Welcome to Future of Work, Future of You. I am sure you all have been clanking away at your keyboards all week & are ready to unwind over the weekend. In the throes of pandemic, we learnt the art of optimizing our work & managed to be extra productive despite a mid-day grocery run or a short nap to go along with our work day. We are now experts at “hacking our work”. Today, we go deep into what work hacking is & how do we not make it just a flippant tactic but a lifelong skill. If you like what you read, don’t forget to hit subscribe.
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Remote work has made us dishonest.
Ok, before your emotions swirl up in a typhoon & you feel like cursing me, just hear me out.
When we started working from home or a café, we realized that so much of our work day was wasted in things that never mattered.
But how & to whom do we say that we all were living under a rock when it came to our work style?
Boss? Definitely not.
Peer? Maybe
Hence, too many dentist appointments started popping up on calendars.
Few years back, a dentist appointment would mean…
well a dentist appointment or at worse another equivalent emergency situation that had to be masked with an alibi.
Today, a dentist appointment can mean a Costco trip, lunch pickup, car repair, baby sitting, etc. etc. If we we added up all dentist appointments across corporate America, most dentists would have become multi-millionaires in the last two years!
And how can we forget OOO’s best pal - Errands. The number of errands people claim to do in a day would put UPS & Amazon staff to shame.
But the award for best PTO goes to….
Wait for it….
“Under the weather”
I am amazed how someone didn’t bother to call this “all over the weather” instead. A perfect day of weather can still trigger “under the weather” behavior. A sick kid, unruly boss, angry wife, no promotion, broken faucet are all genuine reasons to be under the weather.
There were other notable awards I would like to mention.
Best debut performance: Homeschooling two kids
Lifetime achievement award: Slow to respond
Best story: Errands
Best actor: Quiet quitter
Best movie: The Great Resignation
So why do we do this?
Too many of us feel guilty working less than 8 hours in a day. Prior to pandemic, we were disciplined but conditioned workaholics made to believe that work happens as per the clock. Now being at home, we are stripped off the façade of an office cloak. When we are able to wrap up our work inside 4 hours, we feel something is missing.
Then we make redundant work calls, check the same emails twice or reply to long due messages.
I want you all to know a divine universal truth.
Hacking at work is OK.
Infact, hacking is the single biggest driver of workforce productivity. It is what drives efficient & effective work output.
Slogging at work is out. Hacking at work is in.
I list some of the most popular & effective work hacks that can enhance your work life multi-fold. Some of these may conflict with your workplace policies but they remain proven & legit to improving wellness & productivity. To avoid accidental abuse of below tactics, I also provide a stark anti-illustration on how not to use these hacks & get into trouble.
Work hack 1: Fewer work hours mean more time
Focusing on delivering in fewer work hours is the biggest hack to innovation & performance. When we do this, we are channelizing the most intense energy on the biggest work priorities while ignoring all other distractions. Ignore people around you who are boasting of 14 hour workdays & 70 hour workweeks. They will burn themselves out in several years while you remain fresh & sharp through decades. Your time is your biggest weapon so protect it brutally & use it frugally.
Of course, delivering minuscule results in fewer work hours is a recipe for disaster.
How not to work fewer hours: An illustration
My wife is a recruiter & has a remote employee to support her with hiring needs. The guy is brilliant when it comes to unethical work hacking. Every time he gets on a call with my wife, loud music blares in the background. When asked about it - “he says with a deadpan look - I live in a shared condo & my roommates are party animals & call friends every day for a party”. There is more. Every time he doesn’t feel like working, he calmly disconnects, blaming poor Wi-Fi internet in his community. Woww!
Work hack 2: More vacations equate less stress
Taking vacations is another critical work hack you fail to do often enough. You should go for at least 3-4 long vacations every year. And I don’t mean those guilt-ridden 4 day vacations that let you stay plugged into office gossip & grapevine. I mean a 10 day vacation that unplugs laptops, work phones & office emotions aside.
How not to vacation: An illustration
First things first: Nail that OOO email to perfection. Don’t garnish guilt on your responder. You are on a righteous vacation & no one on the planet has a right to interrupt.
Here’s a crash course on an email template you can use. Thank me later. You will never again hear from your colleagues during a vacation.
I am on annual leave until dd/mm/yyyy. I will allow each sender one email and if you send me multiple emails, I will randomly delete your emails until there is only one remaining. Choose wisely. Please note that you have already sent me one email.
Second things second: Drop your laptop back home or forget it at some place along the way. But don’t remember where you forgot. You get the drift!
Last things last: Plan your next vacation while being in your current one. I know it sounds too indulgent & self-love, but do it anyway.
Work hack 3: Hustle but also on the side
We all like to believe that entrepreneurship & freelancing is not our cup of tea. It’s best left to others who are good with money or come up with whacky ideas. But a small side hustle can teach you more about work & business than 20 years of professional experience. Write a blog, share topical tips, build a website, do face painting or offer coaching. You will learn invaluable life lessons in convincing strangers, managing money, negotiating partners & building a team.
How not to side hustle: An illustration
I know folks in my extended network who at the peak of pandemic juggled three jobs at the same time. They kept three laptops side by side with a post-it that had the name of the company on it. They would distribute 3-4 hours per day on each company (read: laptop) & make 3x the money per month.
What if they had overlapping calls? They will mute one call & unmute others or make excuses for stepping out or blame patchy Wi-Fi connection.
The way to convince yourself of doing a side hustle is by asking a simple question:
Can you make 100 people in the world pay you $10 per month in return for something useful you can do for them ? I bet that a majority of my readers will respond with a Yes.
Work Hack 4: Work through people not just your own self
As nations & societies become more inward amidst a wave of de-globalization & localization, we must not forget that almost all human progress came through collaboration. People helping people.
As working professionals, it is natural & easy to stay isolated in today’s remote work environment & try to do it all yourself. A wise man once said -
If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together
If we want to build careers that endure & sustain for decades, we need to find people on whose shoulders we can look ahead & stand tall. Along the way, we need advocates, cheerleaders & mentors who can inspire, guide, coach & back us when needed. These people are your trust-keepers, silent listeners & vocal supporters who will believe in you when no one else does.
Above all, build trust & connectedness with people around you. They last beyond your role & responsibilities & are an invaluable currency wherever you land in future.
Tell me about your biggest work hack in the past 2 years?
Is work hacking fair to your employer?
Share an unfair work hack you have seen your colleagues do.
Future of work will belong to work hackers who can orchestrate unique & innovative career paths. By shipping off low value work to others, you maximize your time & attention to highest $ generating activity both inside & outside the classic definition of work.
Go hack your work like never before. Be shameless about it. Your career is waiting for this upside & your 50 year-something will thank your 30 year-something for doing it.
If you have a co-worker, manager, founder or even an entrepreneurial dreamer who needs to see this, please share. You may be helping them more than you realize.
Reach me at Tejaswi Gautam and let me know what you think about this issue. Are you ready for the future of work? See you next week!