workfromhome – Success Strategies

Wanna Getaway? 5 Workation Hotel Stays You’ll Love…

Workation is the concept of a place to getaway for business and pleasure.

Forbes Travel Guide which gave 26 Ideas of Workations to take right now. It’s not really a new concept as I have always traveled for business. However, in my workaholic haste to return home, I regret not taking the time to chill and relax after my meetings and/or conferences….essentially, to smell the coffee.

Enter the advent of the worldwide COVID Pandemic. Hotels suffered grave hit as travel took an unfortunate plunge. As creativity stepped in, hotels have had to come up with innovative ways to stay afloat as individuals stay indoors to do the traditional yet now expanded survival work-from-home strategy. Unfortunately, as this tactic has becomes more common, misery stepped in at the end of the day. So this is a cute idea to take a deliberate action to getaway, work, relax and play after. Who can beat that 3-in-1 deal? I’d only suggest you ensure there’s WiFi! To give you a push start, here are 5 hotels that I have worked from which drove my own writing passion.

1. Disney’s Contemporary Resort

2. Sundial Beach Resort and Spa

3. Sonesta

4. GalleryOne DoubleTree Suites By The Hilton

5. Hutchinson Island

Hope these selections have opened your appetite to change things up a bit. But be very careful and disciplined with your selections. Your productivity may be compromised.

Happy Workation and keep Safe!

What Happened To Friday?

Friyay! Yay! Every-day-a-Friday! Thank-God-it’s-Friday! All popular BC. Yep! Before Corona. The virus. Before the world became infected with the silence that’s so deafening. Questions prevail. What is Corona? How do we avoid? Will it ever leave? Panicked? Curious? Hopeful? Wash hands. Change clothes. Sanitize. Clean. Clean. Clean.

Remote Work

Now with remote work everyone is at home…but quarantined. Yikes! That’s not what we were thinking? Every-day-a-Friday meant being able to stay home, enjoy life, work when you want, go on vacations, long days at the beach soaking up the sun, time with friends and family… simply lounging around doing only what you want to do.

So what happened to Friday? For now its here everyday…though employers watch closely in the distance. Workers, co-workers, family feel more relaxed, yet hopefully more productive as work gets done in a more ‘soothing’ environment.

Tell it to Our Hearts

Tell it to our hearts. With kids at home away from school…maybe that’s not what we meant when we said every-day-a-Friday.

Hold strong. This too shall pass and our real Fridays will return. In the meantime, wash your hands. Keep safe.

Cheers!

Professionals Share 21 Pro-Tips on How To Work Remotely…

Either you run the day or the day runs you.

In a public forum, renowned author Seth Godin asked professionals to share their approach to working remotely. Here are a excerpts of their responses I gleaned as they thunderously chimed in.

Create a designated working space with everything in reach.
Deep work in the morning. Lighter work in afternoon.
Go outside at least once a day
Divide time into 30 minute segments, making sure a task is attached to each. Regular short breaks, food.
Stick to a schedule and treat self to a half hour sitcom during lunch. A good lunch keeps mindset light.
I work from home but my husband doesn’t. Feel like my space is being invaded a little. I always stick to a routine and make sure I dress as though I’m leaving the house. That helps my mindset a lot.
Shower and dress well. Focus on one (only one) major item to accomplish that day.
Act as if you are in an office. Dress, voice and stature. Be even more engaged by email and on calls ideally video. Make presence felt virtually. Do brief turn-the-chair around update chats by messenger and quick zoom call.
How can some (e.g. a dentist) work from home? In response to this question personally I say, plan, strategize future business and/or personal goals.
Do breathing exercises and make sure environment working in isn’t distracting.
Take one hour shift with partner to manage young kids home from school.
Eat lunch with friends over video calls.
Set up own schedule and share with friends to chat when not working
Building a machine learning model.
No prototype…no work meeting. Have a tangible artifact to collaborate on or review
The one thing I appreciate is that I can work from home (and thinking of those who cannot).
More focused… meaning work gets done earlier than disruptions in office (i.e. called to meetings, discussions etc). Then Netflix to end the day.
This is a time to reflect, learn and innovate.
Bought flowers this week. Brightens the view on a rainy day
Made office space private and more organized. When door closed, no one bothers.
Set a goal that you can meet each day that will help you feel accomplished at the end of the day. Oh… and talk to someone each day about something other than work. Social distancing does not mean social isolation.