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Article on Career Meets Life: Redefining Your Career Path

2/28/2014

Have you ever wondered if your current job is the best you can do? Career Meets Life is a new online community dedicated to exchanging ideas about job sharing, managing the separation between work and home, job fit, career mobility and more.

I am thrilled to take part in this exciting initiative. Check out my first article on career mobility at Career Meets Life: Redefining Your Career Path

Are you hungry for more information? Register for updates at Career Meets Life.

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Keeping up when the lights are down #darkto

12/29/2013

It's Canadian cliche time! Let's talk about THE WEATHER! Seven days ago, in the wee morning hours, Toronto awoke to the bzzzzzt sound of every appliance in the city shutting off simultaneously. We're Canadian, we're tough, we can handle a little power outage.

Except it wasn't a "little" power outage.

For the first day it was quaint. Candles are a nice touch. There was enough power in the laptops to charge tablets and phones, it was kind of like camping but with running water and a gas stove. And then night fell on the second day. An extra layer was added to the people and the beds, so it was like camping in the cold... The sun rose again and the lights did not come on. The devices were dying, the teeth were dangerously close to chattering and it seemed less like camping and more like an ordeal.

PROD Communications runs out of a home office, and the home is shared with some very little people, the littlest of whom lacks the ability to speak up when he's too cold. At the 36 hour mark the decision was made to relocate to an offsite location, aka, a local hotel.

A few lessons were learned along the way, specifically:

ALWAYS charge your phone. If you're sitting on the couch, have a phone charger handy so you can keep it plugged in. Sure, going to bed with it at 76% seems fine under normal circumstances, but what if that's the last time your phone will see full power in your home for 61 hours?
Keep your contacts up-to-date in your phone. If you can't access your email from your phone (not because you don't know how, but because you're having issues) a quick text explaining the situation to current clients will go a long way to protect your reputation.
Cloud solutions exist for a reason. There is absolutely no reason not to keep your files backed up somewhere that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, including a hotel business centre not 15 minutes from your home. You haven't lived until you've tried to edit a work document on an iPhone. I seriously don't recommend it.
Try to find the humour in the situation. Sh*t happens. If you maintain grace under fire, people will know you've got things well in hand.

If you're one of my fellow Canadians still in the dark, I hope you get the lights back on back soon, and you were also able to find a new kind of joy this holiday season.

Staying Sane While Working From Home

12/12/2013

When a lot of people think of working from home, they envision a life in front of a screen in a bathrobe. That's a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective. The adjustment from working outside the home full time to working at home can be a rough one, but it doesn't have to be! Here are some tips to help make it work for you:

Get dressed. Sick days are made to be spent in your PJs, but you're not sick now, you're working. Getting up, showering and getting dressed changes the scenery enough to give your day an official start. Yes, comfy clothes are fine, even preferable. Skipping the trip to the dry cleaner is a pretty nice benefit, after all.
Keep a schedule, of sorts. One of the advantages of working from home is NOT keeping a schedule, right? Sure, you're your own boss now, but any clients you're working with are going to have the not unreasonable expectation of contacting you at normal times of day. Best to avail yourself to them fairly regularly.
BACK AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER! Especially when you're getting started, it's tempting to work all the time. You probably started working from home because it allowed you the flexibility to do other things. If you're not doing those other things, what exactly is the point of not leaving the house? It won't be long before anyone who shares your home gets annoyed by your "absence while present" so try to head that annoyance off at the pass by setting appropriate boundaries.
Talk to people whenever possible. It can get pretty isolating holed up at home. Having a quick phone chat rather than an email with a client or taking a break to talk to a friend can help you feel a little more connected with the world.
Don't forget about self-care. Just because how you look in a suit matters less these days, don't think it doesn't matter at all. You're missing out on the moving around that leaving the house for work naturally includes now. Take regular breaks for feeding, watering and walking.

Oh, one of my two reasons for working from home is clamouring for lunch. I guess it's time for one of those breaks!

Article on Career Meets Life: Redefining Your Career Path

Keeping up when the lights are down #darkto

Staying Sane While Working From Home

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