Category: Newsletter

The Shift

Why you get more done when you work less 🤓

Post author By niccitalbot
Post date June 13, 2022
No Comments on Why you get more done when you work less 🤓

Art: Marina113

Thousands of UK workers started a 4-day week on Monday with no loss of pay, in the world’s biggest trial of the new working style.

The pilot is running for 6 months and is being organised by 4 Day Week Global.

It’s based on the 100:80:100 model – 100% pay for 80% of the time, with a commitment to 100% productivity.

I can’t wait to see the results. It’s exciting to see the variety of companies on board – local chippies, software firms, recruitment agencies, tax specialists, Charity Bank.

Researchers will be measuring the impact on business and productivity, stress and burnout, life satisfaction, gender equality, and the environment.

As we emerge from the pandemic, more and more companies are recognising that the new frontier for competition is quality of life.
Joe O’Connor, 4 Day Week Global

As with output-focused working, this will give companies a competitive edge.

Wacky office perks don’t cut it. Life is for living, and we want our time back. As you get older, you don’t want to waste your time on things or people that don’t make you feel good.

👀Juliet Schor | Ted: The Case For a 4-Day Workweek.

📚The Practical Magic of the 5-hour Workday, by Trevor G. Blake. Read the free pdf and pass it on. Trev has built and sold three startups for $600 million in a decade. All while never working more than 5 hours daily from a casita at home.

He shares his personal work schedule for enhanced creativity and revenue generation, and the history and science behind the rationale for never working more than 5 hours a day (via Do Lectures).

The Medieval workday was no more than 6 hours, nature-driven, and in the hamlet. We now have the tools and tech to get back to that with remote working and less commuting, but we’ve gone too far the other way, working even longer hours.

We have a steady stream of information. Drip, drip, drip. It’s hard to switch off when your phone is an extension of your hand.

If you run a company of one and work remotely, you already have a competitive edge. You’re agile, committed to your cause, and you run your own schedule.

Getting more done in less time is down to discipline, deep work, mono-tasking – and delegating what you can!

📚 Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less, by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. How active rest and deep play – walking, hobbies, sports, good conversation – are the keys to happiness and success. That’s when we come up with those crazy, creative ideas.

Alex points out that a four-day week creates an entire year of extra free time every five years 👀

What would you do with that extra year? Imagine the problems we could fix!

Bikini on and soak up the summer 🏖 😎 🙏 We had Ziggy Marley on Hastings Pier tonight – doing a live tribute to his papa!

Written by Nika Talbot, founder of award-winning Firebird Studio. Content designer and UX writer. Based near Brighton, heart in Italy 🇮🇹

Something to share, or just want to say hello? Send me a note: nika@nikatalbot.io.

Enjoy reading this? Why not buy me a glass of Prosecco? 🥂

Tags 4 day workweek, future of work, personal growth, productivity

Newsletter

I got fired over Zoom 🤯

Art: Joshua Coleman on Unsplash

Ever been fired over Zoom?

This week, it happened to me – halfway through a six-month contract. I got a calendar invite for a ‘catch up and chat’ with my manager.

Big budget cuts and the client wants to focus on paid social media, not organic posts (I’ve been writing playbooks for them).

I’d done what they hired me to do, and none of the other teams had any work left for me, so that was it.

She did it nicely and better via Zoom than email – though it felt hardcore and surprised me.

You’ve done a great job. We couldn’t have done it without you. Love to have you back next year when budgets are back to normal. Let us know if you need a reference…

Bit more than a ‘catch up and a chat’ !!

Two conversations were happening in tandem. The one on Zoom with my manager and the internal one in my head with Anxious Annie. FUCK. I can’t believe it. How are you going to pay the bills? What about the yoga holiday! Have you been slacking again?

She’s good at her job 🙄

I find these short-term contracts with agencies exhausting. It’s hard to relax and do your best work when you’re on float with multiple projects. I feel disposable (had a week’s notice on this one), so my LinkedIn profile is always ‘open to work’.

How much energy do you put into precarious work, even if it pays well? It’s hard to get the balance right. 110% usually, all or nothing, which is a route to burnout.

Here’s what I did to get over it.

1. BREATHE. Wrote down what just happened. Seeing it on the page helped get it into perspective – a tip I picked up from the author of The Kindness Method, Shahroo Izadi, on the Solo Collective podcast.

2. Went for a walk.

3. Finished the job and sent a friendly email to the team and my agent. Set my boundaries for future roles (3-months minimum, it’s hard to do strategy and make a difference in less time). A longer notice period.

4. Booked a Rapid Rewire masterclass with Steph Kwong via Growmotely. “Learn a proven, cutting-edge methodology to confidently create rapid change for yourself, guaranteed.” Gotta feel it to heal it! Powerful stuff.

Have you ever been fired? How did you deal with it? I’m taking a break from Agencyland.

– Nika

Justice for Johnny! 🎉 😁 I’m happy you’re at peace and have your life back.

