Karen Mangia - Working From Home

I know I miss everyone. So I guess the real reason is that I'm just scared. I'm afraid I won't make good of it all. What after college … will it be Frank? [Spoiler alert: it wasn't. Sorry, Frank.] Will it be someone else? What of the courses that I'm studying for? Am I headed off for a career right now? I'm going to write a letter to the people back at home. Oh, how I wish I were there .

Are you feeling a little homesick right now? For some, that word has more than one meaning. Perhaps you're wishing for the way things were, which is the traditional definition of homesickness: longing for a place that's different than the one you're in now. Or maybe, for you, you're sick of home . Either way, you're spending time longing for something that was normal before but isn't right now. Because the future looks very uncertain. Believe me, I know the feeling. I hear you.

What is it that you're missing most? Your rituals? Routines? Boundaries? Quiet children and animals that won't interrupt your Zoom calls?

I wrote this book to point you toward the opportunity in what lies ahead. If I could, I would have titled it Another Chance , but Grandma beat me to it.

As I finished the diary, leaving her world to return to my own, I realized the wonderful gift that I had been given.

I realized that all the time that we spend looking in the rearview mirror, being homesick for what once was, keeps us trapped. Living in a context that's no longer relevant isn't useful, but we pine for the past when what's ahead makes us feel insecure. But even in the midst of global upheaval, there's still a chance to move forward. To go home, again, for the first time. And to remake your “home” on your own terms.

My grandma taught me that we can find that place – that future – when we know where to look. She showed me that in words I read long after she'd passed away. Through my aunt's mysterious gift, my grandma gave me a powerful understanding. That understanding was the theme of her diary:

You can always begin again .

You can always restart. There's always a new path, even if you don't see it right away. Whether you are an executive leader, entrepreneur, individual contributor, or even someone looking for ways to get back into the workforce: work‐from‐home is the best way forward. Whether one day a week or seven, the future of work has changed. Are you ready to change with it?

There are a lot of ways to take this book in: one is as a how‐to guidebook on how you can set yourself up for maximum productivity. Another is as a corporate blueprint for building a work‐from‐home culture one employee at a time. But ultimately, there's another story to be discovered: a story about your success. Your reinvention. Your ability to respond in new ways to the changes that are still happening all around us.

That's the story – the story of personal success – that I've been sharing with thousands of people, just like you, via my work at Salesforce and in my first book, Success With Less . Together with a talented team, I've been helping many people to transition successfully into the work‐from‐home world. Now it's time for you to write your own story – and to bring that story to life, from right inside your home office.

I invite you to take another chance. To take a fresh look at what it really means to make work‐from‐home work for you. Let's utilize the Great Pause as an opportunity to go in a new direction. To rethink your career and your contribution. To shift toward even greater success, in a work‐from‐home world.

Let's talk about your sweatpants.

Remember when the coronavirus hit? One of the biggest and most striking impacts, in many ways, was a loss of context. Sweatpants became the new work uniform. Here are just a few of the things that changed because the entire context of our lives was disrupted:

What else would you add to the list?

When it comes to your career, your home office is your window into the world. And, like any window you look out of, people can see inside.

At first it was kinda charming and even mildly hilarious to see senior executives get interrupted by kids or a dog's unapologetic need for affection. People were real! Authentic! Quarantined!

The days blended together and time got bent in weird ways. Sweatpants kinda sorta made sense.

But as time has rolled on, it's become clear that working from home isn't a surprise party. It's not a pop‐up event or a phase that can be solved with a simple retreat to your couch for a few days. Working from home is the new normal. How you show up in your home office is your context for success. Your colleagues have upped their game – have you?

People have started to realize that taking an important meeting from a rocking chair isn't the best strategy for success. If you're rolling onto a call at your company looking like your pillow created your hairstyle and you're sitting in front of a pile of dirty laundry wearing a t‐shirt that says “Uncontagious,” how do those choices reflect your professionalism and commitment to results?

Maybe it reflects poorly, but that's the real me, you might say. Because your old sweatpants and bunny slippers are a great example of the new kind of balancing act that has to exist when working from home. You've got to be yourself, and the last thing I would ever say to anyone is to try to live a lie or fit into some corporate stereotype. Or any stereotype, for that matter.

“It's me being me – me being real ,” you might argue, fighting for those pants that you should have abandoned after your sophomore year in college. After all, you might say, what's below my waist is not on camera. “This is who I am and I've gotta be comfortable. It's my right to dress however I want and to show up on video calls however I want. You just don't get it!”

Which might be exactly what your boss says when you ask for a raise or a promotion.

Ultimately, what you wear to work is your business – who could argue with that? But this book isn't about what to wear – it's about how to win. It's about you showing up at your best so that you can grow your career. Isn't that really what working from home is all about? Being comfortable, real, and productive ? You need all three to make your home office really work for you.

What was quirky and cute once upon a time now looks like you just don't get how this whole thing works. I hate to say it again but you need to hear it: Your home office is your context. It's your place of productivity and the centerpiece of your professionalism. In video calls, it shows how you're dressed for your role – even if part of your costume doesn't show up. Afterwards, when the camera's off, the space you occupy fuels and inspires your contribution – or it robs you of your potential.

We're talking about your place of doing business. Your zone of control. Your signal to your supervisor and your peers and yourself about the level where you want to be. Get that: your home office is a signal to yourself . A living breathing symbol of how you feel about your work, expressed in your surroundings. Are sweatpants really your A‐game?