Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and
Speaker 1: Matt and today we're discussing working from home without going crazy.
Speaker 1: Well Joel, speaking of going crazy, is it nuts that
Speaker 1: this is still the world we live in? So much
Speaker 1: has changed, but like at the same time, I look
Speaker 1: outside and I see how beautiful it is outside, like
Speaker 1: it's spring now, and there's so many things that haven't changed,
Speaker 1: you know, like cherry blossoms look incredible, by the way,
Speaker 1: Thank you dude, don't they It's it's our favorite like
Speaker 1: three weeks of the year basically when those two trees
Speaker 1: blossomed like that. But but yeah, you know, you see
Speaker 1: that happen. You see nature kind of continuing on, and
Speaker 1: it's it's this weird juxtaposition where like everything seems fine,
Speaker 1: the world is carrying on as as as usual, but
Speaker 1: at the same time, like so much of our lives
Speaker 1: has altered significantly. You know. It's funny. It makes me
Speaker 1: I don't want to get too heavy, but I feel
Speaker 1: like that's that's typically what people how people describe experiencing
Speaker 1: the death of a close loved one, Like the world
Speaker 1: around you continues on as normal, and it doesn't feel
Speaker 1: like it should it feels like things can stop because
Speaker 1: of something that major has happened. And I feel like
Speaker 1: that's kind of how we're all feeling to a certain
Speaker 1: extent with the impact of of coronavirus and kind of
Speaker 1: how it's affecting everything. And I don't know about you, man,
Speaker 1: but I feel like I'm waking up in the morning
Speaker 1: and just the first thought in my mind is that
Speaker 1: I just dream this or is it actually happening. And
Speaker 1: it's actually happening every every morning. It takes me like
Speaker 1: five seconds to realize, No, No, that's still real life. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the world we're living in right now. So I mean,
Speaker 1: and a part of that world is working from home,
Speaker 1: Like many of us are still working from home, and
Speaker 1: I think many of us might even continue to work
Speaker 1: from home. So you know, we're gonna talk about why
Speaker 1: it's important for us to do this. We're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about how we can do this effectively. And I'm excited
Speaker 1: that we can give our listeners something that's a little
Speaker 1: more timely like this on a Wednesday episode, which are
Speaker 1: typically a little more timeless episodes. Right, Like, it's it's
Speaker 1: content that's evergreen, it's gonna be there and it's gonna
Speaker 1: be good forever. But we I think this is gonna
Speaker 1: be one that will stand the test of time for sure.
Speaker 1: But it's also one that I think people will be
Speaker 1: excited to hear, given what we're living through right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of hot takes when it comes to money, Matt.
Speaker 1: That's not our show though, typically, right we're we're usually
Speaker 1: just about kind of the principles, the time tested principles
Speaker 1: of money and how people can apply that to our
Speaker 1: their lives were solid, right exactly. But yeah, before we
Speaker 1: get into kind of all the specifics of how people
Speaker 1: can implement a work from home regimen that works for
Speaker 1: them right now, I wanted to ask you quickly, do
Speaker 1: you think that because of the massive shift for so
Speaker 1: many people to working from home, do you think that's
Speaker 1: gonna lead to a real shift in the future of
Speaker 1: working from home, like our employers going to approach work
Speaker 1: from home completely differently a year, two or three down
Speaker 1: the road based on kind of what's happening now. Well, yes,
Speaker 1: that's the answer. And I know why you're asking me
Speaker 1: this too, because we were talking about this article not
Speaker 1: too long ago. But the expert there was talking thing
Speaker 1: about how this is a change that they were expecting
Speaker 1: to see over maybe a decade, right Like just with
Speaker 1: the with the technologies that they're expecting companies to make
Speaker 1: the investments in and to transition their workforce to have
Speaker 1: that ability to work from home. More and more employees
Speaker 1: are asking for that. They want more flexibility. And but
Speaker 1: given the current economic crisis that that we've seen ourselves
Speaker 1: in not just economic but first and foremost the health
Speaker 1: crisis that this is that has required us to to
Speaker 1: stay at home and do our work, to not be
Speaker 1: around others. And so because of that, they're seeing a
Speaker 1: scramble right as companies are trying to make sure that
Speaker 1: they have the software, of the infrastructure, everything that they
Speaker 1: need to have aligned and set up in order for
Speaker 1: their employees to work from home. And it's not just
Speaker 1: about having a laptop, but they're talking about how certain
Speaker 1: sectors of business they require higher security when it comes
Speaker 1: to you know, them logging in and getting the work done,
Speaker 1: like a VPN or something exactly to the network at work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and so those networks, for instance, weren't typically designed
Speaker 1: to handle all of their workforce being at home and
Speaker 1: using that VPN. But now that's changed because it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's basically a necessity at this point. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of businesses are making those investments.
Speaker 1: And these are sort of like one time things, right, Like,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna go ahead and take the step to
Speaker 1: work towards allowing your your employees to work from home,
Speaker 1: why not continue to offer that to your employees assuming
Speaker 1: that they're able to get the work done. So, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: I do think it will be something that's here to stay.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts. Yeah, I think a lot of
Speaker 1: businesses were kind of reticent to test it out, and
Speaker 1: now they're kind of being forced to test it out,
Speaker 1: and so I think they will begin to see that
Speaker 1: that working from home isn't gonna damage productivity like they
Speaker 1: maybe thought it was. I think that was one of
Speaker 1: the biggest reasons one of the biggest hangups for employers was, well,
Speaker 1: are my employee is still going to do the work
Speaker 1: that that they're supposed to do if they're working from home,
Speaker 1: or are they gonna take you know, extended lunches or
Speaker 1: you know, walks to the park or whatever it may be.
Speaker 1: And I think we're going to see that productivity doesn't
Speaker 1: really go down when people work at home, and in fact,
Speaker 1: oftentimes it goes up. And I agree. Plus, they are
Speaker 1: making this massive and vestment right now, and because they're
Speaker 1: kind of being forced to do so, I think those
Speaker 1: added levels of flexibility are going to remain the biggest
Speaker 1: question for me is whether people after you know, working
Speaker 1: at home five days a week for weeks on end,
Speaker 1: are going to be desperate to get back into the office,
Speaker 1: and whether that's whether that's going to be the whether
Speaker 1: it's gonna be workers themselves who are saying, you know what,
Speaker 1: working from home is great, Maybe one or two days
Speaker 1: a week, let me back in the office. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: like that camaraderie. I want the water cooler, I want
Speaker 1: that creativity, the collaboration. Yeah. Well, I mean that's part
Speaker 1: of why we're calling this episode, you know, working from
Speaker 1: home without going crazy, because not all of us have
Speaker 1: taken the steps necessary to ensure that we're able to
Speaker 1: do that in a way that's effective, in a way
Speaker 1: that preserves our sanity. And so if you haven't taken
Speaker 1: those steps, then working from home may not work out
Speaker 1: for you. So that's why we're going to talk about this,
Speaker 1: because even if your employer offers it. You need to
Speaker 1: make sure that you are taking the steps yourself personally
Speaker 1: to ensure that this is gonna work for you, no doubt, buddy.
