Month: June 2021

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How to Combat with Negative Effects of Remote Work

Back in February 2020, we were hearing about the outbreak happening in China. Since no one, even U.S. officials, seems to worry about the outbreak, I had never thought that we would be closing the whole town. In June, our president announced that all of the U.S. must work from home. By June, there were hardly any commuters near our office, so that I saw deer sleeping in our office courtyard. I was happy to convert to a remote environment because I never liked losing my time commuting. I still went to my office a few times per week because not all jobs can be completed remotely.

I can maintain a work and personal life balance better now; however, it was not always like this. I felt exhausted more from working from the office. When I completed the project at the beginning of October, I started feeling ill. I did not realize what was happening to my body. I began to have stomach and sleeping problems soon after I completed the project. I started having so many issues that I spent most of my thanksgiving day’s holiday in bed. After the last thanksgiving days, I was wondering why I was so exhausted.

I realized that I was not the only one feeling some remote fatigue. Stratton (as cited in Younghans, September 02, 2020) explained that many remote workers have experienced fatigue and burned out because many of us rely solely on technology to stay in touch with others (para. 3). Some of our customers, vendor, or auditors mentioned that they also observed their remote employees burning out.  Some found remote work too challenging. Some auditors reported working harder in the remote environment because they lost traveling time to their clients. In virtual environments, auditors had no breaks between different projects. Some felt stressed from needing to relearn how to work virtually. Many reported that it was challenging to train subordinates.

Any change is stressful, but we must adapt to changes. Besides, I also saw significant benefits in working remotely. So, I thought the best way to deal with this problem was to do a root-cause analysis to identify the potential causes of my exhaustion. Then, I would come up with corrective action and preventative action.

Issues

(1)  As a remote worker, I felt my working environment invaded my personal life because I did not draw a clear line between work and personal life. Your home office (personal space) is also an office space when you are working remotely. –  caused by mobile phone or emails after working hours. – no change of physical environment.

(2)  I felt like people expected me to work more hours since I was not at the office. I sometimes worked on the weekends because I was leading a big project. – stress created by me. Does my manager expect me to work long hours?

(3)  Some people demand phone calls or video conferences on short notice, which can interrupt my work. – caused by mobile phone or emails

(4)  It can be challenging to manage people virtually. People miss their emails, task requirements, or phone calls. Some tasks are interdependent to my tasks or part of the project activities, which affected my work. – ineffective virtual communication

(5)  Since the pandemic started, I had an unhealthy lifestyle. – lack of exercise, sleep, and too much stress.

Since I have the list of the problems, I should be able to develop the solutions. Some are preventative, and some are permanent solutions.

Solutions

  • I put away all my office equipment after working. I also turned off my mobile and P.C. after working hours.
  • I became selective about taking on projects. Now I accept projects which only I can do. I handle projects which increase benefit to the company. I delegated some work that others could perform.
  • I had requested my boss give feedback on my performance and clarify the job assignments and expectations, which helped because my boss thought I was working too much. No one expected me to work harder. I was stressing out myself from self-created pressure.  
  • To avoid sudden interruption of work, I blocked out 3 hours of my morning completely. I turn off my Email and Mobile phone. During these three hours, I complete essential tasks. Since all critical tasks are completed, I did not get stressed out even when I get a sudden phone call or video conference during the rest of the day.
  • I made a commitment to exercise, sleep, and eat well. I take a frequent break.
  • The 4th problem was a little tricky because it involves other people who were working remotely. Initially, I was dealing with them by communicating or following up with them more than others. When my boss decided to implement a 15-minute morning meeting, it seemed to work out because I use the meeting to remind others of the tasks a few days before the due date.

I was busy moping about the new environment; however, these corrective actions permanently resolved the problem. In addition, changing my lifestyle prevents the recurrence of undesirable events such as becoming ill.

I prefer remote work because I have started to see significant benefits from a remote work environment. Although, it took me several months to figure out how to work remotely without getting remote work fatigue. I found myself to be more productive when I am working from a home office. I got a much better review than in previous years because I could complete multiple additional projects. Additionally, I started to use the extra time for exercising, family time, and skill improvements.

