Async is the key to minimizing work-related anxiety
The future of work is on your schedule.
Instead of stressing about missing important messages and emails, I found that many of the problems that were so important to me normally seemed to work themselves out before I ever had to stress about them.
Hey reader,
Today’s essay is about asynchronous work, or async. This refers to staffers and contractors who design their own work schedules based on what works best for them, even if that means they work different hours than coworkers, clients, or bosses.
I firmly believe in this concept and have lived it for several years. To be clear, this doesn’t mean you always work odd hours, or that you even have to in the first place — it simply means that you have the option to do so, and are straightforward and honest with your colleagues about when you will be available. It DOES mean that you can change those hours as you see fit.
As is the case with most of what I discuss on Mountain Remote, this concept applies primarily to knowledge workers.
Community shoutouts
Welcome to the 16 new subscribers since the last dispatch! You’re among an async-remote-nomad-friendly-open-minded-progressive group here.
Speaking of the last dispatch, it’s been a month — and that sucks. I was traveling and took some time off, and have been quite busy with my daughter. I promise the next dispatch will come sooner :-)
Now, let’s change some schedules.
Async is the key to minimizing work-related anxiety
Async work comes down to trust — the idea that workers need to be corralled into an office for the same hours every day stems from a lack of trust put into staffers by their management. When an employee or contractor feels empowered by the trust of those for whom they work, they perform better and are happier.
Multiple studies have proven this, including this one published by Business News Daily. What’s more, those staffers are also likely to stick around much longer.
Async also has the potential to remove at least some of the awkward workplace conversations that most people don’t want to have in the first place. Though, unfortunately, remote work hasn’t displaced sexual harassment in the workplace.
Async work allows knowledge workers to be more mindful and present in their work and decision making
As a remote worker, I have on several occasions spent extended periods of time abroad, working in time zones far from those in the US. This makes communication throughout the US workday almost impossible, unless I’m online into (or beginning from) the wee hours of the morning.
Adjusting to this takes time and a willingness to be as flexible as others are being with you. During a summer spent in Southeast Asia in 2017, a weekly 10 am meeting with a client suddenly became a midnight call each Thursday.
Before heading abroad I was worried that my current contracts might collapse, or that at the very least I’d have trouble staying in touch with my clients based in North America. I let each client know in advance where I was going, with assurances that the quality or quantity of work would not be impacted.
Rather than having difficulty maintaining my workload, I found the experience to be the exact opposite.
Instead of stressing about missing important messages and emails, after a few weeks of working opposite hours from clients and colleagues, I found that many of the problems that were so important to me normally seemed to work themselves out before I ever had to stress about them.
When people know you aren’t always available to answer a question, they are more apt to find a solution themselves, and the same went for me — if I knew I’d have to wait until tomorrow for an answer to something I could put a few minutes into figuring out myself, I’d keep my mouth shut and put the effort into solving the problem.
This made each workday better in two primary ways.
First, because there were fewer conversations happening that weren’t directly related to tasks at hand, I was able to better focus on what I was working on. This allowed me to be more productive and get more done in fewer hours, leaving more time to explore the places I was visiting.
Second, I found that I could focus and be much more mindful about my work. Because I was 12 to 14 hours ahead, daily deadlines seemed further off and less imposing. Decision-making became easier and more accurate because I didn’t have anyone breathing down my neck. I felt more present in my writing than ever before. This led to better ideas, which led to better collaboration with those back home, and ultimately, to better writing.
And, for the big finale, my workflow became more productive simply because it never stopped. When collaborating with colleagues and clients during a traditional workday, you have normal business hours during which you can make things happen. When I’m on the opposite side of the world (or have a Virtual Assistant who is, while I’m at home), those boundaries disappear.
For example, that summer I found that I could spend my day working on a copywriting project for a client, send it off before I closed the laptop for the day, and have feedback waiting for me when I logged on the next morning.
From there, I could make updates, resubmit, and have it sitting at the top of my client’s inbox when they woke up.
Projects moved forward even while I was asleep. I got more work done that summer than I’d ever accomplished in one season before, and made more money as a result.
Fast Company described this as the “relay race,” as opposed to the rat race of traditional 9-5 work. I take it as the real-life example of the tortoise and the hare, only where the tortoise goes as fast as the hare but stays on course the whole time and the finish results aren’t even comparable.
What about those who can’t work remotely all the time?
The same applies to many location-dependent jobs as well, particularly upper management jobs and those designed around digital tasks and collaboration — increasingly, most office jobs.
I present the example of my wife, who is the Executive Director of a non-profit servicing disadvantaged populations. She manages a staff of five, plus a crew of volunteers. She strategically hired each staff member to fill a very specific role, with duties and responsibilities growing with their progression. Each takes a massive load off her plate, allowing her to focus on fundraising and executive tasks.
Theoretically, she should be able to post up in her office and buckle down on these tasks. Occasionally, that happens. But all too often, employees pop in with questions, and volunteers want to chat her up and see the newest photos of our baby.
She inevitably gets dragged into every menial stall in the workflow, often serving as a question box for issues that her staff should — and can — solve on their own.
As a result, when she has important deadlines, such as the highly important grant proposal she is working on today, she stays home from the office or heads to a coffee shop where she can hunker down and focus without interruptions.
Each time, this morning included, she is outwardly nervous that operations are going to fall apart without her there. Who will argue with the delivery driver who refuses to pull his truck into the tight alley around the back of the building? What will happen if a client has a seizure in the lobby?
Issues like this happen regularly. When she’s there, it instantly becomes her problem. But when she’s offsite, something magical happens — her staff always manages to figure it out!
It’s as though they’ve been trained for these exact situations. She just needs to trust them.
Ok but, doesn’t waiting 8 hours for a coworker to respond to your message cause its own anxiety?
In short, yes. I feel anxious when I wake up to a dozen Slack messages, and my feeling is confirmed by a study ran in Wired. Still, I realize that at least some of this anxiety is due to my own insecurities — are my responses or response time being monitored by decision-makers with the power to end my contract? Is anyone actually expecting me to reply at 6 am before I’ve had even a sip of coffee?
Over and over I’ve found the seriousness of those worries to be minimal. When I feel overwhelmed (or am taking time off), I simply delete Slack off my phone and therefore don’t even see the notifications until I open my laptop.
At times when I feel like my Slack messages or emails may cause that same anxiety to others, I schedule the messages to send at a later time, during the receiving person’s work day. I’ve found scheduling Slack messages to be incredibly helpful in preventing overload and burnout, and I wish more people — particularly those in management positions — would pick up the habit. This is critical to an asynchronous workplace.
In the end, work is work — it’s never going to be perfectly smooth. Some pressure and anxiety is inevitable. There’s a reason why someone is paying you to do it.
But for those whose work is not location-dependent, being able to work during the time of day that you can best focus and be the most productive gives you the power to minimize that anxiety, and produce better results.
Mountain Remote news and further reading
CPAs are reporting that their clients increasingly prefer work-life balance over large salaries.
Colorado 14ers Mount Lincoln and Mount Democrat are finally open to hikers thanks to a unique partnership, via The Colorado Sun. Time to put my new hiking boots to use.
We close this week with a development out of Europe that should help push async work forward. The Dutch Parliament passed a bill making “work from home” a legal right, via Bloomberg.
Finally, if you have a moment, please forward this newsletter to one person who would appreciate it. Thank you!
Thanks for reading, see you next week!