Contents
- Quality-First Means Aiming High
- Be The Future by Embracing the Future
- No Career Restrictions When You Go Global
- Keeping it Simple Helps You Move Faster
- Do Hard Things More Often
- The Radically Remote Mindset
- Read This if Your Calling is Remote Work
What makes someone the BEST at remote work? It’s not luck, geography, or hours clocked in meetings - it’s how they think. To celebrate Radically Remote's 60th edition, this article outlines 60 spiky, perspective-shifting truths from the world’s top remote performers. Each one captures a hard-earned lesson, or bold belief that defines what it really means to win remotely in 2025.
Brilliant people can do anything - I truly believe that.
All it takes is for them to be in an environment that supports their vision.
We all know the story of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin setting foot on the moon for the first time. But none of it would have been possible without Margaret Hamilton and her team at MIT – who wrote the flight software that helped them land on the lunar surface.
It was a time of paper punch cards, manual entries and glass ceilings. Yet because of Hamilton and her team the Apollo mission to the moon was a success.
Even after the warning messages prompted them with a go / no go decision. NASA’s mission control trusted her software implicitly – and it saved them.
Hamilton recognized a fundamental truth – great work only happens under the right conditions. You need a trusting team that never wavers.
You need the freedom to do experimental and pioneering work without being suffocated and boxed in by red tape, legacy procedures or louder voices.
And of course – you need the courage to harness spiky points of view – the sharp, oppositional (and contentious) insights that push boundaries and make the impossible suddenly – incredibly – possible.
Margaret Hamilton was the first software engineer. She might have started as a computer scientist, but her nature drove her to become more than that.
It’s the 60th edition of Radically Remote.
And for 60 editions, we’ve been collecting, sharpening and sharing the spiky POVs – the prickly principles that make Crossover and the group of companies we hire for so extraordinary.
Without this unique culture, Andrew Allen and I could never have built the world’s largest remote work newsletter or grown it to what it is today: a community of nearly 2.5 million readers – and the 11th largest LinkedIn newsletter ever created.
That success belongs to the brilliant voices who make the newsletter great - Murray Elphick, Arjun Raj and Heather Lother – not to mention the experts from across Trilogy, IgniteTech, 2 Hour Learning, Alpha, gt.school and many more.
We live in a world where sameness spreads like fiend fire. Where algorithms churn out mass monotony on a scale we’ve never seen before.
But because of our culture that doesn’t threaten us.
So, for this milestone edition of Radically Remote, I want to share the spiky POVs that got us here. They inspire creativity, originality and the kind of contrarian thinking that will help remote workers on the rise keep their edge in the coming days.
Here are the 60 spiky POVs that built the world’s largest remote work newsletter. Adopt them, and you’ll stand out - unlocking bigger, better opportunities on your unique path to becoming an elite remote worker and a pioneer in your field.
Quality-First Means Aiming High
Remote work doesn’t reward presence, it rewards excellence.
When everyone in the world is your competition, and your team’s success relies on your ability to do better every day – you better aim high. Your work must speak for itself, visually, metrically and enthusiastically.
#1: Be an Expert
Anyone can keep up, but experts stand out. Don’t just read the trends - form a point of view, apply it in your work, and make it impossible to ignore your expertise.
#2: Skills Should Never Stagnate
A degree is no excuse to stop learning. Gain new skills often, stack them and rearrange them for total career flexibility or risk falling behind.
#3: Fewer Meetings First
Talk less, build more. Every hour in a meeting is an hour stolen from career-defining work that you could be doing in peace. Let’s not pretend knowledge workers don’t need it.
#4: Results Beat Effort
Trying hard isn’t how you excel, you excel by delivering results. Solving visible problems is the only currency that counts when you work remotely.
#5: Reject Average
Average is invisible, everywhere. If you really want to stand out, you can’t rest on your laurels or coast by. You have to be unmistakably better by refusing to be mediocre.
#6: Always Raise the Bar
Comfort zones kill careers. So does complacency. When you have a high-quality bar it becomes a contagious team benefit that makes everyone do better.
#7: Feedback is Oxygen
Without feedback you suffocate. Make sure you get it from everyone you can, even if they aren’t directly involved in your work. Perspective has immense value.
#8: Ego Kills Great Work
Defensiveness blocks progress. If you’re busy protecting your ego, you won’t protect the quality of your work. Drop the pride, listen with intent, and you’ll grow.
#9: Get it to 80% Done
Perfection is procrastination in disguise. Ship your work when it’s 80% ready, gather feedback, and iterate. Speed matters sure, but so does meaningful progress.
#10: Document It or Lose It
If it isn’t written down, it doesn’t exist. Documentation turns good work into lasting impact, and others can build on your ideas instead of watching them vanish into the abyss.
Be The Future by Embracing the Future
Remote work gives you the opportunity to pilot your way to great discoveries.
To be a pioneer today means taking your expertise and using every technology at your disposal to create new things, improve old things and build stronger systems.
Exceptional remote workers aren’t afraid to take non-traditional paths.
#11: Remote Work is Freedom
Freedom isn’t a perk it’s the point. Use it well and you’ll design a career most office workers can’t even imagine. Plus, you’ll get more done and live more life.
#12: Augment Your Work With AI
If you don’t get AI-savvy, someone else will. Treat AI like an exoskeleton for your skills, not a threat to your job. Learn to use agents like a pro to accelerate your career.
#13: Use Tools but Perfect Processes
A shiny new tool won’t save broken workflows. Get your process right first, then let the tools multiply your impact.
#14: Automation is The New Delegation
Lucky you - your interns are now system-building bots. Automate repetitive work so your energy stays on high-value problems and watch your career bloom.
