Design Your Day: Traveling #WorkAway

If you follow me or my team on social media, you know we’re all very intentional about working when and where we’re most productive. “Design Your Day” is one of our House Rules (from what I’ve heard, it’s a favorite among many team members!), and each employee is required to work outside of our office for at least half a day, once a week. Dubbed #WorkAways, the idea is that each person can find a place (e.g., their home office, coffee shop, the park, etc.) where they can concentrate, be creative and churn out high-quality work that might be harder to produce in the office.

Nathan, our director of social media, recently took #WorkAways to a new level. How? He booked a three-day trip to Chicago during the middle of the week — not for vacation or client meetings, just three days to simply explore, work and get inspired by a different city (and take in a baseball game, of course!).

Nathan recently blogged about the trip, what he learned during his “traveling workaway” and how you, too, can take a break from normality and get into a new groove. Click here to read the full post, or keep reading for a short excerpt:

For three days, I roamed around Chicago, setting up shop in cafes and restaurants that offered a strong wifi signal and a new backdrop. I looked up from my laptop amidst a huge document review to see a Delorean surrounded by movie posters from the late 80’s (The Wormhole Coffee). I battled torrential downpour and racked up over 6 miles of street walking on a given day, but gave myself time to think through a social strategy that I’d not been able to wrap my finger around in weeks. Other results?

I finished every report on time, one with remaining time to spare. I took the much-needed time to organize my inbox, and had it down to 0 messages for just over 3 minutes. I finally read the articles that were piling up in my content curator while in-flight. I sat in on two highly-successful team brainstorms. I tried three new coffee shops, six restaurants, seven bars, and one stadium. I relied on public transportation and only Uber’d once, taking me back to my time in San Francisco where the buses and trains were a mandatory part of my day as opposed to an oddity.

In all reality, I worked a few more hours each day as compared to my time back in the office, but I finished the trip feeling productive and well-achieved. When I came back home, I felt refreshed simply by having been away for a few days.

PS: Want to work for a company that encourages and inspires you to design your day? We’re hiring at all levels! Visit our website for a list of current openings, or email me and let’s set up a time to chat.