AT HOME – That is the dateline for an increasing number of American executives, managers and consultants who are filing their work product from their home offices in an effort to limit their exposure to the Covid-19 virus.
Newspaper reporters filing stories from another town or country, begin their dispatch with the name of the city, country and the date of the filing. It is called a dateline. Many things have changed in the news business, but that has remained constant.
Technically, where you file the story, not the origin of the story, determines the dateline.
So, since I am writing this blog from my home office, and if I was filing it to a newspaper, my dateline would read: TYLER, Texas (March 20, 2020).
There are truly many advantages to working from a home office, especially in this economic climate:
There are truly many advantages to working from a home office, especially in this economic climate:
- No long commutes or heavy traffic
- Not as many distractions or interruptions when trying to finish a report
- Certain freedom to work on things that might be frowned on if someone was looking over your shoulder in the office – like strategic networking for career advancement purposes, spending a few minutes posting a success story on your LinkedIn profile, or chatting with members of your LinkedIn community either online or through a telephone call
Not to become too philosophical, our lives are comprised of four buckets: our job/work, our families, our community/church activities and the fourth bucket, our careers.
Not to become too philosophical, our lives are comprised of four buckets: our job/work, our families, our community/church activities and the fourth bucket, our careers.
If you are being asked to work from home for health safety reasons, this is an excellent opportunity to invest time with that fourth bucket. Most of us spend all our time on the first three buckets. Unfortunately, it is that fourth bucket, your career, that is most frequently ignored. Over the coming weeks and months, as America’s robust economy screeches to a stunning halt, investing time with your fourth bucket issues will become increasingly important.
Now is the time. Be prepared. Besides, you are under no obligation to use a dateline to let the world know where you are.