How far can we push the virtual work environment?

How far can we push the virtual work environment?

Since February, I've worked internationally for over eight weeks. My family of four (two years old, four years old) has traveled to Brazil, Qatar, Turkey, Lithuania, and most recently three consecutive weeks in Europe (Poland, Greece, and Italy) to support my wife's Professional Beach Volleyball pursuit.

Four Take Aways

• Refine your true routines- Routines can be safety blankets. You don't realize how much we depend on them until you find yourself in an environment where you can get that "breakfast burrito" on your commute to work. I've learned to challenge my subtle and not-so-subtle routines. Give it a try. Refined routines should not depend on where you are or what you have access to.
• Set consistent work schedule- I chose to work the 4 pm to 12 am?schedule (which mapped to the 9 AM to 5 PM timezone in Utah). It worked because being a father of two, I don't have a nightlife anyways, and I could take "lunch" right in time to help put the kids to bed at 8 pm. Spending your whole day being a tourist, then as 5 pm rolls around - girding up for work. It's backward and took some time to build the stamina, but it works.

• Muscle memory- there is a cognitive load that comes from doing new things and working in new places. It was an adjustment at first going from working in a silent office to sharing a single-room flat with my kids during their bedtime. But that's what's great about the human mind- we adapt.
• Don't overcompensate at work- just because you are traveling, you don't need to overdo it (unless you choose to do so). At first, I felt guilty at some incredible places where I would overwork. Don't fall into this trap. Do your job, no more + no less (unless you, not your guild, choose to do so).

Once we got settled in a new location, I was shocked at how routine our lives were and how there was a sense of normalcy working in this environment. Working remote internationally is weird, but it strangely works.

The New 40-Hour Work Week

Being home for two weeks, I miss the amount of family time I got while working nights.

I'm working on a theory called the "new 40-hour week" - being with your family for 40 hours a week (including the weekend). It's a little more than five hours during the work week and seven and a half hours on the weekend.

Again, I'm not shaming those who travel for work or have commitments that don't allow this to be possible. Instead, this is just an aspiration of mine that I measure every week.

I'm aiming for forty hours of work, forty hours of sleep, and forty of family time. That still leaves 48 hours of "life" to navigate.