Speaker 1: All Right, real quick before we get into it. The
Speaker 1: beer we're having on this episode is called Same As
Speaker 1: It Ever Was, which is a little ironic because things
Speaker 1: are not the same. They're not the same as all was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but this is a beer from one of our favorite
Speaker 1: local breweries, Monday Night Brewing. Matt. You went by there
Speaker 1: the other day to pick this up, mostly to show
Speaker 1: support right now, and also because their beers are delicious. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're friends of ours. They make amazing beer. But yeah,
Speaker 1: do the you know, the restaurants, the breweries around here,
Speaker 1: they've really been taking a beating when it comes to
Speaker 1: just all the closures, and so maybe if you're out
Speaker 1: running errands, you know you're out doing your your grocery
Speaker 1: run once a week. And uh, in this case, I
Speaker 1: swung by the brewery they had to go, canes ready
Speaker 1: to go, and I was happy to to support them.
Speaker 1: But um, yeah, Same as It Ever was kind of
Speaker 1: weird a Talking Head song. These are weird times that
Speaker 1: we're in. It's it's kind of appropriate. True. True, All right, Matt,
Speaker 1: let's get onto the topic of hand working from home
Speaker 1: without going crazy and uh, you know, working from home,
Speaker 1: like we said, is awesome, but a lot of us
Speaker 1: probably do feel a little bit differently about it, right
Speaker 1: that maybe the first couple of days feel great, and
Speaker 1: then we start to settle into a routine and maybe
Speaker 1: not even a healthy routine when we're working from home,
Speaker 1: and when we're forced to do so full time, then
Speaker 1: it can become even harder. So we felt that this
Speaker 1: was pertinent to talk about. Uh So that people could
Speaker 1: work from home and be semi productive at minimum. And
Speaker 1: it's gonna feel different, for sure, but there are specific
Speaker 1: ways that you can make it work and likely even
Speaker 1: thrive right now, even in an environment that's completely changed,
Speaker 1: a work environment that is very different than it was
Speaker 1: just a month ago. I will say too, I think
Speaker 1: it's important Matt. You have been working from home for years.
Speaker 1: You've practically mastered the art of working from home. I
Speaker 1: think you're gonna have a lot of advice on on
Speaker 1: this episode. Oh sure, I wouldn't say I've necessarily mastered it,
Speaker 1: but you know, I do have a lot more experience,
Speaker 1: for sure than to work from home, Ninja, dude. Over
Speaker 1: ten years I've worked from home. So but you know,
Speaker 1: more folks than ever are having to work from home
Speaker 1: and continue at the pace of work that they're used
Speaker 1: to doing in a traditional office. And the problem is
Speaker 1: that most of us don't have home offices right or
Speaker 1: if we do, they're not, you know, equipped in such
Speaker 1: a way to allow for a ton of productivity. But
Speaker 1: even if you do have a suite set up at home,
Speaker 1: a lot of us have kids at home as well,
Speaker 1: including us right now, Like we're recording at my dining
Speaker 1: room table, and you know, I can hear the girls
Speaker 1: in the background at don't think the mics can pick
Speaker 1: it up, but they're there because they're not in school.
Speaker 1: And so while like it's awesome, I love my girls,
Speaker 1: I love the kid us, they are likely going to
Speaker 1: distract us from the other myriad tasks we have at hand,
Speaker 1: from some of that work that we do have to
Speaker 1: get done. So how do we work from home and
Speaker 1: do it well? And that's what we're gonna talk about today, man, Yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: I recently heard about a couple who is in New
Speaker 1: York City who both used to go into the office,
Speaker 1: but now they live in literally a three square foot
Speaker 1: apartment and they're both trying to work from home and
Speaker 1: live there and sleep there and eat there and go
Speaker 1: to the bathroom there, you know, like it just gets awkward,
Speaker 1: especially if you're doing it with your partner, uh that
Speaker 1: they can get weird, especially in a small space. So
Speaker 1: so it's important to figure out for for that couple
Speaker 1: and for the rest of us, because we really just
Speaker 1: don't know how long the coronavirus will continue to reak
Speaker 1: havoc on our society, Like how long until the curve
Speaker 1: gets spent and we're all back to at least a
Speaker 1: state of you know, heightened awareness but somewhat normalcy. So
Speaker 1: let's specifically talk about how individuals can work well from
Speaker 1: home and this time we we can't continue with the
Speaker 1: system that hampers our ability to actually get work done
Speaker 1: and that we are recording at your dining room table.
Speaker 1: But very soon, very very soon, we're going to hopefully
Speaker 1: next week, move down into your Airbnb apartment, the apartment
Speaker 1: you were reating short term, and that's going to be
Speaker 1: kind of our new podcast recording space, and that's where
Speaker 1: we're gonna work from when when we're creating content for
Speaker 1: our podcast. That's gonna be huge, right. And I think
Speaker 1: if somebody does have a suite set up like that
Speaker 1: where they do have this other space maybe that they're
Speaker 1: they were using for something else, hopefully they can repurpose
Speaker 1: it and use it to work from home, you know,
Speaker 1: during this time. I think it's gonna be a big
Speaker 1: help to us as we try to get things done. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a little podcast, uh personal information, right, But
Speaker 1: like you know, you and I we've we've mentioned how
Speaker 1: we've kind of come to a crossroads and we're looking
Speaker 1: to take the podcast kind of to the next level.
Speaker 1: And so part of that, we're going out on a
Speaker 1: limb a little bit and we're going to occupy that
Speaker 1: basement space where we can have a full time recording
Speaker 1: set up where the sound will be better. Instead of
Speaker 1: in my echoe dining room, We're gonna have an actual
Speaker 1: acoustically treated space. Man. I'm so looking forward to that.
Speaker 1: I'm still looking forward to the future of the podcast,
Speaker 1: creating more content and just you know, having a space
Speaker 1: where when you're able to have a space, you can
Speaker 1: take it a little more seriously, I think, and up
Speaker 1: until now, this has been something that you and I
Speaker 1: have sort of done on the side, uh, sort of
Speaker 1: been a labor of love, and we're looking forward to
Speaker 1: kind of growing up into our like our our big
Speaker 1: boy podcast bridges what I'm saying, Yeah, exactly, yeah, and
Speaker 1: and so yeah, we're taking this advice personally as we
Speaker 1: kind of go through some of these things. So while
Speaker 1: we're still getting set up, we do think that being
Speaker 1: down there is going to help us avoid some of
Speaker 1: these distractions, and it's going to help us create better work.
Speaker 1: And I know that's what we're all kind of looking for.
