In my real-world life I perform a role that requires decision-making which ultimately affects the company I work for from a financial perspective; I accept business or not, hand-pick clients based on business-needs and charge them as I see fit; I don't ask permission and am never held accountable for the decisions I make, provided I make budget - That level of professional-independence suits me and I'm fortunate that the same autonomy extends to time as well as location to some degree.
I've earned that right privilege over many years of performing at a high level and of demonstrating a company-first ethos in respect of the way I conduct business on its behalf, how I represent, and how I strive towards the desired results of the Directors. I have a strong work-ethic, highly-developed skills in communication, negotiation and building lasting relationships, plus industry know-how - This has all helped to gain me a large degree of autonomy in my work day and means no one ever looks over my shoulder which is of immeasurable value.
So yeah, I make decisions, executive decisions, and sometimes they extend to team members whom I support, develop and mentor as part of my executive-level role. That aspect of my job brings enjoyment and I value the feeling of providing a little assistance; I like helping them find their best performance and to consistently improve their skills, or simply maintain equilibrium in a work environment and industry that can be demanding.
It makes sense that I also need to find the same personally right? This is why I make executive decisions that impact myself.
Friday's executive decision
You're actually looking at my executive decision made only last Friday...Eggs, bacon and home made rye toast.
I know, it doesn't seem like an overly difficult decision but it was...Have this, or a ham and cheese croissant? Poached or fried eggs, avocado on the side or not? Mushrooms, bangers, baked beans, wilted baby spinach, hash brown? The decisions were endless really, but all my skills and previous experience combined to make the decision relatively easy; Thanks to all that training, research and development I've done right?
OK, that wasn't really my executive decision at all, despite its importance...The decision to work at the café instead of the office was the executive decision!
I'd arrived at my office early and managed to get almost a couple hours work done prior to 0900 when most of the other staff trooped in like a heard of elephants stampeding on the Okovango Delta. It had been a productive two hours but as soon as all the noises started things went down hill. That's when I took the executive decision to bugger off to the café and work from there; One of the perks of my job. Autonomy.
You may be wondering how a café-environment could possibly be conducive to productivity and you'd be right for certain aspects I guess - I'd not be able to make client calls there due to the noise but for the sort of thing I was doing Friday I find it to be a pretty good work space. I visit this café daily, not a massive place and, whilst not always quiet, I like the vibe and find it easy to work there.
On arrival there was the usual shit-talking with the owner, coffee and food order then I knuckled down to work; The eating part came before the work as I hadn't had breakfast. It was almost 1000 by this time so I called it brunch...But I had lunch later at 1400 so maybe brunch should have been called late breakfast instead. Either way it was tasty...And then...I got to work. OK, I was on hive a little, but then I got to work.
I tend to get focused on my tasks, in this case market research for a client proposal, and am able to block out the rest of the café; Why I can't seem to do it at the office without closing my door is a mystery. It's the vibe I think though; I can look up and see the world passing by for a momentary break then get back to work, then there's the fresh air in the alfresco dining area and the good coffee literally at my beck and call...I don't know, I just tend to get more done which is exactly what happened Friday. Mood and attitude affects output I guess.
So there I sat researching, fielding emails from my team who had been given strict instructions not to call my phone and drinking coffee...There may have been a raspberry and white chocolate muffin in there somewhere but I'm not confirming it. Overall it was productive.
How about y'all...What working environment do you find the best? Do you find you are more productive at a particular time of day or in a particular location? With so many being forced to work from home I guess people have had to make the best of their home-office situation so maybe that's where you feel most productive...Tell me about it, your work space and about your executive decisions made to improve your working environment like I did on Friday.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
Discord: galenkp#9209
When my friends and I were at uni we used to call them brunch and linner XP
I think J used the environment variable to argue his case for continuing to work from home, and work realised he was a hell of a lot more productive in the same or less amount of time at home than he was in the office so here he has remained.
I work best when I "should" be going to bed x_x (my natural bedtime is somewhere between midnight at 3am, I'm trying to go to bed between 10 and 11 but that's when I'm most productive) and generally not when there's other people around as I talk to myself a lot (been trying to stop because J thinks I'm talking to him and gets distracted XD).
