With my backpack and cell reception, I can functionally work from anywhere I please. The beach, the mountains, a Central American cafe, or out in the wilderness…wherever I have my backpack, cell reception, and time, I can work.
I can write, or post, or call, or Skype, with anyone, anywhere in the world, from anywhere I choose.
The interruptions of “life” no longer impede my ability to work.
Today I had to deal with a flat tire, ten minutes before a conference call.
In previous occupations (and decades), I would have thrown up my hands at the idea of working, and thrown myself into the solving of my problem. When the problem was solved, and I returned to an office, a desk, an immobile computer, I could then resume working.
Today, I was not faced with those limitations. I prepped for the changing of the tire, and then took my iPhone to the vista just down the road.
Looking over an immense Costa Rican valley, I fired up Skype, dialed an 800 number with an international call, and for 6 cents a minute, I participated in a conference call while I was in the middle of nowhere, looking out over a glorious expanse of the world below me.
After the call, I got back to changing my tire. Drove into town. Settled at a cafe to write this blog post.
Being mobile means I am not beholden to my circumstances. If I have my backpack, cell reception, and time, I can work from anywhere.
Once, I live-tweeted a webinar…from a hospital waiting room.
When I first looked back on the experience, I worried, “Am I becoming a workaholic again?”
If I had ignored a trip to the hospital to work instead, that would definitely qualify as needing an intervention. Instead, I was waiting, with my laptop, and cell reception, and time.
Periodically, I remember closing my laptop to talk with doctors and my family. But as my attention became unoccupied, I channeled it into my work, which I can do from anywhere, because I am mobile.
This new mobility is changing the way we view and experience work.
In this new world, I don’t have to work in a place, a location that is bound to my ability to work.
Instead, I work whenever I feel the urge, and I have my backpack, cell reception, and time.
If life gets in the way, it may modify my day, but my work time is no longer beholden to the unpredictability of life.
Instead of my life accommodating the demands of my work, my work time is flexible enough to complement my life time.
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