ArcaMax

Oh, how happy you were.

Working from home meant no more commute. No more cramped office. No more pesky co-workers and snoopy managers with nothing better to do than interrupt you with work.

Instead, you'd be alone with the one person in the world who truly understands and admires you completely. Calm and comfortable in familiar surroundings, ...Read more

What's the major advantage of committing to a rigorous productivity regime to be performed every morning before 8 a.m.?

It isn't that it will make you more successful or give you a significant advantage over your slugabed competitors.

No, the real advantage of an early-morning productivity regime is that when you sleep through your alarm, ...Read more

The problem with procrastination is that so few people take the time to do it right.

Really! Anyone can miss a deadline or fail to show up for critical meetings three weeks in a row, but to do absolutely nothing in the face of constant pressure from your manager takes gumption. It's like being attacked by a pack of rabid wolverines and ...Read more

Whether the meeting is an in-depth job interview or a Zoom-in-the-afternoon quickie, you must ask yourself: Do I come across as "a go-getter, fast-track type person"?

I didn't think so.

Your problem is that you lack confidence. In fact, you have so little confidence that having no confidence is the only thing about which you are confident.

...Read more

Remember how great you felt when you first started working from home?

No more suffering through endless commutes. No more living cheek-to-jowl with obnoxious co-workers. This new way of working had you burning with enthusiasm. Now you're not burned up. You're burned out.

What salve can sooth your remote burnout?

Nicole Lipkin, a contributor...Read more

You hate to complain. But what choice do you have? You simply must complain about all the complainers who are constantly complaining to you.

The fact that so many complainers are complaining to you is really a positive. If no one is complaining to you, it means they're complaining about you, and because they're probably right to complain, that ...Read more

It's true! Even good managers can go bad when they go remote. And bad managers -- they get worse!

Of course, bad managers weren't exactly a bargain when you had to trudge into the office to experience their lack of wonderfulness. Today, their miserable personalities come Zooming into your personal home. They hit you where you live, and the ...Read more

The corner office. It was the pinnacle of career success. Doors were dandy. Carpets were cool. Windows were wonderful. But that corner -- that beautiful corner -- that was the ultimate reward.

But that was then. This is now. Now there are no corner offices for you to strive for. Now you're lucky to get a corner of the kitchen table as your ...Read more

Working from home has many advantages. Protecting your privacy isn't one of them.

It's true!

In addition to their supportive emails and enthusiastic team Zoom meetings, your managers may soon be telling you to install surveillance software on your computer.

Even worse, they'll do it themselves -- without telling you.

Or so I learned from a...Read more

In case you haven't noticed, we live in a stressful world.

There are reasons to be stressed out, right outside your front door. There are major stressors inside your front door, as well.

You have a virtual job with a very real boss. If you live alone, you could be stressed by feelings of isolation. If you live with others, you could be ...Read more

Have I got news for you!

Mondelez International is going all-in when it comes to letting its employees work from home.

Or so I learned in a recent issue of "Coronavirus Daily," a regular feature you can listen to on "All Things Considered" or read about on NPR's website.

"Get a Comfortable Chair: Permanent Work From Home Is Coming" is the ...Read more

Now that there are zero degrees of separation between our homes and our jobs, we face 24/7 workdays with no way to escape phone calls, emails and, of course, Zoom meetings from hell.

It wasn't always the case.

Long ago, we had our beloved commute, twice-a-day interludes of calm and reflection as we traveled between the home and the office. ...Read more

Got an important Zoom meeting scheduled? Got the meeting invitation burning a hole in your inbox? I have advice for you.

Don't.

Don't open the invitation. Don't schedule the meeting. Don't even think of attending.

Yes, your absence will be noted, and, of course, your manager will be peeved, but when the meeting ends, you'll have something the...Read more