This isn’t about sex (sorry to disappoint!) but about business. Much of what we do each day we take for granted; we open our laptop and assume that the internet will be working and our emails and files will be there ready for us to start work. Most days we don’t plan for any sort of disruption and tightly cram in work into every spare second, safe in the knowledge that we will have wifi, be able to work and be available to manage clients wherever we are.
But even in the 21st century situations may arise that mean we cannot work effectively for a period of time. Over the last couple of weeks whilst working in Scotland I experienced several periods of ‘oh no’ whilst trying to get work done.
The ‘power’ challenge: lack of power sockets on the sleeper train. And being a sleeper train, it was a long journey. The only place to charge your phone or laptop or gain access to any type of power was in the dining carriage, which was some way from my cabin.
The ‘access to the Internet’ challenge: it is hard to believe but yes, some places do not have wifi or 3 or 4G. So no access to the Internet meant no access to the cloud, no access to files, no tweeting opportunities and no idea what emails were incoming and urgent.
The ‘different equipment’ challenge, that comes from mixing new slim-line laptops with older cables and connections. Hard to give a presentation when the laptop doesn’t connect to the projector.
How did I overcome these problems? Well, I made the most of my time in the dining carriage and kept my phone on low power or flying mode between destinations when I couldn’t turn it off. I kept my access to the Internet minimal between venues to save on battery and saved my documents to a memory stick whilst on the train in advance. I also outsource my admin so I had someone keeping an eye out for important emails and calls, and I made sure they knew I was out of area.
So, how would you manage if you had 2 or 3 hours without power or Internet access?
If you learn one thing from this then it is to always think and plan ahead, and try and remember to take precautions for when the unexpected happens.