Being Too Casual as a Remote Worker

JJ Parker  0:02  
So Melissa, my daily routine in our remote work environment is I get up Haha, I go to the kitchen, I make coffee, and I walk downstairs, to the basement to my office in my Jammie pants. And then I start hopping on zoom calls. And halfway through the day, I realize I should probably not be the CEO of this company in my jammie pants.

Melissa Albers  0:30  
And my personal goal is to get over laughing every time you give me that visual. That's my personal goal. We'll see how I do. But I think right like being these remote workers right now. It's like, I think one of the key things that we would want to talk about today is what I always call personal brand. And what I mean by that is your authentic self, how people see you how people know you is what your personal brand is, how you talk, how you dress, how you show up, how you have conversations with people, all of those things are actually the energy that you're promoting or being maybe promoting is not the word, but the energy that you are. Yeah. Is your personal brand. No. And I think when you're on zoom, or when you're on any of those remote sites that you're you know that you have to have such an awareness that it is an extension of that.

JJ Parker  1:15  
Yeah. Like, in my example, I felt like I probably just started getting a little lazy, right. Like, the first couple of weeks, I think I did actually shower. But then I just kind of got lazy. Yeah. And I wasn't really being very mindful that like, yep, I am still at my job. I'm still acting like a professional. Yeah. And like, I still, you know, I would never show up to the office in that way. So why would I show up in my remote work environment that way?

Melissa Albers  1:45  
Yeah. And I actually think so much of is, is your energy, the energy that you're emitting, like, where your eyes are going on the screen? Where your head is? Are you looking down? Are you you know, those, all of those things really matter? So to really put forth your best effort in leaning a little forwards, being engaged, even though it's really hard, like now, I think people are becoming more tired from it. At the beginning. It was novel, and it was hard. But now we sort of settled into this. Oh, man, this is a wall.

JJ Parker  2:14  
Yeah. We had a podcast episode where we talked about wearing a uniform and how Yeah, actually getting into whatever your work attire is, is kind of an important part of transitioning between your professional location and maybe your home life. Yes. So yeah, definitely. And definitely, I hear what you're saying with the zoom fatigue, right? It's like, I last week, I was on a zoom call for seven hours, seven hours. That's crazy. Yes, we had to do strategic planning, we had to do it remotely. It was tough, right? But understanding that, you know, even though we've got this fatigue, even though we're getting tired, you can't not care you can't

Melissa Albers  2:57  
get right.

JJ Parker  2:58  
It's like Dude, I'm just not gonna do anything. And

Melissa Albers  3:01  
yes, people do. I think that's also happening is people are when they're just tired. They just are like, I don't even You're right, I don't care. I'm not gonna brush my teeth, or I'm just gonna throw my hair back in a ponytail or that but that's true is I and that actually is emitting a totally different message. So I think really, what we're talking about is the message and and the energy that we are coming forth in we're not even talking about what we're doing.

JJ Parker  3:25  
Yep. Absolutely. Yeah, I agree. The other thing I find myself doing is, sometimes I've just got way too much happening all at the same time as right, I got on a zoom call. I'm trying to get breakfast and I'm brushing my teeth. And I'm trying to get the kids Yes. Set. Yeah, their day. Yes. Obviously. Not really. The start, you know, workday.

Melissa Albers  3:47  
I do a lot of coaching with executives. And last week I was on with a CEO and I could hear all this clanging and paper shuffling and and ruffling and I finally said, Hey, are you eating a Twinkie? Like, what are you doing? Any goes busted? Said I'm trying to do too much. Yeah. And I said, it sounds like you're wrestling right in my ear. Now I had the kind of relationship with him where I could call them out and say something about it right away. But for a lot of people, they're not going to say anything to you. They're going to hear you and they're going to know what you're doing. And actually, they're going to feel like it's something they're doing to you that makes you not care enough to stay focused.

JJ Parker  4:22  
And even a simple thing like I found myself eating lunch at my desk. Yeah, my house a lot more than I did at the office. I got the office, I'd actually take a break. Some of us would sometimes go out right, we'd go walk the sky way to go get something. Yes. But at home, I'm just like, I'm just getting grab something, eat it at my desk. And it just doesn't make me feel very good.

Melissa Albers  4:42  
No, and it makes the other people feel like it's just not as important to you like what they're doing or part of with you isn't as important. Yeah, and that may not be true at all. But again, it's the perception that you're kicking out. Yep. So what's the recap on? Yes, one perfect recap. So first of all, just what is your own personal brand What's your personal brand when you're in your office? And how do you need to recreate your activities and your energy at home behind the screen to continue with your personal brand, and the second one is, even though you don't care sometimes still got to do it. So I got to do it and keep multitasking to an all time minimum even though it is incredibly easy not to.

JJ Parker  5:21  
The fact is, you're bad at multitasking. I don't care what you're saying thing. You're bad at multitasking.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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