I need to come up with a better setup for my desk though, keyboard shortcuts with the way the keyboard and tablet are set up next to each other is not good for my shoulder
Subconscious wiring of what you need to pay attention to. In a cafe the only thing you'd "have" to pay attention to is a possible threat and that's highly unlikely to happen, so you can focus harder. Meanwhile any unusual office sound might mean someone is coming to talk to iyou about something and so you context switch (thus breaking your concentration on what you were doing) to see if you need to pay attention to it and by the time you find out you don't well your concentration is already broken. The door closing thing meanwhile is an established "don't bother me" so your brain feels more free to not pay attention to what's going on outside.
That's what I think anyway XD
That's a great explanation of why I can't work as t work sometimes...I never thought of it that way! I rarely close my office door at work...Sends a bad message. When it is closed someone's copping it though! Lol.
Brunch and linner...That works. So I can have breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner and dinner. Is there a word for after dinner snack?
Being retired, I am fortunate enough to not have to make executive decisions, I was also fortunate enough for most of my career to not have to make executive decisions, (except the last 5 years of work life). My particular job also was not conducive to a work at home situation.
I did prefer the late shifts and the midnight shifts, and to this day I still have a hard time doing anything pre-noon wise. I have gotten better at getting up in the mornings, but I still like the night. I do my best work when dead tired so the first hour I wake up and am still groggy I think pretty good, the last hour before sleep cycle starts I think pretty good. If my wife needs me to get an answer for what ever then we will be up all night until I am totally dead tired and then the answer will come.
So I guess the best work time/solution solving time is at the point of exhaustion for me.
You think better when at the point of exhaustion? That's odd...I mean I've often had to make decisions under pressure and fatigue, but I'd say my best decision-making time is when I'm fresh and rested. I'm looking forward to making executive decisions when I don't have to punch the clock for someone else...Should I sleep in, or not. Should I go hiking or people watch at the café? Should I take a road trip around the countryside for a month or so or fly back to New Zealand?
I know it seems odd, but I really am more creative when I am tired, and when I am super tired is when I start to see other options that I may have missed, that surface I guess from the subconsciousness. I was always able to think clear at normal times, but my best thinking was exhaustion.
If the strategy works then roll with it. I prefer to sleep when I'm super tired. 😁
That is a proper executive decision and faultless!
And raspberry and white chocolate muffin, Titan-like!
Titans eat raspberry and white chocolate muffins... Everyone know that. 🤣
It should be etched in stone!
I love the simplicity of punching in, doing my best, then going home (figuratively, I'm home the entire time).
Also I believe at some point this will be considered an unsafe work environment, (from a mental health perspective). If/when that happens, I want to be on the employee/victim side of the courtroom; not the management/perpetrator side.
I'm quite confident upper management will position anyone not on the bottom rung, as the irresponsible guy, who didn't raise any concerns.
They can play their silly games without me.
Sounds like a good work envy; Home. I'd like to work from home more but have to see clients.
😂
I work from home. Yes... the pandemic sent me here, but I had been wanting to come home to work for a long while and wasn't sure how I was going to stand going into the office for several more years till I retire, I have to say, in that respect, the pandemic has been good to me. (It made me laugh again to type that.)
Since my work computer has to be connected straight into my modem (no wireless for security reasons).....there was only one corner for my computer to go (which started out as a long side table from my living room at first, because the decision was made in one day that I should come home ! No time to prepare !)... unless I wanted to have the cable rewired, which I didn't....and that place was in my spare bedroom. I call it that, but it is not a bedroom. Since I moved here from a larger house, the room had been a storage nightmare room. It was nearly to the ceiling at first, but through the last couple of years it had been gone through many times, reducing, reducing... .reducing, but never quite completed.
At first I was in just a corner with a path from the door to across the room. LOL !! I didn't mind, I was home !! Since then, more organizing and reducing till one side of the room is functional now. My work computer, phone and two monitors are on a desk/table that I bought since then, with a desk chair that I also purchased. It is in a corner beside the only window in the room, so although I am facing the wall, a slight glance to the right lets me see out into my back yard. In the winter I can see the bird feeders from there (and the squirrels raiding the feeders !)
Above the monitors and on the wall to the left is art, not mine except one piece, the others from other amateur artists I've bought from or who have gifted me with fun art..... and a round stained glass mirror. Happy things, to help keep me balanced while I do work, that although is not amazingly hard with rare exceptions, but is pushed and rushed and.... a bit stressful. Back in my younger days it would probably not have felt too stressful, but now in my older years, I feel it a little more.