Highlight: watching his doorman Alejandro Romero deliver his pre-recorded testimony from his car, vape and then drive off. “I’m tired … I don’t want to deal with this court case … everybody’s got problems, and I don’t want to deal with this no more.” Modern law. Remote justice.

5 Things 🧠 💥

Talent to Money Summit is on 7 & 8 June online. The first global summit run by The Ask, helping you to start (and grow) a business you love. Great speakers who will be sharing their stories and strategies for success. I heard about this via the Newsletter Mastermind group (Ness Labs).

How ‘digital nomad’ visas can boost local economies (HBR.org). A visual overview of the current visas via country and how they might play a key role in fostering entrepreneurship and the creation of technology clusters around the world. Time for the US to get on board or risk being left behind.

Recommended Substack newsletters related to the future of work (Workforce Futurist). It takes a village to grow a newsletter. Thanks to Andy Spence for the shoutout and profiling work you’re enjoying. Some new writers to check out!

Building a swarm of thoughts with the founders of Napkin (Ness Labs). An interesting experiment – gathering a group of 100 authors to help build the next-generation thinking and writing tool (it looks great – watch the video). Get a month for free when you sign up for their newsletter.

Gitlab: The Remote Playbook 2022 – this is the 3rd edition of Gitlab’s famous playbook. This time focusing on how your team works, not where, evolving design, mastering future of work skills, reducing burnout, and boosting wellness at work. Learn how they’ve scaled as an asynchronous, no office company.

Written by Nika Talbot, founder of award-winning Firebird Studio. Content designer and UX writer. Based near Brighton, heart in Italy 🇮🇹

Send me a note: nika@nikatalbot.io.

Enjoy reading this? Why not buy me a glass of Prosecco? 🥂

Tags burnout, future of work, newsletters, Remote working

Newsletter

Stand with Ukraine 🕊️

I am shocked and angry about the news from Ukraine. Putin’s aggression is a horrific assault on democracy, freedom, human rights, and a sovereign, peaceful nation. It’s also emotional, not rational. He can’t erase history and recreate the USSR.

It’s heartening to see all the protests in Russia this week despite the threat of arrest. Nobody wants this war except Putin, and the young are furious – this is their future at stake. A defiant Zelensky’s not walking away either. Refusing to leave Kyiv with a request for additional ammunition instead. Ukraine’s military said this morning 3,500 Russian soldiers were killed in two days, 102 tanks and 14 planes destroyed – they’re putting up a fight despite much smaller military might 🦁

A Ukrainian woman telling Russian soldiers where to go – put sunflower seeds in your pocket because you will die here. A video showing an elderly man being pulled from his car alive after being deliberately crushed by a Russian tank – a miracle.

Putin shouldn’t underestimate the effect of soft power, either. Depriving Russians of things they need and love – sports, culture, entertainment, social media, and a sense of belonging in the world will lead to more riots and protests. Who wants isolation, insularity and to be cut off from the rest of the world? It’s not possible in the 21st century with technology and the internet, we’re interconnected more than ever.

Ukraine needs help and support from us – a collective, collaborative and fast response. I hope we see bigger sanctions from Europe and will write to my MP. This is a threat to us all – Putin won’t just stop at Ukraine.

It’s been a complicated conflict for eight years and can’t be fixed overnight, but war isn’t the answer. As Maya Angelou said, “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” Most of us want the same things – family, love, peace, meaningful work, a home, travel, freedom.

There’s much talk about the ‘borderless world’ and it raises the importance of border research. Recent work talks about ‘reconceptualising borders’ and borderlands as sites of cultural interaction, exchange and hybridity with individuals from all backgrounds. A far more positive way to look at the world, and it’s where we’re heading with work and travel.

Praying for peace and an end to this asap 🙏

Nicci 🙋🏻‍♀️

How to help people in Ukraine

Here’s a list of resources to stay informed and help Ukraine.

News

Live Universal Awareness Map (‘liveuamap’) – a global news site founded in 2014 by a team of software developers and journalists who wished to inform the world about the Ukrainian conflict.

The Kyiv Independent – English-language journalism in Ukraine. Become a patron: Patreon.com/KyivIndependent

The New Voice of Ukraine – An English-language site covering developments on the ground via local journalists.

Sign the open petition: War aggression against Ukraine: immediately exclude Russia from SWIFT.

Write to your MP. Lobby the UK government and encourage maximum sanctions. Here’s a letter you can use.

Make a donation

The National Bank of Ukraine has opened a special account to raise funds for Ukraine’s armed forces – open to multiple currencies.

Sunflower of Peace has started a fundraiser to prepare first aid medical tactical backpacks for paramedics and doctors on the frontline. Also works to empower orphans and displaced people.

Voices of Children – helping children affected by the war in eastern Ukraine – art therapy, psychology, storytelling and more.

British Red Cross has launched an emergency appeal for Ukraine – help someone affected with the basics: food, shelter, medicine, & first aid.

