Ximena Pineda Staebler is a creative who quit her 9-5 back in April to start working remote.  For her, she has always been a ‘levensgenieter’ it’s a beautiful word in Dutch that means someone who enjoys life to the fullest and realised that a 9-5 was not allowing her to enjoy the freedom she valued.

“I’m from Guatemala, based in Amsterdam and one of the main reasons to write this post was to recap on my journey the last 3 months,” she told The HR Observer. In the past three months, she has worked from Madrid, Amsterdam, Italy (Puglia), Guatemala City, Mexico City and New York City.

“It was quite a challenge but these lessons from the post allowed me to carry on my work without any bottle necks,” she adds.

1. Scheduling is KING: If it’s not on your agenda it won’t happen. Scheduling helps you adapt to different time zones without missing client deadlines and important meetings. It also gives you a nice overview of what you need to work on before you jump on that plane.

2. Early mornings become sacred: Working from Guatemala and Mexico City (8 hours behind Europe) and NYC (6 hours behind) was a massive challenge. 6:00 am became my regular 9:00 am. Those hours that you have in common with clients in Europe are key to be productive in the afternoon when your clients are enjoying some REM sleep.

3. Have your appointments written down in different calendars or platforms: My Google Calendar got a bit crazy with all the different time zones and Notion saved the day. I could double check which times were accurate for my meetings and adjust the calendar accordingly.

4. Notion becomes an extension of your brain: If you have not tried Notion, you’re missing out on a great way to centralise every open tab that lives rent free in your brain (Creatives usually have infinite tabs open and it will get messy)

5. Wrapping up the weekend: Without a clear overview of what comes next week will cause you hours of sleep. Make sure you and your clients have clear appointments for the upcoming week.

6. Early morning or late-night flights: They give you windows to be productive without sacrificing a whole day of work and productivity.

7. Airplanes: They are one of the most productive spaces you’ll ever find to get creative. No wifi means no one will interrupt you through calls, whatsapps, Instagram, TikTok, etc. Usually, the person next to you is a stranger who occasionally glances at your screen wondering what you’re working on but feels guilty about interrupting your flow. Bonus point — you’ll get into the flow way faster than at home/office.

8. Changing scenery: This has boosted my motivation and creativity like no way before. It’s crazy how a change of environment, language, and scenery can give you so many different ideas and new ways of approaching different tasks.

9. Take calculated risks: Are you having a client call at a certain hour? Make sure you have a coffee place or some other place with stable wifi nearby to take the call without jeopardizing the quality.

10. Working from different time zones: It is not as hard/messy as it seems. It just requires great planning, scheduling, organisation, and time management. Oh, and your iPhone’s world clock becomes your best friend 🙂

Editor’s Note: As part of the mission of The HR Observer to communicate with the HR community, we saw this post on LinkedIn and were given permission from Ximena to re-publish it.