 This book was a gift from a good friend and colleague, arising from a discussion last year wherein I'd said that I did not especially enjoy Manson's previous book as it didn't flow well (that book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, was essentially a compendium of his blog posts and so was disjointed such that it didn't seem to be about anything). My friend enjoyed this one and so gave it to me for Christmas.
The overall premise of the book is this: while hope is an essential motivator for humans, in the modern (i.e. first) world, it is almost impossible to hope for things to get better as they are already so f*cking good.
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 The Gifts of Imperfection is from Brené Brown – author, researcher, and personal growth magnate (and TED talk star) – and describes some of her own personal growth and reflections on self-acceptance, past guideposts of authenticity, resilience, creativity (among others). These encourage and enable self-reflection by the reader along a similar path to recognize and celebrate (not just accept) one’s own vulnerability and whole self.
 I’m revisiting this 2018 assessment (of mine) of the hybrid model for working remotely to consider how the experiences of 2020-21 might revise that assessment and, more importantly, inform how such a model might be effective going forward.
In Part 1 of this series, I reflected on the rapid move to remote working necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Part 2, I looked at the lessons learned during the pandemic work-from-home situation. In Part 3.1, I looked back at the original four arguments about working remotely and reconsidered the first one – the economic argument and the financial considerations for organizations and employees. In Part 3.2, I considered the teamwork argument and whether co-location is an essential element of teamwork, or not. I concluded that co-location does not guarantee an engaged or productive workforce, which leads neatly to the third and fourth arguments…  This past week, I’ve heard the following from colleagues and friends:
“I’m not accomplishing anything. What is the point of it all?” “I’m supposed to have the day off today, but I’m attending this one important meeting. Is it okay if take the rest of the day after that?” “I’d planned to be off last week but ended up working a few days. I can’t seem to catch up and I felt so guilty taking vacation when I’m behind on so many things.” There were others, too, but these were the ones I remember most clearly, the most troubling to me. As I spoke with each person, and emphatically assured them of their own value and encouraged them to take some time for themselves, I was saddened again and again at the near despair of my colleagues. I also saw a bit of myself in each of them: these people who are a source of strength for others reaching the end of their own strength and needing a break. At the same time as this was happening, I found a new-to-me blog site and blogger, with some great guidance on these topics. Here are the posts that helped me help them, and also helped myself in no small measure. |
Who is Robyn?
My career as a research project manager is rewarding, dynamic, challenging, and fun. I'm looking forward to sharing my knowledge and experience in communication, organization, and common sense approaches in research management and leadership, and to enabling others to learn and grow in this exciting career. 
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