I am writing from Tbilisi where the internet is fast and the traffic is mad.
It’s not a holiday, I have done this before, working from Tbilisi, but this time it feels a little different.
Me and Alan are staying in our studio apartment where for the rest of the year tourists from… Everywhere… enjoy their stay while visiting Georgia. I love the fact that visitors leave behind little souvenirs… from handwritten thank you notes to little teddy bears and tourist passes. Our studio mostly tends to attract creative artists, filmmakers and writers.
I left my laptop back in England and took an iPad to work on. I am quite old fashioned, like to sit at the desk and work on a big computer, so typing on the iPad in a cafe full of Americans and Brits is a big deal. But wanted to try a different ways of managing work.
I have started to enjoy visiting Tbilisi more, I noticed that’s because this time me and Alan already have our established routine… We like the gym we have the memberships, we just reactivate them when we are here; we have the supermarket choice and cafes we like to get our daily coffee fix from.
Working remotely is different compared to working from the main workplace from My Manchester Loft Space. I have to be more organised. I keep in touch of what’s happening in business at all times, but the working is more observing and reflecting rather than strictly working from 9 to 5. I agree to keep in touch with the tech guys; We agree to speak to clients on Skype and I have a regular to dos in my head I need to catch up to… Things like getting ready for the trade show, orders to ship and emails to catch up to.
It’s not all smooth and in the beginning Working remotely immediately created a problem when I could not access some of the files to send to clients, sorry, but the change still feels refreshing.
The world of work has changed so much over the past decade or so. When I quit the corporate race and created a flexible work from home lifestyle before ‘work from home’ was cool, most did not quite get it, but these days it seems more acceptable to be able to work from anywhere, anytime, there is no need to be stuck behind the cubicals in order to feel accomplished. From cafes, co-working spaces, work from homes, sunny yoga places and small screens there is plenty of choice. So flexible ways of working has become a today’s reality. And if you are willing to go for it you can be as productive as Ford time factory workers of the early 20th century.
So whether it’s work from home in between yoga classes, from the beach or a buzzing cafes flexible work that pays well is here to stay, but then again there is a distinct difference between working remotely and working flexibly from home.
Flexible work from home means still doing routine work and there is a structure in the unstructured. Working remotely feels very different. It could feel more freestyle, inspiring and effective as the fresh perspectives open up new channels of opportunities.
In the remote place you are in an unaccustomed and possibly unfamiliar environment. Perhaps that’s why in the beginning of my ‘working remotely’ experiment I feel a little guilty … Partially I feel I am not on a holiday so I should be working full time. So the first few days of the week is a little stressful.
Then the new routine settles in and I learn to work in a more reflective environment. That is thinking, observing and reflecting rather then working reactively. It can feel liberating and stimulating at the same time.
Anyways if I stay here long enough I can see settling into working from Tbilisi or anywhere else in the world quite easily. Recreating the structure of work is quite easy once you have the habit of flexible work.
What about you? Working for yourself on your small yoga business means one way or another creating a flexible routine that works for you without sacrificing the results in business and in life.
How do you manage work/life balance? Flexible and remote work?
Tamara X
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