Coworking

A reasonable alternative to a personal office is something called "coworking." Essentially, it is a lot of people that share an office. Here in Manchester, Connecticut, there is a place called Axis 901, which is where folks get together to work alone. It's an interesting idea and a great way to get things done, as sitting in the house can be lonely or distracting, depending on who is or isn't home. Coworking provides just enough hussle and bussle to provide a steady stream of working motivation.

I know this because, I actually got to go and try working on site for a half day. While I didn't interact with anyone except the facilitator, Mark, I was able to create a couple blog posts. Before I moved out of state, I had always dreamed of having my own office in Manchester, and coworking would have been a perfect solution. Now that I'm back, I hope it is an option for me in the near future. So, if you're working at home and find yourself distracted or just not getting as much work done as you should, try and find a coworking facility nearby.

My journey towards meditation

Last weekend, I attended a Buddhist style introduction to meditation at the Odiyana Center. Meditation has been slowly encroaching on my life, and I figured that I'd finally take a class. In college, my roommate and I attended some stage hypnosis shows of James Mapes, at UConn's Jorgensen Auditorium, which introduced me to the concept of hypnosis. I also took some Creative Writing classes at UConn, which included an extensive study of the Beats, some of whom were very interested in Buddhism. And, a few years later, I was introduced to a movie called The Secret, which introduced me to the notion of listening to motivational tapes and putting myself in the right mindset. More recently, I actually started listening to hypnosis tapes and doing occasional meditation.

But, where does all this lead? Achieving personal balance is more than just completing a task. It is internalizing and understanding the world around me. But to do this, I slightly sever my connection to the world. Perhaps the answer is simply in the silence that surrounds me.

Balance your job for the long term from the beginning

Back in highschool, I used to run cross country. One of my first races, I started too fast, took the lead early, but I didn't have enough energy to complete the race along side the other runners. Later in life, I had a job, where I initially put in a lot of time, energy and passion, but I didn't have enough energy to keep up the pace over the months and years.

It's important to plan for the long term, and set expectations (for both you and your employer) at reasonable levels. Going gangbusters with the hope that things will level off is not a great solution. I remember temping for the job mentioned above. I wanted to work for this company so badly that I was putting in 50-60 hour weeks. I charged by the day, so I would only have to really charge the company for 40 hours a week. On top of this I was commuting 2 hours each way. The company eventually hired me on, and I found the cheapest place I could to rent, but I was still going gangbusters almost 2 years later. Human resources started asking me to report overtime. The top boss kept saying not to "work" over 40 hours. Some of the people whom I assisted wanted to know why I "couldn't work" 12 hours a day, anymore. I'd sneak into the office on weekends to catch up on work, but I couldn't meet the expectations I had set for myself to achieve, as I wasn't achieving these expectations within the allowed parameters. At this time, my personal life fell apart. My car was sideswiped in a hit and run. I couldn't afford rent. So, in not my proudest moment, I quit and went home.

Let's be honest. A 60 hour week is pretty standard these days, but a company needs to provide you the resources you need to succeed in life. While I loved my job, I couldn't figure out how to afford a place to live or transportation to work. I had not negotiated the correct terms for myself in advance. While many employers see this as not their problem, it reduces the efficiency of the workforce. Therefore, it is your (and my) job as the employee to negotiate the best offer available when taking on employment.

When starting work, keep a win-win attitude, but make sure both your expectations and the employers are on the table. Do not compromise in advance, such as reducing your asking price. Put your needs on the table, and don't feel bad about pushing back. Make sure you understand the company's needs. If a company is hiring you for your vehicle, your education or where you live, these costs need to be factored into what the company pays you. Your new company would not sell its products below operating costs, neither should you sell yourself below your costs.

Good negotiation is like preparing for a race. Eat a lot of pasta two days before, make sure you get enough sleep, and have a plan for your race pace. You can't finish the race or do a great job, if you don't have enough gas to get to the end.

The Phased Wake Up

How do you wake up when you just don't want to? There are lots of reasons why these days occur. Typically it's some combination or variation of: You're between things in life. You don't have anything scheduled till the afternoon. You've just had a very busy but questionably productive few days. Your schedule has gotten off kilter, or even that you're depressed. While it is best to avoid this lethargy by planning ahead, having an exercise schedule or just a regular morning routine, forward thinking doesn't help you when you've already fallen into a slump. So here are some easy steps to refresh yourself after getting up on the wrong side of the bed.

1. Consume a hot liquid. Make coffee or tea. 
2. Give yourself a set amount of time to goof off. Set a timer for 15 minutes and surf the internet.
3. Eat a small breakfast.
4. Take a shower and get dressed like you're going to do something.
5. Do something that you consider productive, like make a daily schedule to follow.

This list is rather simple, but it would have helped me alot in college. Yes, a personalized scheduled morning routine that has been made into a habit is superior; however, know that if you wake up in a bad mood and without a schedule, you can pretend to have one, and pretending will be at least half as good, which is better than not at all.