I suspect more companies will offer remote work after this pandemic. Just like I did, I noticed more people started seeing more benefits in remote work environments. According to PwC (January 12, 2021), the shift in positive attitude toward remote work increased to 83% from 73% in June 2020. 55% of employees prefer to work remotely at least three days per week. 87% of executives expect to make changes to their real estate strategy, and there will be more satellite offices. Some companies are started to invest in remote work (para. 4-9). According to Zurich North America Insurance poll conducted in May 2021 (as cited in Murray, June 2021), 53% of CEO views 2-3 days of remote work per week the best (p. 41). I was not surprised at these findings. There are some benefits for both employers and employees in remote environments. Eliminating commuting time is one of the benefits people will point out. Employers can change their real estate strategy by having employees working from home. Employers can save salary by hiring people from areas where the cost of living is much cheaper.

The main benefit I earned from this experience was that I am confident in working remotely. As a result, I am seriously considering finding permanent remote work.

References

Murray, Alan. (Jun, 2021). The CEO Outlook: Upbeat in the C-Suite. Fortune. 183(3), 4.

PWC. (January 12, 2021). Business needs a tighter strategy for remote work.https://www.pwc.com/us/remotework?WT.mc_id=CT10-PL102-DM2-TR1-LS3-ND30-PR4-CN_ViewpointHighlights-

Younghans, Johanna. (September 02, 2020). 6 Ways to Relieve Your Work from Home Fatigue.https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/health-management/6-ways-to-relieve-your-work-from-home-fatigue

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Losing Weight Challenge #4 Introducing LES MILLS on Demand

To improve my physical and mental condition, I decided to work on changing my lifestyle. I started with dancing Zumba on my switch, and I gradually made changes. Since the last challenge, I began working on mindful eating. I wanted to be more contemplative with who I am, and I wanted to trust my eating. I also decided to work on increasing my muscle mass while reducing my body fat. So, I started to look for exercise programs from home that include muscle training and cardio exercise. After some research, I decided to try LES MILLS on Demand.

I must understand how much exercise I should be doing. When I tried the first 45 minutes BODYATTACK, I barely made it to the 30-minute mark. At this point, I was not sure about my physical capability. This round, I wanted to try few different types of LES MILLS exercise classes. Then, I would customize workout programs in the future.

Procedures:

(1) Experiment with a 45-minute class and stop when I could not do any exercise. After the first week, I changed to a 30-minute class.

(2) Try a class per day until I needed a rest day.

(3) Change the time of exercise to find the best time for exercising.

I used this trial period to evaluate my physical strength, flexibility, and endurance. My main goal is to figure out my workout program. I started with BODYATTACK, BODYCOMBAT, and BODYFLOW since I did not have any equipment yet.

I monitored my total body weight and muscle mass to see the progress.

I will briefly introduce BODYATTACK, BODYCOMBAT, and BODYFLOW.

BODYATTACK reminds me of a Bootcamp class I used to take. It consists of athletic movements such as running, squats, lunges, agility, push-up, core exercise, and plyometrics. It is a high-energy exercise. My Fitbit calculated I spent about 305-310 calories for 30 minutes of this exercise. The class is intense, but you can always pick a more accessible option. For example, I can choose to do squads instead of burpees.

BODYCOMBAT is like kickboxing. It used to be called BODYATTCK. When I did my first instructor certification course with LES MILLS 15 years ago, I lost 8 pounds just practicing videos every day. Muay Thai exercises were always the hardest one for me, so I was happy to do some Muay Thai exercises. Their high knee exercises give me good muscle pain. My Fitbit calculated I spent about 325-330 calories for a 30 minute-class.

BODYFLOW contains Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, and meditation. I usually do their 20-25 minutes body flow class before work. I am not very flexible, so I try to imitate the instructors’ poses as much as I can. BODYFLOW is not a high-energy class; however, my body feels good from stretching.

I told my husband about getting Les Mills on-demand subscription. He knew that I had instructor certifications from LES MILLS 15 years ago. So, we agreed that we would purchase equipment for BODYPUMP and BODYSTEP. Since we received the equipment kit in the 4th week, I only tried BODYPUMP twice last week.

