Working from Home - Something that I May Try Out Soon

'Work from home (WFH)' to me, has always mean doing what you can do in the office - from home. I have done it before in my previous companies and we can occasionally choose to 'VPN' in to the office network and work away using the company laptop from practically anywhere - home or overseas hotels.

This 'WFH' notion began to change after knowing the fact that there are actually people who are able to earn a living just by working from work - no bosses, no office politics, no commute time etc. While it is all rosy and workable from the look of it, one must also essentially understand about the risks behind these types of working style.

First, there is no longer fixed income going into your bank account every month. If you do not earn anything for that month, you have zero income.

Second, while it does sounds glamorous to be your own boss, if you are someone who has no self-discipline and do not take consistent effort to follow through daily work routines that are planned out in advance, there is a very high chance that you will fail and crash to the ground like an airplane without fuel.

The last risk I can think of is probably the most difficult part. What exactly can we do to make money from our home? Is there a blueprint that will guide us from point A to Z and start earning consistent income? Is the income scale-able in the long term?

I am not exactly sure about  how to get started for now but I may give it a shot soon while still holding on to my full time job. That will also means I will have less fun/play time and more personal 'overtime' to try this 'Work from Home' thing and hopefully it will blossom into a success story for me to brag about in front of families and friends. :)

Important vs Urgent Tasks

A complaint from an ex-colleague of mine during lunch today reminded me of a lesson I learned from a mentor many years ago.

This ex-colleague (J) does not like her current job. Besides being asked to wear many hats (multiple job functions and dotted-line bosses), she is not getting all the due appreciations (her version of the story) from her superiors. In short, she is unhappy and have been contemplating whether or not to quit her job.

I changed topic shortly as I did not want to goad her into quitting her job so soon. Instead, I shared with her a few tips on how to manage her workload better which I am going to share with you below. These couple of tips was taught to me many years ago and it worked well for me till today. Give it a shot if you are in a similar predicament in your career.

Important vs Urgent tasks

Which one of the above do you prioritize when you do your daily task planning? Are you handling all the urgent things first as they comes in to you? Do you let the urgent task overwrite the high priority items on your to-do-list? Or do you hold your ground and focus/prioritize mainly on Important tasks?

Let's do a comparison, shall we?


Example of Urgent Tasks:

- attending a course on 'How to Use Excel' just because it is a free coupon given to your boss and today is the last day to attend.

- help a colleague do up an invoice (not your duty) because her computer went bonkers this morning and the customer is waiting for it

Example of Important Tasks:

- preparation of agenda for CEO's meeting tomorrow morning
- finishing up that payroll excel so that everyone can get their pay in time
- applying Visa for the CEO who is leaving for Japan next week

Hence it is obvious that we Go for important tasks first. Important tasks are things that may cause you to lose your job if they are not done in a efficient and timely manner. Whereas for urgent tasks, it is really up to you to decide if it is really worth doing it immediately.

Like I mentioned, urgent tasks may not be important and it is only urgent to the person who is assigning it to you. If that person is not your immediate boss, always check with your boss first if it seriously conflict with your ability or schedule to fulfill the more important tasks on your list.

Learn to say NO

 

Yes, it may not be easy to say NO to your boss but it may be necessary to highlight to him or her the important things that you are current doing and let him or her decide which one you should do. If something goes horribly wrong after you do it, at least your boss will be the one to take the rap.

Learning to say NO is a skill hardly practiced by people these days as they are often fearful of losing their job if they say NO.

Well, it depends.

Saying No to a colleague who is obviously taking advantage of your kindness to help would be the right thing to do and of course, saying No to your superior will depend on what the task is about. Is it Important or Urgent or Both?

What if You Really Need to Quit?

There is really no fix time on when to quit. It is ultimately your call but before you quit, always try to have the following in place (best effort basis):

- have a few job offers (highly recommended)

- have enough saving to cover your personal expenses for the next 6 months (recommended)

- test the market to see if there are vacancies for your current job in the market

- get support from your family and friends

Quitting a job may have impact and repercussions if not handled properly. If you burn your bridge with your ex-company when you quit, it may affect your chance of landing a new job in the same industry as words tend to spread fast.

If you are really thinking of quitting your job and it is due to heavy workloads, I would strongly suggest that you try out the Important vs Urgent Tasks filtering method and see if it works for you.

If nothing else work and your boss is really an asshole, quickly land another job or save up like I recommend above and then say this to your boss:

You Are Fired!

Do you Deserve it?

I am sure you have often hear people complain about not getting that long-awaited promotion, salary raise, enlistment into prestigious colleges and the list goes on...

Except for the very scarce minorities, most of us are not born rich or have special talents, innate superhuman memories, physical abilities and so on...

So for the rest of us, we have to 'work hard' for what we want in life, don't we?

Want that promotion to be departmental head in your company? Yes? Then make sure you deserve it.

Did you do that extra bit of networking with the senior management whenever possible? Did you take up that extra course on leadership and management? Did you pick up challenges that your peers would not even dream of doing? Did you practice an extra hour for that forthcoming product presentation that will potentially move the company's profit margin northwards? If your answers are YES to the above, then you most likely will deserve that promotion when opportunity arises.

Jealous and envious of that new female colleague who has such slim and slender figure? Well, you deserve to have it too, if you care to exercise more, eat wisely and in moderate proportions and so on...

For the most part, life is fair - in my opinion. I recently lost 8 kg and yes, I do deserve it. Read about it here if you are not sure what I am talking about. :)

So the next time you think life is unfair, think again. Have you done enough to deserve what you want in life?

The Art of Letting Go

Letting go sounds so easy when we say it - giving advice to close friends, colleagues, family members.

But when it is our turn to let go, we tend to hold back.

Most of the time.

It is never easy to let go.

It's hard to let my kiddo walk and play by himself at the playground when he was two and the half of age. He may trip and fall. Other kids may push him. Unforeseen accidents always happen at the playground.

But little did I realize that he has been doing that since he started his playgroup at the childcare center. The teachers bring them out to the playground and let them roam around with or without our presence. 5 years went by without any accidents.

Most things will start and end the right way with or without our presence or involvement. I was on leave recently and happen to check my email and went through a few presentation slides of my staff - who presented our latest market research to the senior management team.

I would have added and amended  the slides the way I always wanted it, I would have tweaked and edited some of the wordings. No. I went on leave and had one of my team member do it. I did not have the chance to do anything and the whole presentation went well. Extremely well in fact. With or without my involvement and participation.

The world around us will continue to roll and evolve with or without our involvement. Thousands upon thousands of successful presentations to senior management happen everyday, without or with our involvement.

Successful events like weddings, company celebrations went well without me controlling and orchestrating.

Our involvement may make things better (the presentation slides) but it may rob others of the chance to present their best effort and work. We must learn to let go and live a more fulfilling life instead.