Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to not assume the worst. When you
Speaker 1: are working remotely, as many people are these days, it's
Speaker 1: easy to assume that silence, delays or short replies are nefarious,
Speaker 1: but they usually aren't, So don't jump to negative conclusions
Speaker 1: and ruin your day when you don't need to. More
Speaker 1: than a year after the pandemic started, many people are
Speaker 1: still working from home, which is great. Many knowledge jobs
Speaker 1: can be done remotely, at least part time. I'm thrilled
Speaker 1: with all the time and gas money people are saving.
Speaker 1: But when you are working by yourself at home, certain
Speaker 1: cues can be missing. In the absence of communication, it
Speaker 1: is easy to assume the worst. For instance, let's say
Speaker 1: you email your boss a new idea you had on
Speaker 1: a project. If you were working in an office, you
Speaker 1: might see that she was not at her desk and
Speaker 1: in fact was deeply involved in a long meeting with
Speaker 1: her supervisor in a nearby conference room. You'd know that
Speaker 1: she hadn't responded for several hours because she was doing
Speaker 1: something else. Most likely, she hadn't even read your note.
Speaker 1: Yet when you're working from home, you don't see this context.
Speaker 1: So when you don't get an email back in the
Speaker 1: next hour saying hey, great idea, let's definitely explore this,
Speaker 1: your brain might start working on other explanations. She hates
Speaker 1: my idea, she never likes any of my ideas. Why
Speaker 1: do I even bother trying around here? I knew this
Speaker 1: would never work out. I'm no good at this end.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness. To say this is unproductive is a
Speaker 1: massive understatement. Or maybe you're working with someone you haven't
Speaker 1: worked with much before. You send a note explaining the
Speaker 1: schedule for your upcoming project. You get back a short
Speaker 1: sounds good. If your new colleague said this to you
Speaker 1: in person, you might get a smile and a nod
Speaker 1: and an indication that he's really excited about the project
Speaker 1: and that he thought your schedule was flawless, so there's
Speaker 1: really no point in him changing anything. In other words, yep,
Speaker 1: it sounds good. But since you don't get any of
Speaker 1: these emotional cues, and since written words are automatically perceived
Speaker 1: as more negative than spoken words, well, you might assume
Speaker 1: he doesn't care much about the project. You start worrying
Speaker 1: about working together. What have you gotten yourself into. You
Speaker 1: start with a negative thesis about your new colleague and
Speaker 1: then you look for evidence to support it. This is
Speaker 1: not going to bode well for the project, so don't
Speaker 1: do it. Don't assume the worst wherever possible, assume the best,
Speaker 1: or at least an explanation that is marginally positive. Yes,
Speaker 1: I guess it is theoretically possible that your boss may
Speaker 1: hate your ideas and be secretly plotting to fire you.
Speaker 1: Do you really think that's the case. Better to assume
Speaker 1: that she will like your idea, she just hasn't gotten
Speaker 1: the chance to focus on it yet. Better to assume
Speaker 1: that your colleague isn't difficult, and that sounds good means
Speaker 1: just that it all sounds good. Assuming the worst burns
Speaker 1: all kinds of time and energy. Assuming a better explanation
Speaker 1: allows us to make allowances for all we don't know. Yes,
Speaker 1: of course, sometimes things go badly, but in general, most
Speaker 1: colleagues want to work together well. When we understand that
Speaker 1: working remotely sometimes keeps us from seeing the whole context,
Speaker 1: we can take that into account, and that allows us
Speaker 1: to get a lot more done in the meantime. This
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the number four,
Speaker 1: then breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media
Speaker 1: dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
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