immediate negative effect it would have on the company and what could you do to prevent or minimize it? 2. Put yourself in your boss’s shoes. Based on your work history, would you trust yourself to work outside of the office? If you wouldn’t, reread Elimination to improve production and consider the hourglass option. 3. Practice environment-free productivity. Attempt to work for two to three hours in a café for two Saturdays prior to proposing a remote trial. If you exercise in a gym, attempt to exercise for those two weeks at home or otherwise outside of the gym environment. The purpose here is to separate your activities from a single environment and ensure that you have the discipline to work solo. 4. Quantify current productivity. If you have applied the 80/20 Principle, set the rules of interrupting interruption, and completed related groundwork, your performance should be at an all-time high in quantifiable terms, whether customers served, revenue generated, pages produced, speed of accounts receivable, or otherwise. Document this. 5. Create an opportunity to demonstrate remote work productivity before asking for it as a policy. This is to test your ability to work outside of an office environment and rack up some proof that you can kick ass without constant supervision. 6. Practice the art of getting past “no” before proposing. Go to farmers’ markets to negotiate prices, ask for free first-class upgrades, ask for compensation if you encounter poor service in restaurants, and otherwise ask for the world and practice using the following magic questions when people refuse to give it to you. “What would I need to do to [desired outcome]|?” “Under what circumstances would you [desired outcome]?” “Have you ever made an exception?” “I’m sure you’ve made an exception before, haven’t you?” (if no for either of the last two, ask, “Why not?” If yes, ask, “Why ?’”) 7. Put your employer on remote training wheels— propose Monday or Friday at home. Consider doing this