Speaker 1: How do we still manage to turn out good work
Speaker 1: in a time like this where things feel a lot different,
Speaker 1: and in particular, our work at home spaces might feel
Speaker 1: like they're hampering us from that ability to Yeah, and
Speaker 1: this is also important because you know, while we're at home,
Speaker 1: we just have a new set of distractions to tempt
Speaker 1: us from doing our work while at home, right, Like,
Speaker 1: just aside from technology, I'm just thinking about the fridge,
Speaker 1: like the TV, Like a lot of us have TVs
Speaker 1: in our places, and even and not even just like
Speaker 1: the fun things that you kind of want to do
Speaker 1: like eat or watch TV. But sometimes folks are like
Speaker 1: you see something that needs to be fixed because you're
Speaker 1: at home way more often and you're like, oh, that's
Speaker 1: a chore I need to do, and it's easy to
Speaker 1: get pulled off into all these little things that are
Speaker 1: are calling for our attention. And so hopefully through some
Speaker 1: of these tips and strategies that we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: later in this episode, you yourself will be able to
Speaker 1: become a better worker, a more efficient worker, and one
Speaker 1: who can focus on tasks and knock them out while
Speaker 1: you're sitting at home. Yeah, and while you're on the
Speaker 1: clock put down the laundry. It's you know, that can wait,
Speaker 1: because I think it is just it's it's more tantalizing
Speaker 1: to try to get some chores done while we're you know,
Speaker 1: quote unquote supposed to be working when we're working from home.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think there are ways that can make
Speaker 1: it less painful and just a more joyful experience to
Speaker 1: work from home, Matt. So, so let's get into some
Speaker 1: of those practical steps so we can take right after
Speaker 1: the break. All right, Joe, we're back from the break,
Speaker 1: and you know, later in the show, we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about some specific steps we can take, some things we
Speaker 1: can do that apply more to families and especially if
Speaker 1: you have kids at home. But for now, let's talk
Speaker 1: about some important physical steps that everyone can take in
Speaker 1: order to enjoy working from home more and to also
Speaker 1: be more productive. We kind of tease to this there
Speaker 1: right before the break, but we would recommend to try
Speaker 1: and dedicate a separate space for your work. This is crucial,
Speaker 1: right If you are going to be able to make
Speaker 1: this work for a meaningful length of time, you can't
Speaker 1: be working from your bed constantly. Maybe maybe once or twice,
Speaker 1: but if you're constantly working from your bed, I don't
Speaker 1: think that that's gonna work out for you. Delineating a
Speaker 1: space between your living area and your work area will
Speaker 1: help you to focus when you have blurred lines that
Speaker 1: can just make it much harder to concentrate. If you live,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe in a smaller space. It might even
Speaker 1: be a tiny desk with like a taped outline to
Speaker 1: remind you that this space right here, this has meant
Speaker 1: solely for work. In the space outside of that tape line, well,
Speaker 1: that's you know, that's your regular life, that's your personal life,
Speaker 1: that's your your family life. I'm thinking about that couple
Speaker 1: you mentioned ae up in New York, like and I
Speaker 1: imagine like two little corners in their apartment. You know
Speaker 1: that that's tape off, like whatever it takes create you know,
Speaker 1: if it's not a physical separation of space, like a
Speaker 1: mental separation between the space that you do life in
Speaker 1: and the space that you are doing work in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and think about that too, Matt. If you're doing
Speaker 1: work and there's somebody else there too, whether it's kids,
Speaker 1: your partner, If you have a physical delineated space, even
Speaker 1: if it's just marked by tape or pillows or whatever
Speaker 1: it takes to kind of say this is my workspace,
Speaker 1: that can really help your partner or your kids know
Speaker 1: when they can approach you, to when when it's appropriate
Speaker 1: for them to ask you a question or jump in.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously young kids, we know that they're going
Speaker 1: to break any any barrier we set up. But the
Speaker 1: more we can do to kind of create a physical barrier,
Speaker 1: it helps us mentally, and I think it helps with
Speaker 1: those around us and what their expectations are. Man, I'm
Speaker 1: such a stickler for this, and I feel like that
Speaker 1: we often underestimate the power that a space can have
Speaker 1: and how we perceive things. You know, I've got a
Speaker 1: question for you. Do you ever read in bed, like
Speaker 1: read a book or anything like that, And yeah, that's
Speaker 1: actually typically where I read. Do you really so you're
Speaker 1: like the complete opposite of me. I literally fell asleep
Speaker 1: ast night listening to an audio book and I'm like, crap,
Speaker 1: I need to rewind it and catch the rest of it.
Speaker 1: So I hate reading in bed, and I like, I
Speaker 1: don't ever listen to anything. I don't read anything in
Speaker 1: bed because for me, I've identified that when I get
Speaker 1: in bed, I just want to fall asleep. I don't
Speaker 1: want there to every be a time when I lay
Speaker 1: in bed. And what that signals to my mind is
Speaker 1: that all right, it's time to fire up, it's time
Speaker 1: to get creatives, time to start thinking about ways to
Speaker 1: you know, save money, things like that. Instead I wanted
Speaker 1: to be thinking like, okay, it's time to go to bed.
Speaker 1: And so because of that, I like, I seriously refused
Speaker 1: to read in bed, because I've trained myself that when
Speaker 1: I get in bed, like I fall asleep fast. And
Speaker 1: to me, at least, I feel like that has a
Speaker 1: lot to do with having that separate space, Like if
Speaker 1: I want to read and I go sit in my chair,
Speaker 1: Like I've got this chair, that's that's Daddy's chair. That's
Speaker 1: where I sit, That's where I get a lot of
Speaker 1: my reading done. That's where I like to read. I
Speaker 1: feel like I need to make a change. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm old school. I feel like that's a very traditional thing,
Speaker 1: you know, like, hey, she reads in bed all the
Speaker 1: time and she sleeps fine. But I feel like that,
Speaker 1: you know, literally, after falling asleep last night listening to
Speaker 1: an audio book, I probably I just know it's probably
Speaker 1: not ideal. If I'm reading a physical book, I feel
Speaker 1: like you a little bit different. I'm a little more
Speaker 1: mentally active actively doing it. But but yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: definitely not a good place for an audiobook. I found
Speaker 1: that out, uh Matt. For folks looking to take other
Speaker 1: physical steps in order to work from home without going crazy, well,
Speaker 1: it's important to close your email for specific stretches of
Speaker 1: the day. With so many of us not in the office,
Speaker 1: email slack text messages, they're likely to be an even
Speaker 1: more constant trip than they typically are. So in order
Speaker 1: to create these stretches of deeper work, turning off notifications
Speaker 1: and closing those applications whenever possible is going to help
Speaker 1: your mental ability to focus on the work you need
Speaker 1: to get done. It's gonna help you turn out better
Speaker 1: work at the same time, right So, and a specific
Speaker 1: thing to mention if you're actually closing your email or
Speaker 1: not checking things for a part of the day, talk
Speaker 1: to your boss about communication expectations ahead of time and
Speaker 1: let them know that being constantly responsive isn't good for
Speaker 1: how much work you're gonna be able to get done.
Speaker 1: And everyone's kind of trying to find a new normal
Speaker 1: right now what their work from home schedule is going
Speaker 1: to look like. So being communicative back and forth with
Speaker 1: your boss about how that's going to look for you
Speaker 1: and how you're going to be most productive. This is
Speaker 1: the exact time to have that conversation. Seriously, I could
Speaker 1: not think of a better time to kind of like
Speaker 1: switch up the expectations a little bit. And then right
Speaker 1: now it's COVID nineteen season. You know, let's talk about
Speaker 1: sound distractions as well, Like, even if you're able to
Speaker 1: create a separate space that you call your office, like,
Speaker 1: you still might have some audible distractions that are keeping
Speaker 1: you from that efficient or that deep work. I hope
Speaker 1: you're not talking about our podcast, because that's never a distraction,
Speaker 1: that's always just something people should have on the background, right.
Speaker 1: You know, I actually wonder if if our podcast listening
Speaker 1: has gone down because people aren't commuting, because you can't
Speaker 1: really listen to a podcast while you work, right, because
Speaker 1: that engages like the side of your brain that has
Speaker 1: to do with words, Like there's a visual side and
Speaker 1: then there's like the word side. Maybe people fall asleep
Speaker 1: listening to us like I do audio books. Hey, if so,
Speaker 1: that's fine as long as you can stay subscribed. But
Speaker 1: there are different noises and sounds, and you know, those
Speaker 1: can be incredibly distracting, especially if you're not used to
Speaker 1: them because you're in a new environment because you're working
Speaker 1: at home. And so here's the thing. The solution, it's simple.
