I’ve concluded that remote work is essentially a time machine. It’s a different way of looking at it. I can thank Scott Galloway for the idea. He is my new spirit animal. I happened to read one of his articles that he wrote four years ago about time machines. He was referring to time machines as basically any company that creates more than $10 billion in shareholder value. They typically do this one of two ways, either extending time where you get more time or you save time, or they do something that enhances time.
Netflix saves you time by not having to watch commercials. Instacart and Doordash save you time by not having to leave your house to get food. Remote work has a similar relationship to time.
Extending Time
Time seems to be at the core of remote work. That got me thinking that although it’s not a company, remote work is essentially a time machine based on the value it creates. While not for a specific company, it creates value for anyone leveraging it. I would break it down into a variety of areas.
More time, that’s the obvious one. You have more time to spend with families, activities, etc. Remote workers are typically able to save upwards of 40 minutes a day, and that doesn’t even include the expense of travel.
You’re able to save time because you can get right to work whenever you want. You don’t have to sit in traffic. And in general, you don’t have to do those things on the way back either.
You can flex or shift your time to work on a schedule that works better for you. If you’re in a different time zone, that might mean starting your day earlier or later to be able to work with your colleagues in a different time zone.
Enhanced Time
Enhancing time is where it gets a little more complicated. But I think the model still is valid. Because of doing things asynchronously, versus synchronously, you can choose how you spend your time. As a result, your time is enhanced. You can also shift your time. So whether you start early, work late, take long breaks in between, or however you structure your day, you can make time the way you want it.
For individuals with family commitments or physical challenges, they have more flexibility to take the time they need to do things as they need to. Wouldn’t it be nice to not panic when the school bus is late? Or worrying about catching a certain train because you couldn’t get your wheelchair through a crowd at the station. Removing stress enhances our time.
Maybe you work best listening to music, or with a certain type of lighting. By having control of your environment, you make your time more enjoyable.
Taking it Further – Literally!
You can also enhance the time by choosing your location. It’s one thing to sit in a cubicle for eight hours. It’s another to sit overlooking a mountain range or a beach or whatever you might choose (fill in the blanks here). Time can drag on in the wrong environment. A 6 by 6 cubicle is not exactly an enriching work environment. Then there are the loud talkers, the people who bathe in cologne or perfume, and the occasional idiot who puts fish in the microwave. And who has been lucky enough to get the cube next to the copy machine? It’s a mix of industrial processing sounds, people asking where’s the paper, and providing tech support because you know the inner workings by sitting next to the thing. Not exactly the types of things you would prefer to deal with during your time working.
As we get better at distributed, or remote work we will continue to get better at leveraging our time and seeing the value it creates for us. If remote work were a company I am pretty sure it would exceed $10 billion in shareholder value. We need to make the most of the time we have. It’s the one thing, no one has enough of.