Book an Airbnb – not to stay, but to show solidarity. Airbnb has waived all host and guest fees in Ukraine. So far, bookings have grossed $2m in aid.

Grammarly Premium – an AI-software tool to improve your writing. I use this all the time – an excellent product created by a Ukrainian startup. An update from CEO Brad Hoover – they’re offering free access to Premium for non-profits and NGOs.

Tags Russia, small business, Stand with Ukraine, Ukraine

Newsletter

Feeling the pinch 👀

Issue #74, February 6, 2022. Art: Rosie Johnson Illustrates

So there it is, Rishi to the rescue with a package of ‘support’ to offset rising energy bills, which covers less than half of the £693 energy bill hike for the average UK household from April 1 👀

£150 rebate on council tax for some and a £200 negative levy on energy bills from October to be repaid in instalments over the next five years. The Centre for Economics and Business Research forecasts a £1,980 rise in overall living costs. The government is trying to soften the blow, but it’s not enough for the brutal cost of living crisis.

All eyes are on the UK to see how we handle this.

And there’s Andrew Bailey, Bank of England boss, telling us not to ask for a big pay rise!! i.e. the 0.5% interest rate rise will be the first of many if we start demanding higher wages. All well and good if you’re earning half a million a year…

Sod that! I’m going to have to raise my prices.

We’ve had bankers’ tax cuts, billions lost to fraud on Covid loan schemes, losses on PPE, and Shell reporting mega-profits. Good to see Red Ed back on it – excellent timing – with calls for a windfall tax on energy firms to help with the price hike.

Time to transform the way we do business. The Better Business Act is collective lobbying for change in company law to ensure companies align their interests with wider society and the environment. 900 companies have opted to be part of the coalition for a cleaner, greener, fairer future for all 👏

Will you join them? You can nominate a leader here.

What help can you get?

Covid cash cut… a running summary from the NUJ London Freelance branch of what help’s available. If you’re going to apply for the Household Support Fund via your local council, do it now – it expires March 31.

Write to your energy supplier. I’ve written to Octopus to ask for help – they have a £2.5m financial hardship fund and the Warm Homes Discount, which gives you £140 off your bill. This needs increasing and extending.

Turn2us – benefit calculator and grants search to find out what support you can get.

Join a union: the NUJ’s charity has been brilliant and helped me financially throughout Covid as I wasn’t eligible for the SEISS grant. They’ve also given other key workers and me a pay rise and backdated pay to offset inflation.

Citizens Advice are helping record numbers with energy help, advice and referrals for crisis support.

We all need to slowly adjust to paying more for energy bills, and that’s fine. I can be frugal when I need to. But a scarcity mindset isn’t great for my mental health, business and creativity.

I don’t need to cut back – I just need to earn more. So I will be raising my fees and retraining for higher-paying work.

Not going out and spending money locally won’t help small businesses either or create a thriving community to be proud of.

5 Things to Know 🖐

Growmotely’s Align Summit: Building the thriving business of the future. A global online event for entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders transforming the world of work. 7-9 February, free or pay what you can afford. Excellent speakers and topics. Excited about this! Love Growmotely’s vibe ✨

→ Join: Align Summit (Growmotely)

Tallinn’s Got Talent: Why Estonia’s capital is the best city in the world for digital nomads. James Ware on his week working from Tallinn, recently ranked the best city in the world for remote workers: “not because of one wow thing, but a gazillion small things that accumulate into your experience.” On my list.Love theIgluoffice, a workspace set by the sea – like an Airstream with frills.

→ Read: Tallin’s Got Talent (The Independent)

Unlearning the way we work – Alastair Simpson, VP of Design at Dropbox, has led the company’s virtual-first transformation. Great to see a design-led approach to the future of work rather than the usual Ops and HR focus – we need more of this! The framework they used for their distributed teams is a Virtual First Toolkit.

→ Listen: unlearning the way we work (Remote First podcast)

Move to Sicily for free: restored 1Euro house in Sambuca looking for a live-in Airbnb host for a year. Be the host of a designer house in Sambuca, learning Italian, experiencing local life, and helping regenerate the region. Great initiative from Airbnb – remote work is the way to regenerate small towns. Also good to see CEO Brian Chesky doing the product research…

→ Read: move to Sicily for free (Evening Standard)

Clear thinking for 2022 – topline findings from a new report surveying knowledge workers and what we want (flexibility, change, hybrid). Intriguing to hear Julia Hobsbawm (The Nowhere Office) say, “the world is going freelance,” with growing numbers of solopreneurs making their own luck. Ipsos: “we’re going to need offices, but just not for work.” I enjoy every episode of Bruce’s thoughtful podcast.

→ Listen: clear thinking for 2022 (Eat Sleep Work Repeat)

Send me a note: nicci@niccitalbot.io

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Tags cost of living, cost of living crisis, future of work, small business