Speaker 1: All you need to do is get some of those
Speaker 1: cheap ear plugs. I'm talking about the kind of like
Speaker 1: little foam cling, cylindrical shaped earplugs you can get like
Speaker 1: at a drug store, or you can buy like fifty
Speaker 1: of them, maybe on Amazon, all at once. But you
Speaker 1: squeeze them between your fingers, you stick them in your ear,
Speaker 1: and then they expand and the world disappears. I am
Speaker 1: a huge fan of these ear plugs. You can go
Speaker 1: fancy if you want and get the bows noise canceling
Speaker 1: headphones maybe, But here's the thing, and they're not necessary.
Speaker 1: Literally all it takes is a few bucks, spend some
Speaker 1: money on some of those ear plugs. And I mean,
Speaker 1: it just depends on who you are, I guess, because
Speaker 1: I know for me, I've worked from home for over
Speaker 1: a decade, and I'm not any better at ignoring noises,
Speaker 1: Like when I hear something, it still distracts me. That's
Speaker 1: just who I am. And so but what I have
Speaker 1: gotten better at is eliminating these distractions from my body
Speaker 1: perceiving them at all. And so I've got ear plugs
Speaker 1: and I use them all the time. I again, I
Speaker 1: completely recommend them. Maybe I'll even link to like the
Speaker 1: ones that I use if folks are interested. All right,
Speaker 1: that sounds good, I agree, man. Yeah, It's it's not
Speaker 1: even like you're trying to be distracted, because sometimes it's
Speaker 1: literally us proactively trying to distract ourselves by walking to
Speaker 1: the fridge, by finding something that we can do instead
Speaker 1: of working. But sometimes it's literally just a distraction that
Speaker 1: catches us by surprise and it draws us in and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a conversation we over here in the next room,
Speaker 1: or kids screaming or whatever, and and if they're screaming
Speaker 1: really loud, it probably probably needs to be attended to.
Speaker 1: It depends on the type of exactly. You know, if
Speaker 1: you're a parent, you know, you know the kind of
Speaker 1: scream we're talking about. But yeah, so those are some
Speaker 1: of the physical batteries that are important to implement right now.
Speaker 1: But there are practices or routines that also make working
Speaker 1: from home a whole heck of a lot easier too.
Speaker 1: So let's get into a couple of those, man. And
Speaker 1: one that we would suggest is to get ready every
Speaker 1: day kind of like you're going to work normally, get dressed,
Speaker 1: brush your teeth, just like or similar to if you
Speaker 1: were going into the office. You know, if you typically
Speaker 1: wear a suit, you're probably not going to put on
Speaker 1: the full nines. Uh, if you're gonna stay in your apartment,
Speaker 1: what are you trying to prove? Man, Like, no one cares,
Speaker 1: right right, just for those like zoom video calls that
Speaker 1: you're gonna be on or whatever, just put the neck
Speaker 1: tie on. It's fine. The next time. That's like you need.
Speaker 1: You can still be sitting there in your underwear. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but if you but if you're just in your robe
Speaker 1: and your underwear, like, it's going to affect your mindset.
Speaker 1: You're you're gonna feel like you're in your home, it's
Speaker 1: relaxation time, time to take a nap, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: you you will be less productive. So yeah, getting ready,
Speaker 1: putting some effort into what you what you look like,
Speaker 1: is gonna affect how you feel and how you work. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: This is another one too that I feel like really
Speaker 1: depends on what you normally where, Like when you do
Speaker 1: go into work, right, Like, if you're used to going
Speaker 1: into the midtown office, you know, and you're kind of
Speaker 1: all dressed up fancy, but then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you look like the dude from the from The Big
Speaker 1: Lebowski and you're sitting around and you're like, why don't
Speaker 1: I feel as productive? Hopefully you're not slimming white rushes
Speaker 1: to the leban am. I think people are doing that
Speaker 1: these days. The reason I say that, though, is as
Speaker 1: someone who has worked from home for the majority of
Speaker 1: his life, I have pretty much always worn sweatpaints or
Speaker 1: jim shorts, if you know, if it's during the summer,
Speaker 1: and that's just part less like my at home uniform. Obviously,
Speaker 1: if I'm gonna go out and I've got a meeting
Speaker 1: or something like that, I'm gonna get dressed up a
Speaker 1: little little more dressed up than I normally am. But
Speaker 1: I have found for me that doesn't affect me quite
Speaker 1: as much. And so even though these are things that
Speaker 1: we're recommending to folks, there are going to be certain
Speaker 1: aspects of what we're talking about here that's going to
Speaker 1: resonate more with you and and who you are as
Speaker 1: a person. So certainly keep that in mind. Yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: even when we're going to record in our new kind
Speaker 1: of podcast studio Slasher Basement, I'm not gonna go to
Speaker 1: dress up. Well, probably I'm not gonna dress up a lot,
Speaker 1: But my normal uniform is pretty much jeans in a
Speaker 1: T shirt. Yeah exactly. But but still taking a shower
Speaker 1: and getting dressed in jeans in your T shirt at
Speaker 1: least is different than when I sleep in, And so
Speaker 1: doing that, having that start to the day makes a
Speaker 1: difference in feeling like I'm actually going to work as
Speaker 1: opposed to just lounging around a weekend day. At my house. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I look forward to you being fresh and smelling. I'll
Speaker 1: get down there and I'm not thinking the space. Something
Speaker 1: else that we'd recommend for folks to implement is creating
Speaker 1: hard quote unquote work hours. Right. Another hazard of working
Speaker 1: at home is not exactly knowing how much you've actually
Speaker 1: been working. For instance, maybe you know that you got
Speaker 1: up around seven, maybe eight o'clock, who knows, like you
Speaker 1: had breakfast and then you started working, but like, when
Speaker 1: did you actually start king? Do you know? Creating a
Speaker 1: schedule and sticking to some of those hard hours where
Speaker 1: you'll do nothing but actually get work done is important
Speaker 1: to not feeling like you just wasted the entire day
Speaker 1: because you've had your work computer open, but maybe you've
Speaker 1: also been doing other stuff. I know for me, Joe,
Speaker 1: I've mentioned this before, but clockify is a great solution
Speaker 1: for me. This is a as browser based as well
Speaker 1: as app based, so you can have it on your
Speaker 1: phone as well, and they're both synchronized. But literally, I
Speaker 1: do this and I track every single minute of the day.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, I like to look
Speaker 1: back and see that it's as close to twenty four
Speaker 1: hours as possible. Because sometimes I forget to stop it
Speaker 1: and start it, so I gotta manually enter it in,
Speaker 1: which I do because I'm a nerd. But the reason
Speaker 1: I started doing this is because I have seen the
Speaker 1: power of tracking my money. Right. When it comes to budgeting,
Speaker 1: tracking your money is the first step because you can't like,
Speaker 1: how are you going to improve what you spend your
Speaker 1: money on if you don't know where your money is going.
Speaker 1: And so as a hardcore tracker and budget of my money,
Speaker 1: I felt, well, I think the same thing would apply
Speaker 1: to my time, and so do As soon as I
Speaker 1: started doing that, I've been doing that since this past fall.