Finding

To find out how many days I can exercise per week, I did a workout every day. As a result, I started to have pain in the arch of the foot. So, I had to take two days of rest and light exercise the following days. After three days of rest and a light workout, the pain was gone. So, I need to be more mindful of how much I exercise. I found out I could do six days of workout; however, one day must be BODYFLOW. I added a 17 minutes BODYFLOW class in the morning in addition to a 30-minute exercise, which seems to work for me. I felt much better when I stretch in the morning.

A 30-minute of exercise per day is adequate for me for now. If I do more than a 30-minute of training, I get tired. I struggled with how to fit the exercise routine into my schedule. The first week, I was so tired from the exercise that I slept in on both weekends. Then, I was not as productive on weekends either. Furthermore, I forgot to practice the piano for two days.

Benefits 

It is convenient since I can exercise in my house. It is not my first time trying LES MILLS’s program. I used to go to their BODYATTACK, RPM, and BODYSTEP classes at a gym a long time ago. I loved their program, but the program was available only at GoodLife Fitness, where I lived. Since I was always traveling, it was challenging to attend some classes, such as BODYPUMP classes. I loved their BODYATTACK and RPA programs so much that I earned instruction certificates. I did not have time to teach the classes, but I could get instructor videos for the programs. When I realized that I can now do this program on demand, I was excited. It came with a 30-day trial period, but I have already known that I would enjoy their program. Now I can do their exercise program any time I want to.

Accessing a variety of exercises prevents us from becoming obese. Among nearly 1.7 million US adults, people regardless of their sexes who engaged both 150 minutes or more per week of aerobic physical activity and twice or more per week of muscle-strengthening exercise with different classes had the lowest incidence of obesity (Bennie et al., 2020, p. 332). When people engage in various activities, they tend to accumulate more minutes of total exercise time. It is recommended that you will need between 150 and 250 minutes per week of exercise to prevent weight gain, and you will need between 225 and 420 minutes per week of exercise to lose weight. Bennie et al. explain that Americans who exercise with two or more activities tend to do more than 150 minutes of exercise (p. 341). I had more than 400 minutes of training from all four weeks.

The class choreography is easy to understand. Instructors perform all routines as mirror images to the students so that attendants can follow the instruction easier. For example, an instructor performs left side steps and tells students to do a right sidestep.

Every class seems to contain squats. In addition to regular exercise, squats promote our body to lose body fat and gain lean body mass. For example, after observing 94 athletic adolescent boys, they found the group who did 100 reps per day of squats 45 sessions over eight weeks increased lean body mass by 2.7%and decreased body fat by 4.2% (Takai et al., 2013, p. 61).

Impact of my Total & Muscle Weight

I started caring more about my muscle weight than my total weight. I continue with my mindful eating. I gained 0.6 lb. of the total weight and 0.2 lb. of muscle mass during the first week because I ate more. I think I was hungrier because my body was going through sudden trauma from all the training. During the second week, I was more careful with my eating. I lost 1.4 lbs. I also lost 0.2lbs of muscle. During the third week, I made sure I ate enough protein and carbohydrates, and I lost 0.2lbs of the total weight while gaining 0.2 lbs. of muscle mass. In the 4th week, I regained 0.2 lbs., but I also gained 0.2 lbs. of muscle mass. I lost 1.0 lb. of total weight, but I gained 0.4 lbs. of muscles.

Losing fat without losing protein is more challenging than I initially thought. I may need to investigate how to eat appropriately to retrain my muscles.

The Next Action

From my 1-month experience, my approximate time of exercise was 5-6 x of 30- minutes of class. I must rest my body at least once a week. I will start with six days of exercise, but I may reduce it to 5 days.

Since I want to gain more muscle, I am considering more BODYPUMP classes per week. I will rotate BODYATTACK, BODYCOMBAT, BODYSTEP, and ZUMBA on cardio days. In addition, I may continue 20 minutes of BODYFLOW before work because little stretches in the morning made me feel good.

I am considering implementing the following schedule for the next challenge.

