VIDEO: Seven Lessons from Remote Working

Lessons from Remote Working: A month in Lanzarote.

And just like that, my experiment comes to a close. 

Over the month of June, I based myself in Lanzarote, to work and get some head space after what has been an incredibly hectic number of months. I have always enjoyed taking time to myself to reflect and relax but save for a semester in Melbourne this would be my first experience of working remotely. 

Overall it’s been excellent. It’s amazing how much work one can get done when there are no distractions. Now I recognise that I am privileged to have been able to do this over the past number of weeks, not everyone has the luxury of working like this. I am very lucky in that over the summer my work allows me to base myself anywhere. In 2022 I spent 10 days in Lanzarote and when it came time to leave I found myself wondering why I was cutting what could have been a longer trip short. Short answer finances. 

Lesson One Financing:

The wheels began to turn on Saturday night in October over a glass of Merlot I found a place to rent and relatively within-budget flights. Now how to pay for it? I toyed with many options but in the end, I decided to rent my home out. It was a risk but it just didn’t feel right to leave my wee sanctuary empty for a full month, from a financial and security perspective. Thankfully the couple who rented the place, two ladies from America took care of my home and even kept my plants alive.

As a result, I broke even, the travel and accommodation were covered by the rental income. This meant that the only costs I incurred were the obvious food and transport (which I would have had to pay for at home regardless) and a few items of shopping, I mean I couldn’t not pick up one or two lovely bits!

Lesson Two Air Conditioning:

In order to be able to work remotely I needed a microphone, laptop and decent broadband. Thankfully all were easy to get, unfortunately, I was so focused on securing an apartment with high-speed broadband that I forgot to ask if it had air conditioning! As it turned out I managed just fine and it was only hard to sleep on a handful of nights. Lesson two: Air Con is a necessity and not a luxury, especially when it was frequently 25 degrees late at night. 

Lesson Three an Ergonomic Chair:

And this one is for those who rent out property for work trips, an ergonomic chair is a great addition to any rental. I reluctantly bought what I considered to be an ugly chair for my work-from-home set-up during the pandemic. I still think it’s ugly but wow is it comfortable! I realise now it was money well spent.

Lesson Four Scheduling:

I’m lucky in that I love what I do. I love my media training and communications coaching practice. I love being on the radio. I thoroughly enjoy my work. So I’ve been known to work for days without taking time off, without really realising it. 

I was conscious I was staying on what is a beautiful island so I made sure to schedule each week to ensure I took time out to relax and enjoy myself. I hired a car twice for a couple of days and got to see far more of the island than I would have had I not had my own mode of transport. 

Having said that the first car I hired ended up being a wee Fiat Panda, it did not cope well with the hills of Lanzarote’s volcanic mountain range. As one friend quipped it has essentially the horsepower of a hairdryer! The second time around I made sure to upgrade to an automatic. The car also came in handy for all those bottles of water I had to buy, something which really bothered the more environmentally friendly side of my brain.

Lesson Five To-Do Lists:

I’ve always been a to-do list person, but I found during this period they came in really useful. I would sit down each night and write out what I wanted and needed to do the following day, whether that was exploring an island without any roads or editing my radio show Let’s Go Green on Midlands 103. It helped to ensure I didn’t get distracted by the gorgeous weather and I made the most of each day.

Lesson Six Headspace:

For creative people, (myself included) it's important to have time to think and I find that changing my location helps with that. By simplifying what's going on around me I can think more clearly and objectively. As my friends in HR would say it's important to step up on the balcony ie take a step back and then an overall look at things. So for the past few weeks, I’ve been quite literally working from a balcony! 

I found it refreshing to allow myself the luxury of taking time to think. Between client meetings and recordings, I would go for a swim, check out my surroundings, and just sit back and relax. It’s something I need to incorporate into my day-to-day life at home. 

I’m at the end of my experiment now and I have to admit having swam every day for the last 24 days I am definitely feeling the benefit of it. I’ve always loved swimming, even simply floating on water makes my heart sing. Now I’ve established a routine, I’m hoping to at least try to keep swimming over the summer months. 

Lesson Seven Confidence:

I didn't expect this experiment to offer a boost of confidence, because I have been lucky to travel alone on several occasions previously, but it has. I can't explain why, but I appreciate the opportunity to take a breath and reflect on where my work and life are at and where I'd like to go from here. I also got a huge kick driving across and around the volcanos, it made the child in me very happy. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed my working remote experiment, I’m delighted to say my productivity not only didn’t suffer but actually increased! Would I do it again? Absolutely!

So with a view to practising what I teach here’s a short video of me from the aforementioned balcony outlining my seven lessons from remote working.