Speaker 1: Now I can pretty much go back to any single
Speaker 1: day and show you exactly what I've been spending my
Speaker 1: time on that day. But it's helped me to see,
Speaker 1: oh no, I actually have been working a ton or
Speaker 1: it allows me to look back and see that like,
Speaker 1: oh man, yeah I have been kind of slack. Yeah
Speaker 1: I can. I can put some more hours in because
Speaker 1: I haven't quite worked as much as I know I
Speaker 1: need to. If you're out there and you're a money
Speaker 1: nerd and you're like all the numbers and you know spreadsheets,
Speaker 1: I would totally recommend an app like clock ify. There's
Speaker 1: a few others out there that I haven't tried yet,
Speaker 1: but this is when I started working with and I've
Speaker 1: stuck with it since. Yeah, And I feel like it
Speaker 1: works in the opposite way too, because if you're working
Speaker 1: from home, the lines are more blurred and it's easy
Speaker 1: to kind of keep that computer open and maybe keep
Speaker 1: working or start work earlier. There's no commute time these days,
Speaker 1: so you might find yourself working ten or eleven hours days.
Speaker 1: You might feel inundated, like you can't get away from
Speaker 1: it. It It might feel swamped, but like, how much work
Speaker 1: have you actually done? Were you to just kind of
Speaker 1: like concentrate and smosh all that work together, right, Like,
Speaker 1: what would that look like? Yeah? So I think that
Speaker 1: brings us to another point too, is that we should
Speaker 1: avoid multitasking as much as possible. We should definitely be
Speaker 1: tracking our hours so we're not putting in more hours
Speaker 1: quote unquote at the office right while we're at home.
Speaker 1: But we all think we can multitask. It's kind of innate,
Speaker 1: I think, in in all of us that we think
Speaker 1: we can do multiple things at once and do the
Speaker 1: model capable of that exactly, But most of us were not,
Speaker 1: and pretty much all of us are not, I think, so, yeah,
Speaker 1: best to keep the TV off while you're attempting to
Speaker 1: get work done and not check for news updates every
Speaker 1: five or ten minutes. Yeah, where we're terrible at distracting
Speaker 1: ourselves and then it taking forever to get, you know,
Speaker 1: back on task. I remember from our interview with Kurt
Speaker 1: Steinhorst in his book, but he talked about how Harvard
Speaker 1: m b A when presented with distractions and multitasking, essentially
Speaker 1: that their i Q drops to that of an eight
Speaker 1: year old. And obviously that's not a knock on eight
Speaker 1: year olds. That's just an indication of what we're capable
Speaker 1: of doing when we're distracted, when we're trying to multitask. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, man. And another great point that I
Speaker 1: think Kurt brought up when when we had him on
Speaker 1: the show was he talked about communicating, about communicating, which
Speaker 1: I think that was one of our takeaways. It sounds
Speaker 1: like overkill, it sound is ridiculous, but he's so right.
Speaker 1: How can you expect me to communicate? And we talked
Speaker 1: about kind of setting that expectation with your boss now,
Speaker 1: but it's important too, with your coworkers and with members
Speaker 1: of your family, Like, how are we going to communicate now?
Speaker 1: Are we gonna be Marco Polo messaging like twenty times
Speaker 1: a day or are we going to check in with
Speaker 1: each other once or twice a day? And so yeah,
Speaker 1: setting that expectation with the people that are closest to
Speaker 1: you what will help them from getting their feelings hurt
Speaker 1: and will help you from being an unproductive mess right yeah.
Speaker 1: And I mean one of the examples he gave that
Speaker 1: he adopted, and I think a lot of people kind
Speaker 1: of work this way by default, is that if it's
Speaker 1: an email, like I'll probably get back to you sometime
Speaker 1: that day. If it's something that's a little more urgent,
Speaker 1: send me a text, right, Like, that's something that you
Speaker 1: can get back to within like maybe an hour, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe less, but if it's an emergency, will give me
Speaker 1: a call. Um. I feel like these are sort of
Speaker 1: ground rules that a lot of us maybe operate by,
Speaker 1: but actually stating it's and you know, I think especially
Speaker 1: with your loved ones, especially with your family, with your kids,
Speaker 1: you know, with a partner, these these are important steps
Speaker 1: to take to make sure that every ones on the
Speaker 1: same page and you know, Joel, I'm thinking of two, Like,
Speaker 1: a lot of folks are working from home, a lot
Speaker 1: more of us are hopping into like FaceTime in the
Speaker 1: zoom calls. If you're unfamiliar with how they work, like,
Speaker 1: we would recommend that you spend a minute or two
Speaker 1: familiarizing yourself with those programs right, like, for example, learn
Speaker 1: how the mute button works. Like you don't want to
Speaker 1: be the person with a barking dog, you know, while
Speaker 1: you're on this giant group sales call. Basically, if you
Speaker 1: have technology that you need to be using to be
Speaker 1: professional and to get your job done, make sure you've
Speaker 1: taken the time to know how that technology works, like
Speaker 1: this is now a part of your job. And obviously
Speaker 1: I'm sure that these are all things that your your
Speaker 1: employer has already you know, explained to you via emails.
Speaker 1: But it's so true. If if you want this to
Speaker 1: be a seamless transition to you working from home, make
Speaker 1: sure that you're doing it well. Yeah, for sure. And Matt,
Speaker 1: I think another thing that needs to be talked about.
Speaker 1: One of the greatest disadvantages to working from home is
Speaker 1: loneliness that people can feel. It's like a real issue.
Speaker 1: I think for lots of people when we work from home,
Speaker 1: and especially in a time like this, we feel disconnected
Speaker 1: from our workers. It's just a weird time for all
Speaker 1: of us, and it feels even weirder when we're kind
Speaker 1: of locked into our dwellings most of the day. So
Speaker 1: it's important to mention that non work related zoom meetings
Speaker 1: can be helpful, like a virtual happy hour, work calls
Speaker 1: with your friends that don't involve talking about work, that
Speaker 1: kind of water cooler talk that you would normally get,
Speaker 1: uh at some point during the day in a normal
Speaker 1: in a normal Monday through Friday, you're not getting any
Speaker 1: of that right now, So scheduling those can be really helpful.
Speaker 1: And that's really to focus on your mental health and
Speaker 1: just to kind of have fun and make sure everyone's
Speaker 1: doing all right. Checking in Marco Polo is another kind
Speaker 1: of cool app. It can be distracting if you don't
Speaker 1: use it well, but it's an easy way for you
Speaker 1: to send videos to your friends, coworkers, whatever. You can
Speaker 1: set up like a Marco Polo channel and send fun
Speaker 1: videos throughout the day and maybe have a regular schedule
Speaker 1: that you're going to check those and maybe send something back.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you don't want it to distract you, but
Speaker 1: you also do want to make sure that you're tapping
Speaker 1: into the community of people that are closest to you
Speaker 1: during this time, and and you're not letting loneliness overtake you,
Speaker 1: because that's that's a real threat. Can you sit up
Speaker 1: noted occasions with specific users on Marco Polo. That's a
Speaker 1: good question. I don't know. I don't know either, because
Speaker 1: like usually turn off notifications for anything, and I go
Speaker 1: into an Apple when I want to take a look exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because well I was thinking about it for us, you know,
Speaker 1: like because I like what's great about Like, I mean,
Speaker 1: this is the second time you mentioned Marco Polo. I
Speaker 1: feel like what's great about this app specifically is that
Speaker 1: it taps into the robustness of a phone call or
Speaker 1: a video chat, right, but at the same time it
Speaker 1: lends the convenience that you get out of a text message,
Speaker 1: and so like you don't have to like hop on
Speaker 1: a call and coordinate your your times with somebody. It's
Speaker 1: there whenever you're able to check it, and so on
Speaker 1: that note, I was thinking, I was like, man, that
Speaker 1: would be something totally great for you and me. To use,
Speaker 1: you know when it comes to talking about things. But
Speaker 1: if you're hopping in there and then you have like
Speaker 1: a bunch of messages from your family, you know, your
Speaker 1: kids are sending you funny videos that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: it might be kind of distracting. But you know, that's
Speaker 1: a good point, and I think it is an easier
Speaker 1: way to communicate. It's easier than text. It's so faster. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's faster exactly. Yeah. So I think, yeah, that can
Speaker 1: be really helpful for lots of people, and it's helpful
Speaker 1: in combating some of that loneliness that a lot of
Speaker 1: people feel like. Literally, I think it's the number one
Speaker 1: downside to working from home. A lot of people get
Speaker 1: their social cups filled at work. You know, for a
Speaker 1: lot of people that the social interactions that they have
Speaker 1: with their colleagues are really meaningful. And so to go
Speaker 1: from having that five days a week to nothing, And
Speaker 1: on top of that, if you're in you know, a
Speaker 1: high risk city where you're on lockdown, basically you're not
Speaker 1: hardly seeing anyone. Man like that, that can be really tough. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: for extroverts and an introverts alike, depending on your personality,
Speaker 1: either way, you slice it. It's it's not easy, yeah, Jil.
