The free-range professional

”But are those eggs free-range?”

What if we spent as much time examining the impact our own professional environments had on our health and well-being as we do that of the (delicious) chickens that fill our bellies?

One of the pillars of the organic-foods movement is not just better treatment of animals but also in showing how the environment selected to grow and raise our food directly impacts the quality of the end product: whether plant or animal.

The food in Sevilla, Spain is a perfect example of this. Every. Single. Restaurant has the best food I’ve ever tasted. From fish to chicken, from Italian to Spanish. It’s exquisite cuisine. Why? Everything is local and fresh. They don’t have the big corporate food manufacturing we have in the States. The result is that ingredients taste as they should: fresh, flavorful, pristine.

Now, apply this thinking to the professional world. The corporate approach produces a corporate product: sterile, manufactured, mass-produced. The 9–5 churn. The same office space. The endless meetings. The “brainstorming” whiteboard sessions.

> “Work is an activity, not a place”

What would happen if professional work became free-range? Forget offices. Forget set schedules. Heck, forget time zones and locales altogether. No cages. No boundaries. Work is an activity, not a place.

“The smartest people in the world don’t commute.”

Well, we already know what would happen: innovation. Many startups are already doing this. And succeeding. Companies like Automattic (creators of Wordpress) and Buffer understand that the smartest people in the world don’t commute. Why? Because authentic, innovative work happens when the environment supports it rather than oppresses it. And that’s different for every company, team, and individual. The landscape changes, just like with organic farming. It’s not a one-size-fits-all method; it’s a mentality that allows the nature of the product to define the environment needed, not vice-versa.

That’s why I moved to Puerto Rico (well, one of the reasons). I can’t work in an office. I don’t want to commute. My range is a coffee shop that changes throughout the day. My schedule is typically 7am — 2pm, gym from 2pm — 4pm, and then more work until I’m ready to eat dinner. My locale doesn’t matter: it’s the mindset and the work that determines where I go.

Don’t settle for a caged professional life when your chicken breast dinner is free-range.

I think the chicken is getting the better deal.