As I prepare to go on a week-long work trip, it still gives me pause as to how portable the “office” has become. When I first started working, we were tethered to the physical place because of the stacks of pink message slips with information to return the phone calls we had received, our incoming mail that was delivered by the postman, and of course the pile of inter-office envelopes — those reusable manilla envelopes with dozens of lines and the string to re-close them around the paper loop. You had to be there to function.
Now, between my laptop and phone, I have my entire office with me. All the documents are there. The messages and phone calls. Directions and instructions. All in one place. All able to continue uninterrupted from Iowa or Boston or Paris.
Certainly, there are advantages to this portability and seamless ability to stay connected. And, as with every upside, there is a downside that makes it hard to dis-connect. Work is always there, just a click away.
While we might have stressed over what awaited us when we returned from being away, there was little we could do about it. Work had to wait until we were back at work. It’s not a bad practice. If you are out, be out. Keep the laptop closed and let the emails mount. Work can wait.