Speaker 1: One other thing I wanted to mention this is sort
Speaker 1: of I don't know, this might seem obvious for folks,
Speaker 1: but I've found this to be so incredibly helpful working
Speaker 1: from home. You know, we discussed how oftentimes we're distracted
Speaker 1: by like chores. So you're like, oh, I need to
Speaker 1: do laundry. Oh this, you know, I want to be
Speaker 1: able to do this. Oh this is a funny video
Speaker 1: I want to look up, or oh, what's the TV show?
Speaker 1: All these different things that pop in your mind. Right,
Speaker 1: Like when you're sitting there at work, just keep a
Speaker 1: running list, just to do list that you hit after
Speaker 1: you're done with work. I feel like I've found for
Speaker 1: me that is just an incredibly simple way for me
Speaker 1: to corral my thoughts and not allow myself to go
Speaker 1: down these rabbit trails when I know I need to
Speaker 1: be working because I'm on the clock for work. I
Speaker 1: got my clockify app ticking. I don't want to use
Speaker 1: that valuable time to you know, look some random fact
Speaker 1: up on Wikipedia. Right, and so I know this sounds simple,
Speaker 1: but just keeping a post it note next to your
Speaker 1: computer or using the reminder's app on your iPhone. Whatever
Speaker 1: it takes for you to have those thoughts, which that's
Speaker 1: totally fine, document them, but then continue to stay focused
Speaker 1: on the task at hand. So helpful. Yeah, man, I know,
Speaker 1: I think that's great. And I feel like one of
Speaker 1: the biggest challenges right now facing people is is working
Speaker 1: from home with other people around. Yeah again, three square
Speaker 1: foot apartments where you're living, sleepy and the eating. That
Speaker 1: sounds like that's a nightmare, dude, Yeah, exactly. So Yeah,
Speaker 1: working with a partner or with kids until especially kids
Speaker 1: who have to learn. I mean, there are a billion
Speaker 1: kids across the world right now out of school, so crazy,
Speaker 1: and it's affecting parents and working with a partner and
Speaker 1: almost similar level of difficulty in some situations. And so
Speaker 1: we'll get to to some thoughts that we have for
Speaker 1: making it a little bit easier to to handle that.
Speaker 1: Right after the break, Yes, we're back from the break.
Speaker 1: We were discussing working from home without going crazy, and Joel,
Speaker 1: if it wasn't already enough of a challenge for us
Speaker 1: to work from home when you're not used to it,
Speaker 1: working from home with kids or with others in your
Speaker 1: home makes things even harder. N let's there are three
Speaker 1: or four kids and helping them figure out their school
Speaker 1: work into this mix. Yeah, seriously, it's not like summer
Speaker 1: break because in all likelihood, yeah, you have to actually
Speaker 1: facilitate helping them learn something in all the places you
Speaker 1: would normally go during summer break, they're closed. Yeah, and sorry,
Speaker 1: you can't play with your friends either, right, it's like
Speaker 1: the worse cemrification of all times play dates or no go. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like, great, this is an ideal, but let's talk
Speaker 1: about a few things that can make this process go smoother,
Speaker 1: because who knows, this really might be our life for
Speaker 1: a little while longer, Joel, one of the things that
Speaker 1: I've implemented over the past few weeks here is shifting
Speaker 1: my work schedule to the evenings, and so we all
Speaker 1: have fewer if any commitments or appointments on our calendars
Speaker 1: these days. I don't know about you, but that's how
Speaker 1: my calendar has been looking. Yeah, it's it's gone pretty bare,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know what, I'm kind of okay with that, really,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, because you are like total extrovert,
Speaker 1: and so for me to see my calendar completely open
Speaker 1: up like that, it's kind of liberating and I kind
Speaker 1: of feel at ease, but I feel like I could
Speaker 1: see you maybe kind of getting a little ainsy. No,
Speaker 1: I mean, I miss hang out with friends, but I
Speaker 1: don't miss all the obligations that I have in a
Speaker 1: normal week. So that's kind of actually been nice. And
Speaker 1: you've got me. Well, there's that. There's always that. Is
Speaker 1: that worth mentioning to you. I wonder if people wondered
Speaker 1: if we're recording in person or not because we are,
Speaker 1: like you and I were sitting across from each other.
Speaker 1: But it's worth mentioning that, you know, both of our families.
Speaker 1: We talked about this at the very beginning of the quarantine,
Speaker 1: and we committed to being uber safe and distant from
Speaker 1: other people. That way, you and I could continue to
Speaker 1: work in person. That way our families can still hang out.
Speaker 1: Like we're still taking precautions, but we knew that we
Speaker 1: wanted to be able to continue to podcast, and so
Speaker 1: to that end, you and I were being extra extra safe. Yeah, exactly. Sorry,
Speaker 1: that's just a little aside that popped into my head.
Speaker 1: But I'm glad to see that you're you're taking you know,
Speaker 1: your events, your obligation is being canceled. Uh and stride, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I am. But back to what I was saying, right,
Speaker 1: like shifting your work to the evenings, in particular, if
Speaker 1: you have kids at home who you are caring for,
Speaker 1: look to the hours after bedtime to get your work done.
Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of folks have already maybe even
Speaker 1: realized this just out of necessity, but that's something that
Speaker 1: we've definitely implemented it and I've seen the value in that.
Speaker 1: My My typical work hours are from like nine to
Speaker 1: four thirty. I try to kick off by four thirty.
Speaker 1: I joined Kate with helping out the kids, you know,
Speaker 1: in the late afternoon it can get kind of crazy.
