The Value of Being Able to Work Anywhere 1


Emilia off to soccer

She looks all ready to go to soccer camp here. Apparently something changed in the five minutes between when this picture was taken and when she arrived in camp.

I spent this morning working from the sideline of a soccer field. It was not my initial plan, but when my husband called to tell me my 4-year-old was crying and hanging on his leg, refusing to join the group at soccer camp, I saw two real options (leaving her screaming and crying in the hands of some older teens/young 20-somethings for the next three hours was not one of them). I could either go pick her up and bring her home – which would inevitably mean allowing her to become an iPad zombie by lunch (since I know that would be the only way I’d really get work done) or packing up my laptop/phone/portable charger and heading over to camp and working from there. Off to camp, I headed.

“I can’t believe you’re getting anything done,” an observer remarked.

“Well, the internet isn’t quite as good as in the office,” I said.

Of course, the hotspot from my phone is definitely better than lots of other locations where I’ve found myself trying to type away at something or other.

As a tech founder/parent of three children/someone frequently traveling for work, the ability to work anywhere at anytime is essential. It’s one of the priceless intangible skills. The reality is that 9 million things are going to come up – whether it’s work things or kid things – and being able to adapt to whatever your work surroundings happen to be can make a big difference as to whether or not things get done.

It probably helps that the first decade of my professional life was spent as a sports reporter, so it was far from my first time writing from a sideline. As a parent, it is also clearly far from being my last time – although my daughter had it made clear to her that tomorrow I will be working from work.


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One thought on “The Value of Being Able to Work Anywhere

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