 MONTUEWEDTHRFRISATSUN
ClassRestBODYPUMPAny cardioBODYPUMPAny cardioBODYPUMPBODYFLOW
Workout Schedule #5

References

Bennie, J. A., Cocker, K. D., Pavey, T., Stamatakis, E., Biddle, S. J. H., & Ding, D. (2020). Muscle Strengthening, Aerobic Exercise, and Obesity: A Pooled Analysis of 1.7 Million US Adults. Obesity, 28(2), 371–378. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.22673

Takai, Y., Fukunaga, Y., Fujita, E., Mori, H., Yoshimoto, T., Yamamoto, M., &Kanehisa, H. (2013). Effects of Body Mass-Based Squat Training in Adolescent Boys. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 12(1), 60–65.

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How I passed CMA Part I & Part II Exams after only 18 Weeks of Studying

To learn something, we need curiosity and dedication.  If you want to pass a professional exam the most efficiently, you can apply some studying techniques to pass them effectively. Today, I will write about how I passed CMA Part I & Part II exams in a mere 18 weeks.

In 2017, I learned about certification in Strategy and Competitive Analysis (CSCA). After investigation, I realized I need to have a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation before obtaining a CSCA. So, I decided to get a CMA certification. CMA certification exams have two parts. The passing rate for Part I and Part II were 36.25% and 50.5% for 2015-2019. According to the Institute of Management Accountants, it generally takes 12-18 months to complete both parts and requires 150-170 hours of study for each part. I passed both parts in only 18 weeks. I passed both parts on the first try. I also passed the CSCA exam in 8 weeks.

I decided to complete these two exams so that I could write the next CISA exam. So, I developed a studying plan to pass these two parts exams most effectively by applying the forgetting curve and Leitner System theory. In the past, I used these studying techniques for writing CMA and CSCA exams, but they can be used for any exam. This method works for most academic studies.

Finding out what you are familiar and What You are not Familiar

Discovering which content you are familiar with is essential for effective studying because you want to spend more time on the content not understood well. Most examinees writing accounting designation exams are familiar with some content either from school or actual work. After obtaining the CMA handbook, I looked at the content specification overview for Part I and Part II because I could decide which order to complete the exams. I decided to take Part I first because I was more familiar with the content of Part I. I also want to see how long it may take to complete studying. Accumulating the notes or questions from the back of each chapter during your school term is a good method, too. Those notes help in the reviews before your exams.

Find Studying Material

If you can, get a studying material with a lot of practice questions. It will be better if it contains Practice Exam questions. I used Gleim Exam Prep. The studying material I used was expensive, but I just viewed it as a self-investment. I liked the studying material contains an enormous amount of practice questions in these materials. It also had the practice exam questions are imitating the actual exam environment; therefore, it allows me to be familiar with the test.

The Calculator Policy

You will find the Calculator Policy in the Handbook; you must ensure your calculator is eligible for the exam. Only specific calculators are allowed. If your calculator is not eligible, you will need to borrow a calculator, which you may not as familiar with. Exam centers typically do have calculators, but every calculator is slightly different. I purchased a calculator from Texas Instruments because my Sharp calculator was not allowed for the exam. I used this calculator for practicing questions. I also brought another identical calculator as a spare in case the first calculator broke. For your school, you may want to ask your professor which calculators are allowed for the exam. Some professors have a calculator policy. When I was pursuing my undergraduate degree, I had one professor who would reset a student’s calculator before a physics exam.

You want to spend more time reviewing previous chapters rather than learning new content because we tend to forget most of the things we learn if we do not review them. Graph 1 depicts the curve of Forgetting, which I obtained from the Waterloo University website. The black line describes how much of the information we just learned is retained. By the second day, we retain approximately 30% of what we learned the previous day. By the 30th day, you retain only 2-3% of what was initially learned. So, we must feed the information again. The yellow curve describes how much of the information is retained if we review at given intervals. You do not have to study the same things every day. For 45-50 minutes of lecture material, you can retain the most information you learned if you review the material for 10 minutes on the 2nd day, 5 minutes a week later, and 2-3 minutes after a month. If you skip this reviewing process, you will need to spend 45-50 minutes to relearn it after a month. I spend about 70% of my studying time reviewing or practicing questions.

The reviewing period can vary with the person. I found it is more effective to review the materials when you start to forget. You may feel discomfort with the reviewing process, but the discomfort helps you store the information in long-term memory.

