☕️ (R)emote Expresso #53

☕️ (R)emote Expresso is your weekly dose of creator insights on remote collaboration designed to fuel your day, delivered once a week in your inbox 💌

Hey Remote Rebels and Digital Daydreamers,

You stole it back. You guarded it. Good.

Now comes the best part: giving it away.

Not giving it back to corporate culture. Giving it forward to everyone else still fighting for what you've already claimed.

Because here's what happens when you open-source your rebellion: It multiplies.

That boundary script you wrote? Someone else needs it.
That Slack status that actually works? Share it.
That meeting decline template that's both kind and firm? Don't keep it to yourself.

Your stolen goods are someone else's escape route.

This week isn't about hoarding what you've reclaimed. It's about redistribution.

What if the best thing you built this year wasn't meant to stay yours? What if it was meant to be copied, remixed, and spread until corporate culture can't take it back from anyone?

When one person steals back their autonomy, it's rebellion. When everyone does it? It's revolution.

🎭 How Each Generation Hoards (Without Meaning To)

Gen Z: You share everything online - except the work stuff that actually matters. You'll post your morning routine but not the boundary script that got your manager to stop Slacking you at 10pm. Why? You're still not sure you deserve to have boundaries in the first place.

Millennials: You hoard because you fought so hard for what you have. Why would you give away the competitive advantage you earned? But here's the thing: your "advantage" only exists because everyone else is still stuck. Share it, and you change the game for everyone.

Gen X: You learned to keep your head down and your secrets close. Survival meant not making waves. Why would you teach others the shortcuts you figured out alone? Because you're tired of watching people suffer through what you already solved.

Boomers: You built expertise over decades - why give it away for free? But here's what you know that others don't: Knowledge shared doesn't diminish. It compounds. And legacy isn't what you keep - it's what you pass on.

Different reasons. Same result: The rebellion stays small.

🎁 What's Worth Sharing (Your Stolen Goods Inventory)

Here's what needs to escape your hard drive and get into someone else's hands:

Your boundary scripts.
The exact words you use to decline meetings, protect focus time, or push back on "quick syncs." Don't make everyone reinvent the wheel.

Your Slack statuses that actually work.
"🎧 Deep work until 2pm - will check messages after" beats "busy" every time. Share the ones that hold.

Your meeting templates.
The async check-in format. The agenda that keeps things under 30 minutes. The retrospective that doesn't waste time.

Your work rhythms.
When you do your best thinking. How you structure deep work. What your "ideal week" actually looks like - not the aspirational version, the real one.

Your permission slips.
The mental frameworks that let you say no without guilt. The reminders you keep on your wall. The mantras that work.

Your async workflows.
How you run projects without meetings. How you make decisions in threads. How you keep momentum without constant check-ins.

Your "this could've been an email" filter.
The checklist you use before scheduling anything. Share it. Please.

These aren't secrets. They're survival tools.
And someone else is drowning without them.

🌊 Why Sharing Makes You Safer (Not Weaker)

Here's the part that feels backwards: Giving away your boundaries actually protects them.

When you're the only one with strong boundaries, you're the outlier. The difficult one. The person who "doesn't get how things work here."

But when everyone has your boundary script? When half the team is using your Slack status? When your meeting template becomes the default?

Your boundaries become culture.

And culture is a hell of a lot harder to push back against than one person's "preferences."

Collective defense beats solo resistance every time.

When five people decline the 8pm meeting, it's not rebellion - it's a pattern. When three people ask "can this be async?" in every standup, it stops being a question and starts being policy.

Your stolen goods aren't your competitive advantage. They're your backup.

The more people who have them, the safer you are. The harder it becomes for corporate culture to claw anything back from anyone.

Share your templates. Normalize your boundaries. Make your rebellion contagious.

Because when everyone steals it back? Nobody can take it from anyone.

🛠️ How to Actually Share It (The Practical Part)

Don't overthink this. You don't need a course or a brand. Just share the thing.

