Focus Question: What does renewal mean for you?

Description
The fields of sports and business shows us that teams that excel, are great at both “playing hard” and also resting hard. When working remotely, our boundaries between work and life often get blurred.

Just as physical renewal is essential after a long race, periods of renewal are key in business to help us remain at our prime. What does renewal mean for you? When is the last time you took time to renew?

Decision fatigue, social media burnout, task switching and cognitive overload, take a toll on us as professionals. When things become unbalanced it can also become luggage we bring into our family life.

As solopreneurs, keeping ourselves “at our prime” is key as the business relies on you. Without you there, it’s unlikely that it can keep going for long. Therefore, renewal should take a priority.

Here are some different ways to consider renewal:

• Taking vacation time on a regular basis
• Scheduling time away from our work (i.e. conferences, meetings with colleagues)
• Enjoying a compressed 4-day work week at different parts of the year so you can enjoy a longer weekend
• Having clear boundaries around “when you are ON” and “when you are OFF”
• Swimming/running/hiking/going to the gym over lunchtime on a regular basis
• Going on a retreat

 
What will help you renew?

Activity
 
What are the things that are going to help you renew? Build some time in to do this.
 
For more on this topic consider tracking your routines and renewal via the Daily Monthly Trackers.

All the best,
Jennifer

Focus Question: What are the skills you want to grow into?

Description
There are many skills which can help you stand out as a remote professional – here are the ones I shared in Effective Virtual Conversations for remote leaders. In fact, for most remote professionals we can benefit from skills in these areas.

What do you need to focus on in as it relates to skills in each area? What can help you grow? What areas have you had not exposure to?

As a remote worker it may be even more important to revisit these skills on a regular basis. Ask for feedback from others.
​
Looking back to last week’s post on the ecosystem of learning where we explored the different ways you can learn in the remote space, what can you do to expand your skills in these different areas?

Activity
Take look at your skills in each of these areas. Rate yourself on a 1-10 with 1 being low and 10 being high. Note what your focus is going forward, including how you want to grow or develop your skills in each area.

Note your ratings and consider what you want to do to grow in these areas you have highlighted. My top 3 areas of focus are:
1.
2.
3.

Take a few minutes to download this week's 52 Week for Remote Work one-pager on Remote Working Skills.

All the best,
​Jennifer

​Check out the most recent Remote Pathways Podcast Episode which covers the topic of Mentoring, Working from anywhere and systems. You can listen to Episode 6 here, or on your favorite podcast player. Also be sure to take a look at the episode download.