Advice for Starting a New Job

This is where I'd love advice from readers!

I begin my new job on Monday, and it will be 100% remote. Have you ever gotten good advice about starting a new job? Have you ever worked fully remote and learned lessons from that experience? Have you ever gotten six months into a job and thought 'oh, I wish I had handled this differently from the outset.'

A few things I'm trying to bear in mind as I begin my new job:

• Do not get embarrassed. This is a very hard habit to break, but each time I just swallowed my pride and asked a question, or asked for help, or admitted that I was lost, I ended up benefiting. 
• Be intentional about getting to know other team members. Zoom/conference calls may make this more difficult, but I hope to take the time to actually speak with other team members and get to know them a little before just jumping into a project.
• At the end of the day, immediately write down what you *should* tackle first the following day. When I would get the most overwhelmed by work, it was owed at least in part to the fact that I did not immediately know what to get started on the following day. So when I log off work, I hope to always-always decide what I should do the next day.
• Begin with the end in mind. This is one of the principles from Seven Habits of Highly Effective People that always resonated with me. The idea is that I should begin this job knowing what I would like it to look like when it 'ends'. I see potential for a few different things:
• I am retiring after thirty-five years with a company. I spent three years in my first office, six years as a manager of that office, and then more than twenty years as a regional manager?
• I am leaving because I want to be a stay-at-home mother. I spent __ (an amount of time) working on exciting work, learning to be a reliable team member.
• I am leaving because I found a bigger, more dynamic position available to me now because I learned and developed over the years.
• I am leaving for a smaller-scale team but to have a more important, high-ranking role.
• (Side note: this is hard!)
• Have healthy work-life boundaries. If I'm going to answer my work calls 'after work,' I need to not resent it. But if I'm not going to answer work calls, I need to make sure I respond promptly the next day. If I am taking vacation time, I should warn others on my team so that they know I won't be available. Then, I need to actually protect the vacation time. I want to be able to eat dinner with my husband, to go to mass on Sunday mornings, to workout every day.

What's your advice for a new job? And remote work?

Today's Delights:

• Yesterday was glorious! It was legit warm outside and sunny. I walked outside, read outside, got donuts, and had a hair consultation.
• Last evening, my husband and I got dinner and beers at a local brewery. It was a perfect night.

Find something to delight in today -A