The Wordcraft Blog Letter #6

The Power of Empathy

“It is important to clearly detach from all other similar forms of advertising”

Mind promenade

It’s been a while. This last month, for the first time (luckily after three jabs) I caught Covid. I hoped I could be one of those rare cases of immunity, special enough to remain untouched. The kids had both had it. But it wasn’t until my partner caught it that I got it passed on. With everything that is going on, it’s impossible to dodge it. We have come down all the way, from the beginning of 2020, through the sensible way of prevention as far as we could. How long can we possibly postpone it? We live together, we sleep on the same bed, it was bound to happen. So obviously, this has put our progress with the house works on hold.

My main symptoms of Covid have been lethargy and a VERY persistent cough. I started my Covid still well enough to keep work (remotely, of course). I was already working from home, due to my partner having tested positive. A couple of days later, I had this out-of-the-blue dry cough and started feeling the typical cold and flu shivers, so decided to test. And there it was, that second bold stripe as if it was a pregnancy test.

Of course, I was still feeling ok to work, after all, the type of work I do isn’t physically demanding, so I pushed it. I asked to stay out of the phone queues, so I wasn’t forced to speak, as it would trigger it. But the cough quickly got more persistent and by lunchtime, I didn’t even need to speak to cough, just breathing would do it. So I called it quit for the day. Yes, I surrendered. Sometimes we just have to stop completely, have a lie-down, and literally force ourselves to recover.

For the next 8 hours, between toilet visits and healthy snacks, coughing was all I did. Our bedroom was full of at least 3 types of cough syrups and lozenges, and none of them seemed to be relieving my cough. The little I could smell, through my partially blocked airways, was the smell of a hospital room. A mix of medicine and disease. The coughing got me so tired that my body finally gave in to sleep.

The following day my body felt like it had been beaten with a stick. I was feeling drained, and sore from my throat to my lower back. My diaphragm felt like I had submitted it to 300 abs without a warm-up. On the third day of recovery, I felt that lack in the sense of smell and taste. Don’t get me wrong, I still had an appetite. I had a ringing in my ears but I feel like the worst has now passed. First priority: opening the windows and a big load of washing to bring the sterilised feel back in.

Remote Work

In case you missed it…

Whilst scanning for articles that explore the pros and cons of remote work, I thought it would be fun (and even logical) to through other topics into the mix. Although the topics are not all directly related to remote working, they are of interest to most people as they resonate with us all. And because I tend to read about it, I get more feeds and it then prompts me to write my view on it too—another form of purging my thoughts.

One of the articles I found – about doom-scrolling – was on LinkedIn. Mind you, I don’t spend an awfully long time on LinkedIn because I find it boring. I understand the reason for its existence – networking and all that – but I don’t really identify with its organics. I go there, probably once a day, to check the Daily Rundown, and other news bots I follow. I find LinkedIn is like a second version of Facebook, only there people brag about their jobs instead of their holidays.

Remaining Sane

Doomscrolling

How do we get sucked onto a continuous, mind-numbing, video (and stories) stream for hours and hours on end? This brings memories of the old movie Poltergeist. I’m pretty sure that if a new version was made, the phenomena would kick start from a smartphone, and the consequences would be far more devastating and scary. This article covers research on the rabbit hole of the bite-size content binging urge, once you start. Again, the way I see it, it’s only about disciplining ourselves by scheduling times to do these things, to not lose control over what someone is sharing with us. We set the emergency and our priorities so, unless it’s someone in a real-life danger and I receive that video, it’s not getting watched until I find the time for it. It goes straight into the “Watch Later” category.

Common wellbeing sense

To keep the remote working side of things possible, it needs to be recognised that mental health has become a major part to make the life-work balance work effectively.  Loneliness, isolation, stress and social anxiety build-up is a reality. There is no point in forcing this dynamic if the team leaders are not willing to acknowledge that our mental health being is essential for our work to be completed effectively. In the same way, as our computers need an update every so often, or a tool we use reached the end of its life cycle, our brains are our most important tool. It is the only tool that is used ALL of the time, the one that never gets to switch off (even when we’re sleeping). I’m no expert on this matter, but it seems pretty simple to me. And leaders that are not willing to accept time off for this reason – or even to proactively arrange for regular well being sessions (whether these are meditation, yoga, or Zumba, it doesn’t matter) that will help bring their team members down to earth and stay in sync with their environment – do not have leading material. This is crucial. Then there is the opposite side of the coin, where being forced to return to work from the office is causing people to quit their jobs because they are now starting to feel like they can no longer cope. After getting used to a more flexible work approach induced by the pandemic, they now feel like it is too much having to go back to commuting, full-time office work and all the stresses that come with it.

Teamwork makes the dream work. Or not…?

An interesting approach to how the team members feel about each other and the work they think they are doing (or skipping) whilst working remotely. It is true that we can’t see what the others are doing, but I feel it comes down to the level of transparency, cooperation and trust in the team and how these are maintained by the leadership. Leaders need to be creative when finding ways to do this without micromanaging. KPIs are there to show all levels of productivity and we all need to be grown-ups to stand by ourselves.

Motivational Landscape

It surely comes as no shock that our surroundings can play a part in our productivity. Remote work doesn’t have to be necessarily just working from a cupboard to make ends meet. It should be, let me reword that, IT MUST BE enjoyable.

Lighten it up, bringing some creative workspace (and tools) ideas that could positively contribute to improving our WFH. Because if working from home is pleasurable then our work will be done better (and faster). I’m sure you agree with me here. Finding any little tools that can help us complete our daily tasks can make a lot of difference. And obviously have a huge impact on our mental health (motivation is soooo important!).

Minding my business

(Click the images to learn more)

Next: Hotels, pubs, cafes or tea rooms