A realization that seems obvious now, but was unexpected at first, was the impact of time zones on your life. When moving from one clock to another, or when working with many geographies, you must plan your life not only around where the sun is at your current location, but where it is for others as well.
Having some awareness of this already, it is surprising how critical it becomes after you significantly change your time zone.
When you work for a French-owned company for five years, arranging overseas calls is not a new thing. You call France in the morning before they leave for the day. Simple.
Now living in France, and working with Asia and the US, it is a bit more complicated. But work pales in comparison to your personal life, which is much more difficult to arrange.
We humans like habit. Most of us do not vary our weekly schedule in any significant manner. This consistency can put one at odds with the schedule of someone else. And unless the cycle gets disrupted, it can be difficult to reach people on the other side of the ocean.
And while this is still a concern at work, the office is where we spend the largest consistent block of our waking hours.
Consequently, this block of time at work makes the windows of personal time much smaller. Between work and the want of social life, it is difficult to connect with your overseas attachments.
And thus, it’s not just miles that may separate you from someone, but also the time.
Having some awareness of this already, it is surprising how critical it becomes after you significantly change your time zone.
When you work for a French-owned company for five years, arranging overseas calls is not a new thing. You call France in the morning before they leave for the day. Simple.
Now living in France, and working with Asia and the US, it is a bit more complicated. But work pales in comparison to your personal life, which is much more difficult to arrange.
We humans like habit. Most of us do not vary our weekly schedule in any significant manner. This consistency can put one at odds with the schedule of someone else. And unless the cycle gets disrupted, it can be difficult to reach people on the other side of the ocean.
And while this is still a concern at work, the office is where we spend the largest consistent block of our waking hours.
Consequently, this block of time at work makes the windows of personal time much smaller. Between work and the want of social life, it is difficult to connect with your overseas attachments.
And thus, it’s not just miles that may separate you from someone, but also the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment