Must Read: A Self-Diagnosis of Telecommuting Psychosis 1
Part I: The Hidden Impact of Telecommuting 7
Chapter 1: Pharmacy: An Accidental Introduction to Telecommuting 9
Chapter 2: What Made My First Fully Remote Job More Brutal than
Most (And Why I Can Talk about It Now) 19
Chapter 3: Nine Major Myths about Telecommuting 27
Myth #1: You work less than everyone else-if you work at all . . 29
Myth #2: You are living the life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Myth #3: All telecommuting jobs allow you to set your schedule. 34
Myth #4: All telecommuting jobs are 100 percent home-based. . 34
Myth #5: All telecommuting jobs allow you to work-and live
-wherever you want. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Myth #6: You have zero problems or workplace drama . . . . . . 37
Myth #7: Telecommuting is not a skill set . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Myth #8: Everyone enjoys and wants to telecommute . . . . . . 39
Myth #9: You are always available . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Chapter 4: Telecommuting Psychosis: The Side Effect of Remote
Work Nobody-and I Mean Nobody-Wants to Talk About 43
- Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
- Isolation and Loneliness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
- Inability to Unplug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
- Lack of Stimulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
- Stagnated or Limited Networking Opportunities . . . . . . . . 47
- Less Stress and Yet More Stress (Made Worse with Family Duties) 51
- Career Limitations-Out of Sight, Out of Mind . . . . . . . . 53
- Becoming Comfortable with the Uncomfortable and the Unknown 53
Part II: From Surviving Telecommuting to Thriving 55
Chapter 5: Taking Care of Your Mental Health 57
- Managing your social health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
- Find an accountability partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
- Create activities calendars for both social and professional events 59
- Give yourself a deadline to schedule your events . . . . . . . . . 59
- Take time out for meditation or some other kind of mindfulness
- practice each day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
- Take the tourist's approach to networking and entertainment . . 61
Chapter 6: Taking Care of Your Physical Health 71
Chapter 7: From Surviving Telecommuting Psychosis to Thriving 85
- Strategies to Manage Telecommuting and Children . . . . . . . 85
- Staying Productive and Motivated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
- Setting Boundaries with Friends and People Who Live with You 88
- The Total Package: Finding Your Own Personal Telecommuting
- Groove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
- Mastering the Zoom (or Microsoft Teams) Call . . . . . . . . . 95
- The Telecommuting Anti-Psychosis Employer Screening Questionnaire.. . . . . . . . . . . .100
- Looking Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Endnotes/References 103