Graph 1. The Curve for Forgetting. Adapted from “Curve of Forgetting” by Waterloo University Website. (n.d.). https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/curve-forgetting

Practice More on Low Proficiency Questions

I used a modified version of the Leitner system to practice the questions. First, I do all questions from one unit (Chapter). Each unit (chapter) contains multiple sections. If I correctly answer all questions for an area, I mark the section as 2, and anything else remains as 1. You will have five in total. You will do this until everything reaches 5. Figure 1 shows how the system works. In the extreme version, you will move content to box1 if you incorrectly answer a question from any box. I moved down one number.

Figure 1. The Leitner System. Adapted the Leitner System by zigezi (as cited in Whelan, May 7, 2019). https://jessewhelan.medium.com/using-the-leitner-system-to-improve-your-study-d5edafae7f0

Review the questions from each box on a different day. (I change the days to work best for me).

Box 1 – Every day

Box 2 – Every other day

Box 3 – Every three days

Box 4 – Every week

Box 5 – Every two weeks

Leitner developed this system for learning flashcards. You practiced the questions with low proficiency levels by practicing them more with this system.

If you want to pass the exams in a short amount of time as I did, you may want to spend a few hours studying every day. I studied 2-3 hours on weekdays and 5-8 hours on weekends. I spend more time on content and questions, which I was not good at. Since I studied every day, I gained confidence by the time I was writing the exam. I also spent enough time reviewing all materials, which allow me to retain the information for the long term.

A Week Before Exam

I relaxed my studying, and I made sure I slept 8 hours every day. I was careful with what I ate to avoid having stomach pain during the exams. So, I was well-rested.

The most important way to pass the exams is to prepare yourself well for the exams, and there is no shortcut for passing an exam. You can, however, make your studying method is as effective as possible by using various methods. Both the forgetting curve and Leitner system are widely accepted learning theories. I used those learning theories to pass my CMA and CSCA, and I passed all exams on the first try in a short period. You can, of course, these studying methods can be used for other types of exams or studying. Next time, I will write about tricks for multiple-choice kinds of exams.

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The Day of Doing Nothing Can Benefit Us

One day, I decided to do nothing because I felt my attrition rate increase, especially in tasks requiring creativity. It is because I have been extremely busy with year-end audits, taxes, and other year activities. Although, it was not as bad as the prior year since my husband took over many household chores. I also have been working on improving my lifestyle to be healthier by getting adequate sleep, meditation, proper diet, and exercise. Yet, I noticed that I tend to be less focused. It was high time to relax and refresh my brain.

I wanted to take a week off from work; however, it was impossible to take a whole week off. So, I took two days off—a day for only reading, playing the piano, writing, and thinking. I did the exercise for one of the two days. I made a strict rule not to think about work at all during these two days. I intentionally created two days without a to-do list or appointments, which was surprisingly challenging.

In total, I had two days of vacation. I decided to do whatever I wanted to do that day. One rule I strictly enforced was not to think about my work at all. On the first day, I mostly spend my time reading and playing the piano on these days. I did approximately 90 minutes of exercise during the day. I was physically tired, so I slept so well. I scored 91 on my sleep quality score according to my Fitbit. On the second day, I was doing the same activities as the first day, but I did not exercise. I had too much energy to sleep that night. I am usually busy on my vacation days doing something, and I never noticed this problem. I need to test it again. It will be better for me physically active on my vacation days. Although, I thought two days were too short to be effective.

Sometimes, people purposely take days off from daily routines to be more creatives and focused. Bill Gates takes one week off from his busy life twice a year so that he does nothing but reading articles and books, studying and thinking about the bigger picture (McKeown, 2021). I do not remember when I took a week off for vacation the last time because I spent all my vacation and holidays doing projects. So, I decided to take to see what would happen from the day off.

Surprisingly, many Americans forfeit their vacation times. According to the Washington Post (August 28, 2019), 55% of Americans did not even use their vacation time, leaving 768 million days of unused paid time off. The average number of American’s paid days off is 17.4 days in 2018; however, this number includes paid holidays (para. 9-11). When I came to the United States, I was surprised by this. I am from Canada, and I worked in Germany, where we must provide paid statutory holidays.

