Guest post by Rea Mae Donato
Working at home seems to be easy work when you first hear about it. Yeah, it truly is! I don’t have to wake up early, get dressed up and stress out every day in dealing with traffic and arriving late like other employees who work in offices. But what does it really feel like to work remotely?
Working remote means staying at home most of the time, facing the computer in my four cornered room. I sometimes forget when I last ran or jogged in the street and played an actual physical game. It seems like my social life is taken away from me. Some days, I even forget if I have already eaten. Whenever I feel hungry, I grab for the nearest or most convenient food that would satisfy those growling pets in my stomach. Do I still care for nutrients my body needs and deserve? No! For virtual workers like me, cooking something is really a big thing, especially when we mention “something healthy.” Talking about that includes going to the grocery to buy supplies, preparing and cooking. That takes a lot of effort and my working hours could be affected. I could finish 2-3 tasks during that time. So why should I make an effort to eat healthy when I could grab a pizza? I've been so focused on my career, I realize I forget to take care of myself.
Reading Beyond Travel: A Road Warrior's Survival Guide was a task assigned to me by Ms. Marcey. I was hired as her virtual assistant in October 2015. As part of the job requirement, I was assigned the book to learn more about her business and her style. I read the book without knowing that I had so much more to learn. At first I thought it would just be all about diets and exercise that go along together to get fit. But it is so much more than that. As I am reading it, I am truly amazed how Ms. Marcey could manage to travel, work, do business and get fit all at the same time. She really is living her tagline “WORK WELL. PLAY MORE!™”
My generation is so hooked with social media we can’t last a day without updating and checking our personal accounts. According to Wikipedia, there are over 100+ social media platforms available and I personally have at least four (4) active social media accounts. If I kept track of how much time I spent on social media, it would probably be around 10 hours per day. That is more than the regular working hours for a job. Yes, I procrastinate a lot, especially if I find a good article to read and a funny video to watch while scrolling my news feed in Facebook. I end up staying up late to finish my tasks.
When I found out how Ms. Marcey overcame procrastination in her book, I realized that I have so many things that I could do if I would limit social media usage too. Not necessarily work stuff, but I could rest earlier and be able to keep track of new episodes of my fave shows, plus I will be able to finish reading a new book, so it’s a win-win for me. It’s not that I would prohibit myself in using social media, but if I could, then why not? Especially if my job does not actually require engaging in it. Now, I choose to get focused and am closing all my social media tabs while working. It really is effective! I am able to finish more tasks now faster than usual.
Aside from project management tools, email is one way clients can give you tasks. My personal email had more than 100 emails before I read the book. Now, I have zero. How did that happen? As I mentioned earlier, there is a lot of stuff to learn in this book. I am not really into deleting emails. Either it is an important one or not. I don’t know why, but I kept emails so I could always check on them for future reference. Now that I archive my emails, it is so much easier for me to keep track of new ones, plus my inbox looks clean. I no longer think that that I have so many things that I have to do.
Beyond Travel: A Road Warrior's Survival Guide is not only for road warriors. It is a guide for everyone whose job involves using a computer. Since almost every situation now requires it, I could say this book is a guide for everyone. Be responsible, get focused and procrastinate wisely!
