, while others still have job descriptions that didn’t exist 5 years ago.

As a web worker, you’re probably at least one of the above. If you’re mingling with other web workers, answering “What do you do?” is easy. But if you ask your less web-savvy friends if they can explain your job back to you, you’ll find that they don’t get it.

I’m a blogger, but I’ve heard more than a dozen versions of my job from other people. Others think I’m a Google employee, online English teacher, or a criminal mastermind hacker (no joke). If you understand my situation, then it’s likely that you’ve run into it yourself.

So how do you answer that cocktail question without causing confusion or misunderstandings among people who are unfamiliar with web working?
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If you’ve worked in a traditional office setting, you’ve been through at least one of those mandatory birthday celebrations. They do it everywhere. Somewhere along the line, somebody must have decided the birthday thing was good for morale.

One morale booster you don’t get much of when you work from home is recognition.

You don’t get your boss’s praise, or his boss’s notice. Nobody singles you out for your job well done at a meeting or function. You don’t hear through the grapevine that so-and-so was really impressed with something you did. It feels good to know your work is appreciated, but working the way we do, you can sometimes feel like you’re operating in a vacuum.

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By Justin Draeger

Teleworking has been gaining traction for years and now more than 2.44 million people spend at least part of their work week at home.

But recently some major employers have been pulling telecommuters back into the office. The goal of any would-be teleworker is to show your boss how working from home will benefit him and the company.

If you’re having trouble getting your point across, here are some possible reasons he wants you in the office.

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Being a project driven nomadic my-company-is-my-laptop web working entrepreneur or employee can be like being stuck in a drier on high with a fire hose of information and data stuck in for fun. How do you cope?

For years as a developer and writer I’ve used David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology; but I’ve been increasingly nagged by the question of whether GTD out of the box really worked for my increasingly webized life.

Earlier this month I had the chance to interview David Allen so I grabbed the opportunity to scratch that itch and ask him a few questions about GTD and web work. (Read part 1 of the conversation, focusing on health and stress)

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For most web workers stress is an inescapable fact of life – and sometimes death. The links between stress and serious, you-are-so-screwed illness are real and the news is anything but good:

Many people report experiencing physical symptoms (77 percent) and psychological symptoms (73 percent) related to stress in the last month. Physical symptoms of stress include: fatigue (51 percent); headache (44 percent); upset stomach (34 percent); muscle tension (30 percent); change in appetite (23 percent), teeth grinding (17 percent); change in sex drive (15 percent); and feeling dizzy (13 percent). Psychological symptoms of stress include: experiencing irritability or anger (50 percent); feeling nervous (45 percent); lack of energy (45 percent); and feeling as though you could cry (35 percent). In addition, almost half (48 percent) of Americans report lying awake at night due to stress.” - APA study.

For me, the single biggest stress reduction tool I’ve found this decade has been David Allen’s Getting Things Done: A Guide to Stress Free Productivity book and what’s become something of a movement among web workers: Getting Things Done (GTD).Earlier this month, I interviewed David Allen with an eye towards finding out how he stays healthy. Excerpts from that conversation:

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