Many Americans indeed chose not to use up their paid day off. Perhaps, many of us feel guilty about taking a vacation. Many of us fear we may be seen as more of a liability for the company to take time off. The question we must look into is – are those beliefs are correct? When I thought about this question, I realized that I do not know. I have heard about the benefit of taking breaks from problems or taking a vacation to affect people positively. I assumed that taking breaks allows us to get recharged. Since I was interested, I researched the benefits. Surprisingly, there is ample research about the effects of taking breaks.

Some consulting firms are discovering whether employees taking vacations benefits a company. According to Rook from JP Griff Group (June 3, 2019), the 2017 project study they conducted revealed that the employees who forfeit their vacation were 4 % less likely to receive raises and 6 % less likely to receive bonuses (para. 10). They found out that people who continue to work without a break or vacation; are less focused and less engaged. They are more likely to make mistakes because they are fatigued. It gets much harder to generate new ideas with an overused brain.

Taking days off improves our productivity has been empirically observed and is a generally accepted scientific theory. Some researchers observed the benefits from it; then, they further investigated how the benefits are created. Being away from work allows our brain to generate more ideas and solutions to the problem, which psychologists call the incubation effect. According to Ritter & Dijksterhuis (2014), the effects of incubation are generally accepted; however, there are two opposing theories of how the benefits are created, the Unconscious work theory and the conscious work theory. The Unconscious work theory suggests that our unconscious activity of solving the problem contributes to the effect. The Conscious work theory argues that the effect is caused by actively relaxing the brain by being away from the problem (pp.4-5).

A few days of incubating problems allows us to solve the problems, especially problems that require remote association. Researchers theorized that sleep has an essential role in the incubation effect. Scientists have found that REM sleep enhances our creativity. According to Wagner et al. (as cited in Ritter and Dijkstehuis, 2014), students who slept more than seven hours at least twice were more creative and solved problems faster than people who did not. Sleep enhances cognitive flexibility and the ability to find remote associations.

Furthermore, sleep allows students to find solutions to abstract problems (p. 4). This theory interested me because I had found that I could solve problems during dreaming when I was in high school. It tends to happen when I have been thinking about the same problem for at least three days. It happens a lot with me with math problems. The last time it occurred to me was a few months ago when I was building a query. Unfortunately, I cannot control this ability. I always speculated that my brain removes the limit of my creativity during sleep, which allowed me to solve the problem.  So, sleeping has a vital role in the incubation effect. Then we should not be spending our days off partying all night.

People need days off because taking days off allows us to walk away from the problems at work. There will be no phones, tablets, or laptops. Stay away from the work because you want to be actively not thinking about the work. Another important part is we still need to get adequate sleep during days off. After struggling to solve a problem, try to walk away from it. Sometimes working away from the problems leads us to their solutions.

This little research made me view vacations differently. Perhaps, we need breaks to be more productive and creative. I thought people say it to sound and humanely compliant for a company. We, accountants, flags other accountants if they do not take breaks—accountants believe in taking vacations to prevent fraud. We gain benefits from taking days off. After my investigation, I realized that we should take days off to be more focused, creative, and productive. Getting adequate sleep is also important while doing so. Sometimes, walking away from problems leads you to the solutions. Although, this may not be economically feasible for some people. According to the Center for Economic and Research, The United States requires zero yearly time off, much lower than France, Austria, Spain, Germany, Canada, and Japan (as cited in Sampson, August 28, 2019, para. 3). In some cases, people do not get paid off at all. Although, many of us do have paid vacation. If you choose not to use up the paid days off, you may want to reconsider taking them. I will try to use up my vacation this year, and I will try to go somewhere next time and note any differences.

References

McKeown, Greg. (2021). Essentialism. [Kindle edition].

Ritter, S. M., &Dijksterhuis, A. (2014). Creativity—The unconscious foundations of the incubation period. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00215

Rook, David. (June 3, 2019). JP Griffin Group. The Importance of Paid Time Off (PTO). https://www.griffinbenefits.com/blog/the-importance-of-paid-time-off-as-an-employee-benefit

Sampson, Hannah. (August 28, 2019). What Does America Have Against Vacation?https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/08/28/what-does-america-have-against-vacation/