Ok, So I have an admission to make. I came to the realization a couple of months ago that I was not exactly practicing what I preached. I have been, for the past few months posting about cross-platform ability and no longer needing to rely on hardware in order to do whatever it is you do. At the same time, I realized that I had been carrying my Mac, which is my home computer, to work every single day. Not just on days when I was posting stuff to my blog, but EVERY DAY! I realized what I was doing at the beginning of May and as soon as I did I stopped carrying my computer to and from work every day, and I started relying more and more on the cross-platform ability of the different services that I utilized.
I will admit, carrying around my computer may have been more of a security blanket for me than anything else. I would say thing like “well I like the interface better on the Mac than on the PC at work.” In order to post to my blog, I would take my computer to work and post it from there. This was a mistake because I was trying to convince you to stop relying on your hardware to do what you do, while at the same time relying on my own hardware in order to do what I do. For that, I apologize and I have to admit since I stopped carrying my computer to work every day I have found out a few different things.
1) My briefcase was lighter – Not by much but it was significant enough that I noticed the difference. For those of you out there who have a work computer that you don’t absolutely have to bring home, I would recommend that you don’t. If you are fully integrated with the Cloud then there are very few reasons why you shouldn’t be able to leave your computer at home. On one hand, I worry about my posture and for someone who does a lot of walking and commuting on the subway (to say nothing of the 8 ish hours a work day I spend sitting at a desk), I’m worried about slouching and developing a bad back. Having a lighter briefcase is a step in the right direction to prevent that. On the other hand, because It’s at home on its charger I know that when I go home it will be fully charged and ready to go.
2) My options opened up – When I really started to think about it. I didn’t actually NEED my computer to physically come with me. 90% of the systems that I use are cloud-based which means that I was able to use them from any machine. If your office isn’t fully integrated with the cloud, then it is something that I would highly recommend as it’s a really simple way to ensure that your files are backed up, and your staff can work from home if they need to. Gone are the days when you have to drag your work to and from the office because now we can access our offices from anywhere in the world…..something I, temporarily forgot about.
3) There’s an app for that, and if not, there will be a plugin – I have a variety of different tools that I utilize on my computer to do my writing, but I have found that some of them are quite useful when I am at work as well. The best part is that I can utilize many of these tools using Chrome plugins. These are program add-ons which allow you to use them while in Google Chrome.
I gotta say, ditching the computer as apart of what I carry to work every day has been such a liberating experience. I don’t have to carry my work back and forth and because I have a computer at home I have access to all the same (or nearly all the same) systems that I would in either place. It’s important to utilize the technology at your disposal. If you don’t, at this point all you’re doing is doubling the amount of work you’re trying to get done.
Do you know of any place where you could tune up your process? would you be willing to do so?
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