Speaker 1: But since the girls haven't been in school, I've shifted
Speaker 1: to working typically from noon to four, and then we've
Speaker 1: got all afternoon together, including dinner, and then I work
Speaker 1: from seven until ten, So that leaves me, you know,
Speaker 1: the entire morning to do fun stuff with the girls,
Speaker 1: whether that's going bike rides, go hiking, just reading books,
Speaker 1: help participating in their class activities. Which, man, I don't
Speaker 1: know your thoughts, but I feel like that the schools
Speaker 1: have totally stepped up, you know, like we are facilitating
Speaker 1: they're learning, but it's not like we have to come
Speaker 1: up with the entire curriculum. Um. They've totally been stepping
Speaker 1: in and I've really been impressed with the implementation of
Speaker 1: technology when it comes to them continuing their education. I
Speaker 1: think there's so many different people that you probably appreciated
Speaker 1: in everyday life, but now you're starting to see their
Speaker 1: value come shine through even more. And teachers are definitely
Speaker 1: one of those places where we were in love with
Speaker 1: our kids teachers. They were awesome, but I feel like
Speaker 1: we've loved them on another level right as they're stepping
Speaker 1: up their games, sending us curriculum, staying in touch, all
Speaker 1: the all the effort they're putting in to helping us
Speaker 1: figure out how to do online learning right now, it's
Speaker 1: been great. Yeah, Juel, I couldn't agree more. So. A
Speaker 1: good way to approach shifting your hours is to figure
Speaker 1: out when it's completely necessary for you to be on
Speaker 1: the clock with your employer, because chances are there's you know,
Speaker 1: a few points during the day when you need to
Speaker 1: be responsive, when you need to be on some non
Speaker 1: negotiable hours exactly. Yeah, yeah, And so when that happens,
Speaker 1: you know that like Okay, I definitely need to be
Speaker 1: on during that period, But do I necessarily need to
Speaker 1: start working at eight or do I need to actually
Speaker 1: go until, you know, five o'clock every single day. Find
Speaker 1: ways to proactively alter those hours and draw hard boundaries
Speaker 1: around those hours and and pick that time up later.
Speaker 1: You know, you wanna be able to take advantage to
Speaker 1: some of this time that you have at home. It's
Speaker 1: fun to be able to like go on daytime adventures
Speaker 1: with your spouse, you know, like how cool would it
Speaker 1: be to go with your girlfriend or your boyfriend and
Speaker 1: maybe go hiking during the day when normally you would
Speaker 1: never be able to do that on a Tuesday. But
Speaker 1: now you can take advantage of some of that beautiful
Speaker 1: daylight that we've got these days. And in order to
Speaker 1: do that, you can clock some more time in the evening. Yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: And make sure you communicate that with your boss, because
Speaker 1: hopefully your boss is understanding and and things do need
Speaker 1: to be a little more flexible, especially if you have
Speaker 1: kids right now, and so hopefully your boss is willing
Speaker 1: to work for you. I think trying to find that
Speaker 1: happy medium where you can shift your work hours to
Speaker 1: work better for your family right now is really helpful.
Speaker 1: And Matt, you mentioned getting outside. You've mentioned taking hikes,
Speaker 1: and I think that's really important too. I think developing
Speaker 1: a rhythm right now of kind of doing some more
Speaker 1: outdoor activities can be really helpful, especially because this is
Speaker 1: starting to feel more like a marathon than it is
Speaker 1: a sprint. Right this this quarantine that we're experiencing, we're
Speaker 1: not sure exactly when things are gonna change and we're
Speaker 1: gonna go back to kind of a more normal routine
Speaker 1: when schools are going to reopen and when we're gonna
Speaker 1: be going back into the office, and so kind of
Speaker 1: making sure that we make time for physical activity is huge.
Speaker 1: So each morning, you know, my wife Emily, she's been
Speaker 1: leading the kids in yoga and there's this Cosmic Kids
Speaker 1: Yoga and you can watch their videos for free on YouTube.
Speaker 1: That's been huge for our kids to like use their
Speaker 1: bodies in the morning, get a little bit of that
Speaker 1: rowdy physical energy out before they have to sit down
Speaker 1: and kind of start doing some schoolwork. So yeah, anyway
Speaker 1: that you can get outside, any way that you can
Speaker 1: you know, get a little physical is going to be
Speaker 1: I think helpful in helping you focus on your work
Speaker 1: throughout the day when that's needed. Yeah, jo And I
Speaker 1: think another benefit of maybe some activities like that, like
Speaker 1: like of specific activities that you're spending with your family
Speaker 1: or with a significant other, is that you're being very
Speaker 1: intentional with your time, right, Because when you know that
Speaker 1: the time that you're taking off, like these different breaks
Speaker 1: that you're taking, that you're doing something meaningful with it,
Speaker 1: then I feel, for me, I've got less guilt when
Speaker 1: it does come time to work. Right. This kind of
Speaker 1: goes back to, uh, making sure that you're not multitasking
Speaker 1: where you're doing everything really poorly. When you're able to
Speaker 1: focus on specific tasks and you know, really create some
Speaker 1: quality time with your family, then when the time does
Speaker 1: come that you need to get back to work, you
Speaker 1: can go to that work completely guilt free. You can
Speaker 1: really focus on it knowing that the time that you
Speaker 1: haven't been working, you you spent it well, right. And
Speaker 1: So I think as much as possible, regardless of how
Speaker 1: you're spending your time, whether you're spending that working or
Speaker 1: with your family, make sure that you're kind of giving it,
Speaker 1: You're all that you're giving Joel on something else, I
Speaker 1: think that's really important you know, so when you have
Speaker 1: to get work done during the day, is that it's
Speaker 1: important to create just different systems where you can easily
Speaker 1: communicate with others, but kids, especially when it is that
Speaker 1: you are working and when you're going to be free, right,
Speaker 1: something as simple as a visual que can be helpful.
Speaker 1: You know, like maybe you say, like, hey, when the
Speaker 1: office door is closed, like that's when I have to
Speaker 1: be working. You can't interrupt me. Then maybe a closed
Speaker 1: office door might be more effective to other adults or
Speaker 1: maybe roommates that you're living with, but maybe less so
Speaker 1: with kids. But some friends of ours they created a
Speaker 1: simple green light red light situation just at a construction
Speaker 1: paper to let their kids know that they couldn't interrupt
Speaker 1: or ask questions when the red light was out. That
Speaker 1: the kids knew that when they saw a red light,
Speaker 1: that meant that Monty was on a very important call
Speaker 1: and you could not step into the office. You couldn't
Speaker 1: go into that room at that point. But when she
Speaker 1: switched it to the green light, that meant you can
Speaker 1: come on in, you know, like that's time when you
Speaker 1: can interrupt. And obviously, you know, if there's an emergency,
Speaker 1: like the kids know that they can go in there whenever.
