“Work From Home”

When humans are forced to adapt and evolve under stressful times, we find a way to “make it happen,” more often than not. We don’t always have a roadmap or the experience to show us exactly how the next steps should be executed, but we adjust to ensure we continue meeting our primary responsibilities.

The transition from the office to work from home is a prime example. You may have caught my previous post on the swift action that was taken to move us home and how remarkable it was to see our teams come together to ensure that we were well prepared to do so. Being there for our clients is vital during market turmoil. We never thought working from home would be possible. Just two months ago, I was sharing a thought with a coworker that I had hoped that one day it would be cool if we could work part time at home, especially to help navigate family dynamics and strategically map out our commutes with the ever worsening traffic here in Charlotte. Well, working from home is here and not by choice. “Be careful what you wish for.” Anyways, here are a few thoughts on what working from home has been like during the first week.

I thrive off of social interaction. I also enjoy alone time and solitude. As I was packing up my boxes on Friday, March 20, I was the last advisor to leave the Charlotte office, as I was currently transitioning apartment units at my complex and needed access to the technology and internet long enough for AT&T to set up at my new pad. So, I knew working from home was going to be a challenge without my 9 teammates and office friends. Typically, the toughest part of my day is trying not to get caught up in long winded chit chats with coworkers. You know, shooting the breeze. Football season is usually the hardest because talking about Ohio State football with Brad could suck up an hour a day if we were less disciplined. After one week, the lack of social interaction hasn’t hit as much as I thought it would. We are finding ways to stay connected through Microsoft Teams. Our team even held a Friday “WFH week one toast” on Zoom. It was fun to see into the lives of my peers as they shared their screens with their family, living rooms and backyards. As a bachelor, they enjoyed seeing my Grand Canyon picture hanging on the wall.

Overall, work wise, I would say it was a productive week one. Monday was a little crazy as I had kept just my work station in my old apartment, since AT&T wasn’t coming until Tuesday morning to set up in my new unit. Duke Energy cut the power on me at noon that day, while I still had three meetings and a few outcalls to make. So, I scrambled over to a buddy’s living room to finish up the day. The stock market was also down 35% year to date and investor panic seemed to be at high so far this year. So yeah, Monday was nuts. Once things settled down Tuesday after getting set up with AT&T, we were rocking and rolling. The days flew by as work has felt like shoveling sand into a never ending sand pit. The next three days in the market were bonkers (good bonkers). We had the up days in a row that rounded out 15%+. The market had it’s best week since 1933, so that seemed to help us out a little bit with calming down the phone lines.

Routine, routine, routine. My goal is to maintain routine as much as possible. It’s a new routine and I am still adapting, but once that nails down, I think time will speed up a notch.

A few random thoughts on working from home:

Maybe this is good for all of the other advisors who usually sit around me, as I tend to be a loud talker. Maybe everyone is more productive now that they can hear themselves think without Scott’s loud voice getting in the way.

I wonder what percent of advisors are managing work in conjunction with helping their children with school throughout the day? Just that alone gives me anxiety. All power to the families juggling those responsibilities.

How well are apartment complexes and home internets holding up with X number of people working and schooling from home now? We had some technology issues, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed with an upgrade.

My walk to the bathroom is 30 seconds shorter. I drink a lot of water throughout the day, so I make a handful of trips while at the office. If I take five trips to the bathroom a day, then I save 5 minutes of time per day, 25 minutes per week. Not bad! More podcast or reading time.

When the end of the day comes, it feels awkward because I am not getting in my car to drive home. I am home. Keeping work and home life separate from one another is a challenge, especially being in a 650 square foot apartment with my workstation in my living room staring at me while I am watching the latest Netflix binge (I am one of few who has yet to see Tiger King).

Being intentional with getting outside and working out is critical. It’s more challenging since we are asked to remain inside. I guess walks are okay, as long as we stay 6 feet from all other humans! It’s a good excuse to hop on my bike more.

Owning a town home or a condo would be nice right about now. Or better yet, just give me a backyard with some bird feeders. Grandpa, do you have any extra bird feeders?

It’s only week one, how will this feel after a month, or even several months.

I miss having access to a printer. It’s forced me to use OneNote more as I always loved printing and highlighting key facts or phrases to use from articles during my client interactions. No, I am not getting a printer for the time I am working from home. I don’t need more junk around.

I try to wear semi formal work attire as I am a believer in the old saying. “When you look good, you feel good. When you feel good, you play good (or in this case perform good). And when you play good, you get paid. . .” You get the idea. I think I stole that from Deion Sanders, a famous football player. I’ve gone back to the Arizona golf shirt look for the most part.

With less face to face human and business interaction, I have decided to test out my ability to grow a beard. The last time I did this was in college. Here’s to hoping 6 years of aging has given my facial hair the ability to look less patchy and less red.

My buddy Brian and I had set up weekly walks, so now we are going to try to set up work dates to get together. We’re currently reading The Impossible Now by Colin O’Brady, which is a biography on Colin’s adventure as the first individual to cross Antarctica with no resupply or human support.

No matter how confined it might feel in here some days, I think to myself, could you imagine what prison is like? The only way I would take prison over this is if you gave me a group of buddies like Andy Dufresne had in Shawshank.

I’ll conclude by saying that I am grateful that my job can be performed at home. A majority of individuals in this country cannot do their jobs from inside their own home. Our situations can always be better, but they certainly can always be worse. No matter how tough the next several weeks and months are, that statement will continue to drive my attitude. We are forced to adapt and adapt we will.