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Sipping an espresso at a familiar café on the République Avenue in Paris. It's 8 a.m., still very early before my class starts at the ESCP Paris Campus. But it's 1 p.m. in Vietnam, and my group is ready for the WIP meeting.work in process) daily. I keep track of your situation.copywriterCurrently closely monitoring a project for a client specializing in Technology. ProductflagshipTheir flagship product is about to be launched, while other TV and home appliance products are still in the maintenance phase. A lot of content needs to be prepared.
The entire team updates the status of posts on Trello, a task management application. If any task is slow...deadline(Deadline), the system will display it in red, but if the deadline is met, it will be green. The team spends 30 minutes brainstorming ideas for the new product, and also discusses with the Art Director to create the visuals to be released on launch day. Because it's a product...flagshipTherefore, the images must adhere to strict, specific principles.hotline(a technical term in marketing used to position a product and company philosophy), we had to write about 5 different sentences for the client to choose from.
The meeting ended, and the day's work went relatively smoothly. I just needed to write a new tagline for the campaign and check the quality of my subordinates' work before sending it to the client. Using task management software really helped me see all the assignments I needed to complete that day. Each assignment had a system.deadlineSpecifically, I simply check which assignments are highlighted in red or yellow (meaning they are overdue) and tackle them first. Once I finish all of those, I move on to writing the more friendly green-colored assignments.
Writing down a few ideas took me 45 minutes. I still had plenty of time to leisurely walk to class, which started at 10 a.m. Paris time. I had worked continuously for almost two hours, finishing up work in Vietnam at a cafe 14 hours away by plane. Sometimes, during lectures, I would receive urgent calls on Viber because clients needed to change the segment.captionabout to post on Facebook, orhashtagInstagram is wrong. Overall, it was a typical busy morning for me. But I was happy to breathe in the gentle Parisian air in May, sip a not-so-great but romantic cup of coffee, and finish my work in Vietnam with a stable income from my salary.
That's an example of the days I followed that lifestyle.irrigationTravel and work at the same time. It's not a completely new idea to people in other countries, but it's relatively unfamiliar to us. In short, you can travel and work simultaneously to earn income without missing out on exploring the world.
What does "workcation" mean?
Combining the words "work" and "vacation," "workation" refers to a way of combining remote work with travel and leisure. This trend originated in the US and European countries and immediately gained strong support from a large segment of office workers. Today, enjoying a vacation combined with remote work has spread to Asian countries, including Vietnam.
My "headquarters" are in Saigon – where I have my home, family, friends, and job. My passion for travel started in 2014 and continues to this day. I own my own social media channels writing about travel; you could call me a travel blogger, but I don't earn enough money to cover my travel expenses. Full-time travel isn't something I aim for, because too much of anything gets boring quickly. Part-time travel is my choice. When I have money, inspiration, and free time from work, I travel. Each year (before the pandemic), I took around 10 trips abroad, from 3 days to Singapore or Thailand, to a week or even a month in Europe, Africa, or East Asia. Having only 15 days of vacation time meant I couldn't fully enjoy my trips. Therefore, choosing to combine travel and work is the best option for me. Workation allowed me to both complete my job, earn a stable income, and travel extensively.
Most of us will seeFreelancerI'm new to workation. But I'm the opposite: I have a full-time job and I travel frequently. Based on my own "smooth" experiences, here are 5 key things to keep in mind to help you start workation effectively.
1.Your job doesn't manage you by the time you spend in the office, but by your work performance.Creative work in aagencyAdvertising allows me to escape the physical confines of the office. I don't need to sit at my desk to write a great tagline, nor do I need to be in a meeting room to discuss ideas with colleagues. The ultimate goal of my work is the result. A great idea, a catchy tagline, a quality proposal.
2.Workation must have the agreement of colleagues and superiors.No one wants to face envy when, within a team, one member suddenly gets to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle while working. To work peacefully, an environment free from jealousy and scrutiny of your lifestyle choices is essential.
My work environment is oneagencyMy workplace is international, with superiors from Poland and the Philippines, and colleagues who are young, dynamic, and open-minded. They are not unfamiliar with work arrangements. There have been times when my subordinates wanted to travel to Da Lat but their vacation days were over, and I still agreed to let them go, as long as the work continued smoothly.
Everyone is happy and adopting a workation lifestyle so they can enjoy life and pursue their careers. As someone working in the creative industry, my direct supervisor understands that I need a lot of inspiration to produce good results, and that traveling also helps with work.
3.Wherever there's internet access, that's the office.Take your vacation days toofflineIt's perfectly suited for adventurous exploration trips. For example, during a mountain climbing trip in the Himalayas, I had absolutely no internet access, so workation was completely unsuitable. Trekking 8-10 hours a day also makes it the least ideal environment for workation. Therefore, if I were traveling in Japan with widespread internet and 4G coverage, and could work comfortably on a Shinkansen train, I would choose workation.
4. There is tHighly responsible in their work; always ready to handle tasks anywhere.One tip for effective collaboration is to create a schedule and plan meetings with colleagues. Each country has a different time zone, so there will inevitably be time discrepancies. Therefore, I always proactively create a suitable time slot for the whole team to meet, and to show everyone that I'm engaged with my work. No matter where you are, make sure you're not late.deadlineOnly then will you be able to have future workation trips.
5.Work hard and play hard.For two hours that morning, I devoted all my energy to completing my work on Trello. I spent the rest of the time enjoying the trip.
In reality, we all know that there's a lot of "dead time" during office hours. So why not dedicate all our energy to work, turning that "dead time" into "golden time" to explore a new city and enjoy a different, more exciting life?
Workation isn't a trend, and it's not because of the pandemic that people have realized how much we can do during "dead" time at the office. Workation has existed for a long time and has become an effective lifestyle, at least for the author and colleagues around him. So, if your job allows, try choosing such a balanced life, so that you truly live instead of being "dead" in the four corners of the office.