Speaker 1: But especially for kids, I think it can be really
Speaker 1: helpful to have just these simple cues, these simple, you know,
Speaker 1: visual reminders that they can see that tells them when
Speaker 1: it's time to work and when it's time to play. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: that's super helpful. Visual cues for everyone involved can make
Speaker 1: a big difference. Also, too, it's just really important to
Speaker 1: kind of accept the reality of the situation. We're basically
Speaker 1: in an unprecedented scenario that none of us have ever
Speaker 1: experienced before, and we don't really know how to deal
Speaker 1: with it. We're all kind of doing the best we
Speaker 1: can and we're trying to figure it out. So it's actually,
Speaker 1: if you have kids at home that you're responsible for,
Speaker 1: basically we all need to be okay getting a little
Speaker 1: bit less done, being less productive because we need to
Speaker 1: be there for our kids at the same time. And
Speaker 1: that's okay, right. Our world obviously looks vastly different than
Speaker 1: it did a couple of months ago, so it's important
Speaker 1: to cut yourself from slack, realizing that your productivity level
Speaker 1: might not be on point like it typically is when
Speaker 1: you're in the office. Um, but yeah, there is a
Speaker 1: certain amount of reality that needs to be faced, Matt,
Speaker 1: as our work environments have completely changed and kind of
Speaker 1: what our days look like are crazy different than they
Speaker 1: normally would be. Yeah, man, I couldn't agree more. It's
Speaker 1: it's important for us to not only be gracious with others,
Speaker 1: but certainly with ourselves as well. Bottom line, man, is
Speaker 1: that working from home is great, right Like this is
Speaker 1: coming from someone who's done it for twelve years now,
Speaker 1: but it comes with trade offs. There's no commune, but
Speaker 1: there's also less camaraderie and there's less company culture that
Speaker 1: you're gonna experience when you're sitting by yourself at home,
Speaker 1: and working from home feels less awesome when we don't
Speaker 1: have a choice in the matter, you know, obviously in
Speaker 1: this case due to the coronavirus. Coronavirus yeah, and ruins
Speaker 1: everything and we're you know, remote all the time right now,
Speaker 1: Like that is probably gonna be less desirable for folks
Speaker 1: who are thinking like I wouldn't mind is working from
Speaker 1: home like one or two days a week, but three
Speaker 1: solid weeks in a row. That's a lot. But by
Speaker 1: implementing some of these tactics, we can make it less
Speaker 1: difficult and it will allow us to settle into a
Speaker 1: groove so that we can do this for as long
Speaker 1: as it's going to be required. Yeah, So best of
Speaker 1: luck to all of you out there doing your best
Speaker 1: to wade through this kind of new way of life
Speaker 1: for the time being, and especially if you have kids,
Speaker 1: best of luck helping them with their schoolwork, getting stuff done,
Speaker 1: getting food on the table, getting laundry done, all these things.
Speaker 1: But hopefully these tips can be can be a help
Speaker 1: so that you can do each one of those things
Speaker 1: at least reasonably. Well, all right, Matt, let's get back
Speaker 1: to the beer we had on the show today, A
Speaker 1: beer called same as it ever was, even though everything
Speaker 1: is completely different. This was an I p A by
Speaker 1: Monday Night brewing. What was your take on a man, Well,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you my thoughts, may but I wanted to
Speaker 1: mention and address the fact that, like, we know that
Speaker 1: this is the name of the song. Knew that this
Speaker 1: was the name of a Talking Head song, right, not
Speaker 1: until you told me. As the days go by the buddy,
Speaker 1: I've heard the song, but I didn't know that was
Speaker 1: the name. I think I was a little a little
Speaker 1: sharp there, you know, if they would if they would
Speaker 1: go for hooting the blowfish references instead, I would totally
Speaker 1: get it, which they might never do. Actually they're too
Speaker 1: cool for that. Yeah, but this is a fantastic New
Speaker 1: England style I p A. It was super hazy, right,
Speaker 1: This is one of those cloudy New England I p
Speaker 1: a S that the cloudiness it lends us off to
Speaker 1: a beer that has like that silky smooth mouse texture,
Speaker 1: so like you're drinking it tastes fantastic. You've got all
Speaker 1: those tropical hop notes in there. Uh, and you've got
Speaker 1: less to me, You've got less of that that sharp,
Speaker 1: funky hop nous. In my mind, this is like one
Speaker 1: of those more juicy I p a s as opposed
Speaker 1: to the sharper, funkier ones. I don't really discriminate like
Speaker 1: all the beers, but yeah, this is one that I
Speaker 1: particularly enjoyed. Buddy, how about you. Yeah, they've been putting
Speaker 1: out some really awesome new I p a s and
Speaker 1: they've all kind of hop hut series. Yeah, and in
Speaker 1: my mind, I feel like each new release is better
Speaker 1: than the last, like they're they continually are getting better,
Speaker 1: Like they're making the best beers they've ever made right now,
Speaker 1: And so yeah, I think this was my favorite of
Speaker 1: their recent hot putt offerings. It was perfectly balanced. And
Speaker 1: by balanced, I mean imagine a seesaw and this enormous
Speaker 1: sack or multiple sacks of hops come down on one
Speaker 1: side and toss you up in the air because you
Speaker 1: were standing on the other side of the seesaw. That
Speaker 1: doesn't sound like balance, though, it sounds like a catapult.
Speaker 1: It's my idea of good balance though when it comes
Speaker 1: to a hoppy beer, just an insane amount of hops.
Speaker 1: So yeah, this was really good. I guess once you
Speaker 1: land back down, your body weight offsets the sacks of hops. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then you're cool exactly. I don't know that was
Speaker 1: the mental picture. I got tons of hops, so good.
Speaker 1: Monday night beers have just gotten ridiculous these days. So yeah,
Speaker 1: they're definitely a solid brewery here in Atlanta. If any
Speaker 1: of our listeners are here in Atlanta, stay tuned because
Speaker 1: maybe at some point, once we break free of the
Speaker 1: shackles of quarantine, we'll set up a little maybe a
Speaker 1: little get together over there at Monday night. But until then,
Speaker 1: if you're out on about and you're able to, yeah,
Speaker 1: swing by their support them as well as all of
Speaker 1: your favorite local breweries. They all need some extra these days,
Speaker 1: with their tap rooms, with their tasting rooms closed. Just
Speaker 1: like a lot of the small businesses we love, we cherish.
Speaker 1: We want these breweries to stick it through and to
Speaker 1: emerge on the other side of this crazy time that
Speaker 1: we find ourselves in. Yeah. Man, I can only imagine
Speaker 1: the parties of celebrations that people are going to have,
Speaker 1: you know, when this is is kind of moved past us,
Speaker 1: you know, and I think, you know what, how the money,
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a big get together one of these
Speaker 1: breweries and just freaking celebrate and have some great beers.
Speaker 1: And I hope this one's on draft the day that
Speaker 1: we visit. There can be a party, but we need
Speaker 1: to make sure it's not too soon. Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1: Don't be don't do it too soon, man. I bet
Speaker 1: they'll be like a federal holiday, like once the quarantine
Speaker 1: has been officially lifted. I mean, seriously, there's never been
Speaker 1: something this massive that have that has affected the lives
Speaker 1: of so many people. You're right, there could be like
Speaker 1: a national holiday for there's gotta be It'll be like
Speaker 1: Independence Day. What if it does happen on July four?
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I hope it's before July four, but
Speaker 1: if it lasts that long, that's not good. Yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: see buddy. All right, Well, Matt, that's gonna do it
Speaker 1: for this episode. And for folks that want more of
Speaker 1: our stuff, go back and listen to our backlog on
Speaker 1: your podcatcher, or check us out on our website and
Speaker 1: find our show notes at how to money dot com.
Speaker 1: Also up there on the website are going to be
Speaker 1: some helpful articles. For instance, we've got a few credit
Speaker 1: card articles. One is you know the right credit card
Speaker 1: to get based on how you spend your money. There's
Speaker 1: also another one up there as well that covers our
Speaker 1: favorite you know the best balanced transfer credit cards. And
Speaker 1: these are credit cards that you can sign up for
Speaker 1: that will give you a zero percent introductory rate. And
Speaker 1: so a lot of us are in these tougher times,
Speaker 1: and while we do not encourage credit card debt, having
Speaker 1: a credit card at zero percent is a nice thing
Speaker 1: to have in your personal finance arsenal. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt, Until next time, Best Friends Out, Best
Speaker 1: Friends Out.