"How does your cluttered desk serve you?" 

I was asked this question recently by one of my coaches, Karen Chappell.

(Look her up if you want to live a pain-free life...she is a-MAZ-ing!)

I was talking with Karen about minimalism after re-watching a Netflix documentary called "Minimalism: Less is Now" based on the book "The Minimalists" by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus.

The idea of living a more intentional life with less useless clutter (in my house, in my head, in my technology) appeals to me very much.

I was telling Karen that I have a lot of clutter and it does weigh on me. So she asked me, "How does your cluttered desk serve you?"

Because we don't do things over and over again without there being some payoff for us--even for things that maybe aren't healthy or in our best interests.

I did have some thoughts on that. Check out the latest episode of Cafe Grit (048, info below) and find out how my cluttered desk serves me. 

PS: My desk is no longer cluttered and in the podcast I reveal how it got all cleaned up, with Karen's help!

🙋🏻‍♀️ Do you have a clutter problem? Does it feel like a burden? Have you ever explored minimalism?

#cafegrit #minimalism #workingfromhome #whatinspiresme #bethannecampbell

Reducing space, expanding, reconfiguring, no matter what is happening to your office, Asset Management is key right now for any company that is adjusting to the new normal. Easiest to slip under the radar, Jack takes us through the ins and outs of Asset Management which will save you time, money and aggravation down the road for your business.

#AssetManagement #Moving #ReturnToOffice

Jack has spent his career in the moving, furniture installation, logistics and warehousing industries. He has held various unique roles allowing him to develop invaluable knowledge that he provides his clients at The Advance Group.  Jack has handled moves all over Europe, Brazil, Singapore, Tokyo, as well as all over the United States. He has helped countless clients throughout their various moves, whether local or long distance, residential or commercial, big or small, Jack has made it his mission to simplify the process as best as he can.

For more on The Advance Group visit https://www.theadvancegrp.com

Leave us a comment if you have any questions for the show or get in touch with Jack and the podcast here https://www.theadvancegrp.com/podcast/

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In this weeks episode Marlena and Rebecca discuss the greatest show ever-The Office! In honor of celebrating The Offices 15th anniversary, they discuss their favorite episodes and moments from the show. They also talk about there current experience working from home. Take care and stay home! 

Remember to Shut up, Listen, and Geek out!

*Note:  Due to shelter in place, we had to get creative with our recording. We had some technical difficulties but we hope that doesn't stop you from enjoying the episode!We apologize for the audio.

Technology resources we discuss in this episode for Remote working at UAB:

• Remote working resources
• Teams access request for UABMC users
• Get a Zoom account to host meetings
• Office365, sign in with BlazerID & password
• Security awareness at UAB

Find us on social!

• Facebook
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• Twitter
• YouTube

TechKnow is produced by the Communications & Marketing team at UAB Information Technology.

Blippy Trance Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Pamgaea Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

We talk about: 

• What is asynchronous work
• How to hire a good remote worker
• How to work asynchronously

Notes and links:

• Zoom
• Loom
• Slack
• Dropbox Paper
• Google Docs
• Notion

Marcus Wermuth:

• Website
• Twitter

Credits:

• Gramatik for music

We ask the question, can you succeed while working remotely? There is a growing trend among employees, freelancers and entrepreneurs of working away from the office but suspicion and controversy still abound. Combining our own experience with experts in the field we explore the pros & cons, the cultural shift that is driving remote work and what the future will look like.

Show Notes

• 1:13— How March's move to Ireland made remote work very personal, very fast
• 3:30— The rise of remote work
• 6:44— Controversy around remote work
• 12:04— The challenges of working remotely
• 23:28— Tips & tricks from remote work experts to make it work
• 38:43— Twitter's feedback on remote work
• 43:11— The power of remote work
• 45:57— The big takeaway on remote work

Mentions

• Telecommuting trend data (July, 2018)
• Amazon hiring 5,000 remote workers this year (CNBC)
• Apple seeking employees for work-from-home positions (Apple)

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• Twitter

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• Weekly email newsletter

Full Episode Transcript

• Better Show Blog

Feedback

• Email: hi@bettershow.io

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• Leave a review in iTunes!
• Tell two friends about the show!

In this mini Fragment we touch on a highly requested topic - working remotely. Donn talks about how to ease into remote working, tools for working remotely, tips and tricks for staying sane and productive while remote and he wraps it up by discussing the benefits employers have when hiring a remote workforce.

Show Notes

• Remote work is best suited for information workers (programmers, designers, engineers, etc)
• Read Remote by DHH and Jason Fried
  • Great book that echoes what I feel about working remote.
  • Tip: Listen to it on Audible, it's faster to consume.
• How to ease into remote work at your current job
  • Convince manager to allow a 1 day trial for one - three months.
  • Remote day should be on Friday (fewer critical things happen on Friday, on average)
  • After trial, if success, aim for 2-3 days of remote work. (Again, do this at the end of the week. Wed,Thu, Fri)
  • Once successful, rally for full week of remote with an occasional in office visit (a day every week work two)

Staying sane while working remote

• Donn's blog post on this topic
• Create a work day schedule (5am-2pm, 8am-5pm, 10am-7pm, etc)
  • When you're done, you're done. Leave work (your office/etc).
• Schedule. Schedule. Schedule. Stick to a schedule.
  • Get up at the same time
  • Get dressed for work (no PJ's etc)
  • Do your hair.
  • Be presentable
  • This is all mental
• Prepare for the day
  • Get coffee/tea/water and snacks
  • Try to limit the opportunity of distractions
• During the day
  • Take a lunch, away from your desk.
  • Go out for lunch with someone (significant other, friend, etc) at one to two times a week.
  • Work out of the house a couple times a week, this increases our creativity.
• Outside of Work
  • You need social interaction, Cabin Fever is a real thing.
  • Exercise 3-4 times a week if possible.
  • Group classes are perfect for this.
    • CrossFit
    • Martial Arts
    • Yoga
    • Pilates
    • etc
• Communication When Remote
  • Put 3x-4x more effort into communicating than previous. You're not visible seen so you need to be more vocal.
    • Call
    • SMS
    • Blow up the Slack/Hipchat channel/etc
    • Objective - Clear your own path

Tools

• For remote to work effectively, everything should be considered remote. If one employee is remote, then all meetings should occur as if the team is remote. This ensures that everyone can work effectively without missing anything.
• Communication
  • Group Chat
    • Slack
    • HipChat
  • Video Chat
    • Google Hangouts
    • Skype
    • Join.me
    • Zoom.us
  • Task Management
    • Trello
    • Jira
    • Asana
    • GitHub

Remote for Employers

• Benefits from Remote workforce
  • Much larger talent pool than the exhausted pool (or non-existent one that local). Higher quality employees/contractors/consultants for the same overhead.
  • Remote creates much more loyal employees. You're giving them their life back and this is reciprocated.
  • Your company becomes anti-fragile as you're able to adapt with the industry faster. You can hire in areas others cannot.
  • On average, remote employees work harder and are more productive than their office counterparts.
  • Less overhead! No need to pay for additional office space.

Sponsor

• Rollbar - special offer: Bootstrap plan free for 90 days

Contact

• @fragmentedcast [twitter.com]
• @donnfelker [twitter.com]
• @kaushikgopal [twitter.com]