Christa relaxing and phoning
Immer unterwegs, immer an einem anderen Ort arbeiten. Das war ich gewöhnt aus meinem letzten Angestellten-Dasein. Berater sind immer in Bewegung, immer unterwegs. Wie sagte ein Kollege: „Du hast mittlerweile auch eine neue Adresse: Deutsche Bahn, ICE, Wagen 12, offenes Abteil, wechselnde Plätze.“ Und soll ich Ihnen was sagen, er hatte ja so Recht. Ich liebte den Wagen 12 im ICE. Da saß ich bequem und konnte auf dem Weg zum und vom Kunden an einem Tisch arbeiten, oder ich hatte den PC auf dem Schoß. Und ich war immer unterwegs.
Was hat das mit Kommunikation zu tun? Nun, es ist einfach wichtig, mit Kunden und Auftraggebern in Kontakt zu bleiben, besonders als Unternehmerin. Und da ist auch noch das Team, meine Berater etc. more
Christa relaxing and phoning
A native German tells a story:
On the road day-by-day, working from a different place each day. I was used to that from my white-collar-job as an employee. Consultants are always on the move, always on the road. A colleague of mine once said: “You have a new address: German train, ICE, carriage 12, open compartment, changing seats.” And I tell you what, he was so right. I loved to sit in carriage 12. I was very comfortable in my seat and on the way to the customer I was able to have my PC on a table in front of me or on my lap. And I was on the road day-by-day.
So how is this connected with communication? Well, it is important to be in contact with the customers, especially as an entrepreneur today. By the way, there is a team in the background, my advisors included and so on.
When I decided to become self employed in 2003, my highest premise was, I build my business in a way, that I am able to work from any place on this planet. Back in these times we had Internet. And it was crystal clear, that it would become even more comfortable to use. Okay, back in 2003 one hour was about 40-40 $ per hour via landline. But telecommunication developed quickly.
How about toady? For one year (and some months more) I am traveling a lot, because I reposition and expand my business. So I found out, how it feels to work from any place on this planet. Okay, not any place, just Europa, USA and on a cruise ship (in the Caribbean sea). Definitely I experienced very different worlds and working techniques.
Well then, in the end of the day I had mixed feelings. When I drive my car – being on my own – I am able to make phone calls or listen to audio books or think or just – drive. If someone is riding with me in my car, we talk and think and work, and the “co-pilot” is always typing on the PC.
When I arrive somewhere, I do not calm down. There are only very short intermezzi. Visiting friends or business partners means that most of the time I am able to work and concentrate on work. Internet is everywhere. Often you find me in a restaurant, café, hotel room, train or plane and I work. This is a challenge, as most of the places are quite noisy and a business lounge is not available at any site.
The hugest challenge was on the cruise ship. The day I realized the prices for the use of internet, my vacation became ultimately extremely important and Number one to do. One hour of internet usage was 36 $. Phone calls could be done in the harbor. Okay, the ship offered phone calls via satellite. Do not ask for more.
This experience was so exciting for me, that I finally found time to relax and to slow down. The world was no longer available under my fingertips, and my world was limited to the ship and manageable.
For some time I was confused, all these interruptions like phone calls and mails and Facebook were missing, even the door bell was missing. Communication moved to another level and quality. On the ship people communicated directly face-to-face.
Our world today has become a world of reachability. We are in reach of communication all the time. Our new challenge is to understand, how to create your own rules for this modern communication, leaving this permanent reachability and get into your autonomy of time. Even more important is to be committed to your own time rules and live them honestly.
Honestly, sitting in a restaurant or a train I am not willing to listen to other people’s phone calls. In German trains you have special areas called “PSSST compartment”. You relax in there without your mobile, without your PC, without your earphones. It’s hard to imagine, but very very very relaxing.
Yes, a world of silence is striking. During my walk in the forest today I realized that. The noisiest birds were the woodpeckers drumming on the trunks with a variety of resonating sounds. Awesome… and no mobile phone disturb this peace. A few days ago I heard from a person with Tinnitus: “Silence would be the greatest gift I can image. I have always this sound in my ear.”
My lesson was, being able to work from any place in this world works for me. That’s pretty steep: these tools offering me freedom are simultaneously the tools, which keep the silence away from me. So I love and I hate my IPhone, because it contains my whole office and it embodies all confounding factors, which prevent thinking in my head. By the way, I do not want to miss only one day of being on the road. My dream became true and I love this dream.
See, always on the road, reachable any time, always on duty. So nice, when silence and tranquility and leisureness set in and we are capable to enjoy it.
I wish you from all my heart: in all your activities find the courage to be un-reachable.
Yours
Christa Nehls
