Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work or location and hours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to give
Speaker 1: a new workplace a try your own parked car. If
Speaker 1: your house is just too loud or distracting, your car
Speaker 1: presents a reasonable alternative. Now. I know that in normal times,
Speaker 1: plenty of people work in their cars by taking calls
Speaker 1: during their commutes. This is not really a great idea.
Speaker 1: The data undistracted driving are pretty grim. If you need
Speaker 1: to take a call, pull over. But I do understand
Speaker 1: why people tend to take calls from their cars, even
Speaker 1: beyond the perceived productivity boost of multitasking. A car is
Speaker 1: enclosed and generally pretty quiet. It's also private, so no
Speaker 1: one can overhear a conversation. If you're working from home,
Speaker 1: you can capture some of these benefits by working from
Speaker 1: your own parked car. If you stay parked in your
Speaker 1: own driveway, you can probably use your house WiFi. Now,
Speaker 1: I will put in here the obvious caveat that if
Speaker 1: you're running the car for the air conditioning in summer,
Speaker 1: you should not be in your closed garage. But if
Speaker 1: the temperatures are moderate so you don't need to run
Speaker 1: the car, then you can work where you want. If
Speaker 1: you do need to run the ac, make sure you're outside.
Speaker 1: Some libraries have kept their Wi Fi going while they're closed,
Speaker 1: precisely so people can park in their parking lots and work.
Speaker 1: In any case, if the kids are being loud but
Speaker 1: they're old enough to leave unsupervised for a little bit,
Speaker 1: or your spouse is on kid duty, try using your
Speaker 1: car as a secondary workspace. Just bring your laptop and
Speaker 1: phone out there. If you'd like. You can drive to
Speaker 1: a nearby park for the scenery, or just stay put.
Speaker 1: Move the seat back so you can angle laptop in there,
Speaker 1: or prop it on the center car. Bring snacks and
Speaker 1: a drink, and you may not need to emerge for
Speaker 1: a while. This option might be especially useful for people
Speaker 1: in small spaces who are trading off childcare duties with
Speaker 1: a spouse. The spouse can be doing his or her best,
Speaker 1: but noise is inevitable, and sometimes the kids can still escape.
Speaker 1: If you are the parent that they often seek out,
Speaker 1: no home office is really going to keep them away.
Speaker 1: In normal times, you could go to a coffee shop
Speaker 1: or library or coworking space, but even those places aren't
Speaker 1: great for sensitive phone conversations. Hence the brilliance of the car.
Speaker 1: I made use of this the other day when someone
Speaker 1: was interviewing me for a podcast. I normally record my
Speaker 1: own podcast episodes at night after people are in bed,
Speaker 1: but other people have different schedules. In any case, I
Speaker 1: set myself up in the parked car in the driveway
Speaker 1: and enjoyed the quiet well for a while. Then my
Speaker 1: neighbor began mowing his lawn. I guess silences never guaranteed,
Speaker 1: but at least sometimes it's a little more likely than others.
Speaker 1: If you've ever used your perked car or some other
Speaker 1: genius spot as a workspace, I'd love to hear about it.
Speaker 1: You can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New
Speaker 1: Corner Office is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your favorite shows.