push – Fantastically 40-ish

I work remotely 75% of the time so I am sharing tips from my “normal” as so many are adjusting to this current reality.

This week’s advice:

– show your manager that you are working by picking up a side project.

Yes, that may sound odd when you have your regular work responsibilities so let me give you my example. When I am not working from home, I travel a great deal, sometimes every week for months at a time. Since all of my travel has been canceled through at least the end of April, I have much more time to fill during work hours. I decided to work on a procedure manual for my role. The job that I hold never existed before so I know there is nothing written down documenting what I do, how things are accomplished, the appropriate contact people, etc.

Not only does this self-given project fill my work hours, it also demonstrates initiative, being a self-starter, makes a great use of time- and your manager will know that you have been working. You may not travel, but you could use the time typically spent on meetings that are now conducted via email.

I hope this helps. Any other suggestions that may assist others?

One of the things that I hear the most is that eating healthy is expensive. But it doesn’t have to be. Now, I choose to eat as much organic that I can when purchasing groceries but I’m a singleton and make enough to do so. I’m not bragging; before my current position, I only got organic produce when it was on sale but I still tried to buy healthy food. And you may still think- but healthier food is still more! But is it? Let me explain.

My aunt has really bad acid reflux. I mean, she’s had to go to urgent care several times. And she doesn’t make much money with super crappy insurance. (I could write lots of blogs on how bad insurance is but I digress…) so each urgent care visit has an unexpected associated cost plus time missed from work. This is in addition to the monthly premium that she pays, any meds needed and follow up care. Thankfully after her last visit, she listened to the doc and has not had more crisis events. But these events add up!

She eats healthier and more appropriate foods that avoid illness. She’s also started losing weight as a result. And I totally get that. She’s not allowing excuses to stop her progress. And that’s my goal. I travel all the time for work, my sleep patterns can be all over the place, I don’t always have access to quality food… the list can go on and on. But I decided that I didn’t want to be in pain forever, getting sicker and weaker. And I had to literally write down the excuses that I was telling myself every day and then counter them with true statements. It’s so easy for the mind to resist change, even if it’s positive change, and hang on to hang ups.

So everyday I have to make a choice to be healthier, regardless of the piece of chocolate that I had yesterday or the egg biscuit sandwich I had while at the airport; true from this morning in Atlanta! I will still take my supplements because they help in the long run. I’ll still make sure to get in at least a mile of walking even though I’m on a 5 hour flight; not doing so will leave my joints way too stiff and painful. And I will do what I can to continue to be healthier, without falling back on excuses.

So have you let excuses stop you from moving forward? Have you found a way to mitigate excuses? Share and let’s discuss. 🥂 to your good health. Until next time …

Tag: push

Remote work, part 2

Excuse or No Excuse