In your team Slack:
"Here's the meeting decline template I use. Feel free to steal it."
Drop it in a thread. Pin it to the channel. Make it easy to copy.

In a Notion doc:
Create a "Stolen Goods" page. Boundary scripts, async workflows, meeting templates - whatever worked for you. Make it public. Let people remix it.

On LinkedIn:
"Here's the exact Slack status that bought me 3 hours of focus time every day." Post it. Tag it. Let it spread.

In your next 1:1:
"Want to see how I structure my week?" Share your calendar. Show the blocks. Explain the system. Give permission to copy it.

In community spaces:
Drop your templates in Circle, Discord, or wherever your people gather. Don't ask if anyone wants it - just leave it there like a breadcrumb trail.

Make it remix-able:
Don't say "this is how you should do it." Say "this is what worked for me - take what's useful, leave the rest."

The goal isn't perfection. It's proliferation.

Put it where people can find it. Let them steal it. Watch what happens when your rebellion becomes their blueprint.

🤖 AI Prompt of the Week

Ready to turn your reclaimed practices into shareable templates? Try this:

ROLE: You are a practical guide helping remote workers turn their hard-won boundaries and work practices into shareable, remix-able templates that others can use.

OBJECTIVE: Guide me through creating a shareable template package by asking me exactly 3 questions. Based on how I answer the first question, tailor the next 2 questions to help me identify what's most worth sharing and how to make it useful for others.

CONTEXT: I work remotely and have successfully reclaimed parts of my work life. I've built [insert: strong boundaries around meetings, a unique async workflow, effective decline scripts, a sustainable work rhythm, or another practice worth sharing]**. I want to help others steal back what I've already reclaimed without having to figure it out alone.

First question to ask me: 'What's one practice or boundary you've built that you wish someone had just handed you on day one of remote work?'

After I answer, ask me 2 more questions tailored to my response. Make them specific and focused on what would make this most useful to share.

OUTPUT: After I answer all 3 questions, create a shareable template package that includes: (1) the practice/boundary clearly explained, (2) why it matters, (3) how to implement it, and (4) how to customize it for different contexts. Make it ready to drop in Slack, Notion, or LinkedIn - no extra formatting needed.

**Customize the bracketed section with what you've built that's worth sharing.

Let AI help you open-source your rebellion.

If you’re in the mood to take your collaboration skills from “personal protocol” to “team-level magic,” there’s a live session this week you won’t want to miss.

🌟 Sneak Peak Within Miro - Live with Jakob Knutzen

Thursday, November 27

4AM PST | 6AM CST | 7AM EST | 12:00 GMT | 13:00 CET | 17:30 IST

We’re hosting a special members-only session with Jakob Knutzen, former founder of Butter and now Workshop Expert at Miro. He’s giving us a behind-the-scenes look at Butter’s journey from startup → acquisition → full integration inside Miro.

And for the first time ever, he’ll demo Miro Engage, the new feature bringing Butter’s interactive magic - polls, quizzes, engagement tools - directly into Miro.

Members only: After registering, you’ll receive a free Hub invite link.

Recorded: Highlights will be used in community content and replays.

💬 Your Turn

What's one thing you've stolen back that you're willing to share?

A boundary script? A meeting template? A work rhythm? A permission slip?

Hit reply and tell us what you've built. We'll create a community "Stolen Goods Library" with the best submissions - templates anyone can grab and use.

If we all share what we've reclaimed, nobody has to fight alone.

Collaboration isn't canceled - it's just gone global.

And the rebellion? It's open-source now.

What you stole back wasn't just for you. It was the blueprint for everyone who comes after.

Share your templates. Normalize your boundaries. Make your escape route everyone's escape route.

Because when one person reclaims their autonomy, it's survival.
When everyone does? It's a movement.

No hustle. No hoarding. Just humans sharing better ways to work - so nobody has to steal it back alone.

— The (R) Generation Team 🧡 🏴‍☠️

PS: Your stolen goods aren't your competitive advantage. They're your legacy. Share them. ✨

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