Goal Lists

Something that I have resisted for quite some time is the Excel goal list. There's something about putting my life desires on a spreadsheet that makes them seem, well, mechanical. While that isn't necessarily a bad thing, my creative side still cringes at the thought. However, today, I finally sat down and made some initial lists for a handful of areas of my life.

Oprah.com recommends only 5 of each Must Have/Can't Stands for your love life (first thing in my search), I think it's important to get everything out there and then whittle it down to your priorities. Let's be honest, (1) single, (2) straight, (3) female, (4) smart and (5) attractive doesn't really start to scratch the surface of an ideal mate. (What qualifies as smart or attractive, anyway? What about location?) What the "Limit 5" is really doing is keeping overly restrictive requirements out of the equation. For instance, if I would only date women shorter than 5' 2", that would be a severe limitation. The purpose of these lists is to identify the spirit of what I'm looking for, so I know when something similar comes along.

These lists, in their longer forms, also get you to think about what is truly required to reach your goals. For instance, how would I like to acquire my new puppy? Not anytime soon :-( Keeping the lists together also encourage me to think of other things to pursue, such as maybe a literary agent. And, I've also set up the lists to be compatible for binary analysis at some point down the road.

Professional Organizations

As September approaches, professional organizations will be coming back into the light, as many go dark for the summer. Becoming active in these organizations is a challenge, as they are typically geared toward seasoned professionals. While it is easy to send a check to your organization of choice, are you really a member if you don't show up to meetings and network with other members of the organization?

A not so utilized membership of mine recently came up for renewal. I've resisted renewing it; however, I reconsidered after receiving my "final notice." Being in the process of looking for work, the opportunity to have another iron in the fire was just too tempting. However, I do realize that it is more important to be active in a single organization than a member of many.

The Art of Reading

There is a tried and true method of learning that our teachers try to impress upon our young minds: Write at least one journal page a day and read. These things are not mutually exclusive. Learning is different for everyone, and each person will experiment to find her path. Personally, I have found that diving into non-fiction books is the most productive means of learning.

Simply put, the books I have learned the most from are the ones that I have spent the most time with. I have written in the margins. I have summarized chapters. I've written the authors. My journal entries reflect the ideas I have just read, sometimes with direct quotes. While previously, I thought my intellectual prowess was measured by how fast or how many books I could consume; I now realize that a more thoughtful measured approach to study is optimal.

Until recently, I also believed in the power of stream of consciousness writing. Each morning I would journal as much as possible without interruption. Now, I feel free to access data outside of myself. My need to write stream of consciousness, "to tap my inner soul," is no more. I can spend 5 minutes meditating for that. Understanding comes from processing information in a more comprehensible fashion.

Job hoppers? Your brand sucks.

Rex Huppke wrote an article that appeared in a number of papers this morning on the cost of Millennials' job hopping. Younger employees are simply up and leaving about 30 percent of employers surveyed, leaving these companies with significant replacement costs. This is perhaps reflected in the growing Quits Rate (1.6% in June), which is seen as an indicator of an improving economy.

Losing your workers due to dissatisfaction puts you at a competitive disadvantage. Regardless of the cost of employee replacement, projects are interrupted and dissension forms in the ranks. Your company brand has taken a self inflicted wound.

While you can't keep everyone happy all the time, there are a number of things that go into your company brand: Product, Marketing, Supply Chain, and Culture, and one of these things is not like the others. You can change your product, revamp your marketing, even switch your supply chain, but you need to grow your culture.

To grow company culture, you need to understand what motivates your employees. Furthermore, you need to understand how your needs, the company's needs and employee needs align. How? Just ask. Yes, in this respect, your four-year-old might be smarter than you are. Just keep asking "why?"

Why are our employees leaving? They're unhappy and feel unappreciated.
Why do our employees feel unappreciated? There is no internal structure for advancement.
Why isn't there an internal structure for advancement? It's too expensive.
Why is it too expensive? Our consultant said it would cost XX thousand dollars.
Why is that expensive? Given staff replacement costs, it isn't expensive.
Why can't we do it for less? We can; we'll put our technical writer on the project.

Your people run your company. By taking their needs into account, a fully formed company will take care of itself and continue to grow. Also, happy employees might just stick around for awhile.

The Pain of Self Improvement

After I finish a particularly painful self improvement project, such as writing a letter from an ex to myself or working with my inner critic in some other way, I take a moment to really feel the pain I've inflicted on myself. It must be a sensation similar to recovering from surgery. "Well, I'm still alive, but was it worth it?"

Obviously surgery comes with real life or death risks and can be the difference between walking and rolling around in a wheelchair for the rest of your life, so the comparison is not perfect. But both real surgery and emotional surgery hurt. You bleed on the table or you bleed on the page, and either way there is a bit of soreness after. And, after both, there is a chance that you'll have to go through the whole process again.

In short, reprogramming the brain is not an easy task. Developing new and more beneficial habits takes real effort, often so much that it is shocking than anyone strives to self improve at all. Having just written down 10 things I needed to improve and then diving into each in explicit detail, I'm shocked that human society ever emerged from Feudalism. Changing for one person is hard, and it must take a lot of people changing to change a whole society.

In the end, I hope the effort to change is worth it. Success is just the willingness to try different things until something works.