Behind me, the other half of the room still has extra dining chairs, lots of my art and empty canvases and a little more stuff that still needs to be resolved, but it disappears because I can't see it while I am working and am too busy to consciously acknowledge it.
It's good.... it's VERY good.
Erm, I don't know about others here but I want your work space! Gimme! Lol.
Sounds pretty legit to be honest and it's interesting to see how it evolved from a serviceable workspace that you clearly feel comfortable in. I really wish I could work from anywhere so I could be anywhere in the world. I have a few ideas where I'd like to be too! I mean most of my work can happen with connected computer and a MFC (scanner/printer) although I have to see clients also so have to go where they are at times. I'd like to work with birds and squirrels though....Seems like a nice place to work.
#notjealous
#amjeaolous
🙂
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The energy of a place can have massive impact on your levels of productivity - or even the willingness of such. So can the people you are surrounded by, and they do not even need to be in your immediate sphere. Chances are, there are at least a handful of people who may even be slightly resentful of you and your position, including it's flexibility. In addition to that - having colleagues and perhaps bosses constantly wander by can actually be more anxiety inducing than anything else, because there will always be this small part of you that finds that you cannot get "lost" in what you are doing because of the anticipation of interruption.
Moving away from a space like that to one where yes, it may be noisy - but it is simply background noise makes complete sense.
See what you said up there? ☝️ That's what I feel but wasn't able to say so eloquently. You literally just reduced all those words I wrote in this post to one simple and accurate paragraph.
I think you're right on the energy or the tone of a place as far as productivity. no different to a couple setting the tone and mood around the events in their lives I guess. And as for people being resentful or jealous maybe? Yep, that too.
The café I go to is an eclectic place, very casual yet comforting. They play funky music and present themselves in an unpretentious manner. They also treat customers with a casual easy-going respect, remember what food and coffee we have and make us feel like family. Is there any wonder I feel better working there? I think also, at the café, I'm largely anonymous. I'm not a big fan of being the focus of attention, looked at, and being just another random person means no one looks at me, or if they do it's ok for me to ignore them.
You'd like it there Jaynie. When you come over I'll take you there. We can sit and
workhive together.Thanks for your comments; They are always welcome and valued.
Sometimes it is more beneficial to be more expressive about things... more words :)
Precisely.
Sounds good - but judging by the amount you and I write... there would probably be a lot of talking happening lol! Would be fun!
More talking and less writing you think? Seems legit. There's no red cappuccino on the drink menu but we'll make do I suppose.
I have no doubt - and perhaps I will risk a traditional Latté... it has been a WHILE, I miss them and also - I know I would be in good hands should I have a heart attack... I know you have some kind of rescue kit in your car lol... failing that, I know you have some ridiculous kind of four wheeled beast which can get me to hospital almost as quickly as my Mercedes :D kekekekeke!!!
You would be.
I do but would go with the more traditional, G-dog version, of chest compressions and CPR first.
The big dog is beastly-good...Like his owner.
One day I hope to take a ride in it, to some wine farm or just the mountains. I'll never own my own, I'm not that classy.
I know. Stop making me repeat myself, lol.
Why am I not surprised... lol!!!
Oh it's hard to be humble ;)
Happy to be the wine snob. :D
Off to the cafe! good call. also a good call on the entire breakfast. I find it easier to block out ambient noise, from say the cafe, over office chatter as well. I think in the office I am so used to eavesdropping so I can answer questions quickly, rather than listening to the same un-watered down version later. I suppose it's my OCD that makes me want to be apart of everything all the time. No clue, but your right.. it sucks and I hate closing my door.
The first part of your post sounded like a cover letter to a resume.. hehe
Maybe someone should create an office with a cafe-feel?! How productive would it be!
Oh yeah, my CV intro. Give me a job? I'll show up 20% of the time and be at the cafe if you need me! Or home. Or hiking. Or anywhere else but the office. 😁
Te cuento: la decisión de hacer del hogar mi oficina no ha sido fácil. Se requiere valentía y disciplina para separar emocionalmente los entornos y las tareas. Sigo en mi proceso de toma de decisiones para mejorar la productividad. "Diseño y creo mi vida."
Gracias por tus reflexiones...
Thanks for your comment. I don't speak Spanish I'm afraid, but I'm sure sure it was a good comment.