#15: Build Your Second Brain Now
AI is trainable on your expertise, so build your second brain. Capture your thinking, systematize it, and you’ll succeed faster than anyone else around you.
#16: Digital Fluency Means Test, Test, Test
Being good with tech isn’t enough. Constantly experiment, trial, and tinker around until digital skills become second nature and you’re an AI native.
#17: Don’t Be Afraid to Break the System
Every breakthrough starts with defiance. If a rule blocks progress, question it. If a system fails, rebuild it. Sometimes to fix something big, you have to break it first.
#18: Async is Adulthood for Teams
Constant check-ins feels like team daycare. Async proves you can be trusted to deliver without having to check-in with multiple people every 2 minutes.
#19: The Future Has No Middle Managers
Micromanagement is obsolete. Create value directly and be seen doing it via a monitoring system that helps you succeed. Everything else is a waste of time.
#20: Think in Public
Don’t hoard your thinking. AI is watching - share it, shape it, sharpen it in front of others. The best ideas grow in the open where other people can see them.
No Career Restrictions When You Go Global
Remote work makes where you live a moot point.
Earning USD gives you the opportunity to break free of local economic hardships, and escape the trap of being underpaid simply because of your zip code.
To us, it levels the playing field - which lets you compete globally, collaborate with people WAY outside your country, and find interesting opportunities that used to be locked behind borders.
The future belongs to those who reject proximity bias, embrace cultural diversity, and demand equal pay for equal work.
Greatness doesn’t cluster in a zip code. Real talent can come from anywhere, which means that the BEST people don’t live close to an office. They’re scattered everywhere.
#22: Proximity is a Bias, Not a Strategy
Being at the office isn’t a career plan. Remote work strips away presence and exposes who’s valuable because of their contribution, not their location.
#23: Global Teams > Local Teams
Local teams recycle the same perspectives on the REG. While global teams cross-pollinate ideas, see blind spots faster, and solve problems with insights no single culture could conceivably have on its own.
Location-based pay is an UNFAIR relic of the past. In a global economy, the only fair metric is contribution. If two people deliver the same impact, they deserve the same paycheck.
#25: Different Cultures Contribute to Success
Cross-cultural collaboration is a superpower. Diverse teams blend perspectives, traditions, and problem-solving approaches, turning cultural differences into engines of creativity and innovation.
#26: High Pay for Skills Not Outsourcing
Your value isn’t tied to your zip code - it’s tied to what you can do. If you deliver world-class outcomes, you should earn world-class pay.
#27: Miscommunication is Opportunity
When cultures clash, most people see problems. Elite teams see opportunity! Every misunderstanding forces clarity, reveals hidden assumptions, and (in the end) makes communication so much smarter.
#28: Neurodiversity Drives Invention
Innovation rarely comes from sameness. Breakthroughs emerge when different minds collide. Neurodiverse talent unlocks combinations of experience and perspective that local teams simply can’t manufacture.
#29: Work for Pay That Makes Life Better
Remote work can unlock a standard of living that transforms your choices. Global pay gives you the freedom to invest in yourself, your family, and your future.
Global time zones are built-in advantage. With async workflows, someone is always moving the ball forward, turning geographic distance into nonstop momentum.
Keeping it Simple Helps You Move Faster
Complexity is the enemy of remote work.
Bureaucracy slows you to a standstill, tools ladle in confusion, and cluttered processes bury results beneath piles of rubble.
Fact is, simplicity creates speed - and speed wins. When you simplify everything, you become an extremely valuable member or your team. Things are understood and actioned at much higher rates.
Best of all, this compounds and you achieve much more, sooner. Nice!
#31: Most Processes are Procrastination
Complicated workflows often deliver nothing. If it doesn’t make stuff happen, it’s not a process - its procrastination wearing a fancy bowtie.
#32: The Fewer the Tools, the Faster the Work
Every extra tool adds to your workload. It’s important to test them and be picky. Say no. Get to know a few tools well and you’ll move faster than teams drowning in a tool tidal wave, guaranteed.
Remote careers are built like startups. Launch small experiments, test ultra fast, and scale the things that work. Big wins always begin as scrappy experiments.
Clarity cuts through distance. Remote workers who can explain things simply get promoted - clever wordplay just confuses everyone and delays progress. Not to mention the frustration!
When everything is a priority, nothing gets done. Ruthless prioritization is how remote pros make progress every day.
#36: Complexity is the Enemy of Speed
Every layer of complexity slows you down. Simple systems scale, while complicated ones collapse under their own weight. It’s better to iterate on the go by keeping it simple.
#37: Autonomy Scales - Bureaucracy Bloats
Autonomy multiplies output across teams. Bureaucracy multiplies paperwork. One builds momentum, the other builds major blockers which drives teams crazy.
#38: One Page Beats Ten Slides
If you can’t explain it in one page, you don’t understand it. Remote work is heavily documented, which means you need to be even leaner with your results and reporting.
#39: Work How You Want Where You Want
Remote work frees you to work where and when you like. The best process is the one that lets you deliver your best work – and not rigidly confirm to someone else’s view of what that is.
#40: Dashboard Reporting Matters
Without data, remote work is invisible. Your reports have to be lean, real-time and super easy to read for higher ups. Create dashboards to help you get ahead.
Do Hard Things More Often
Remote work isn’t easy, but then what worthwhile thing ever is?
The hardest things are the ones that stretch you, shape you, and prove you deserve to live a life less ordinary. This means being willing to be tested, to try and fail – to tackle impossible problems and come out the other end victorious.
The road to being a pioneer is often lined with hard things.
True freedom comes with radical accountability. Remote work rewards folks who can self-direct, deliver, and constantly exceed their own quality bars. They’re not afraid to build their OWN lives.
#42: Remote Freedom = Remote Discipline
Remote freedom isn’t a free-for-all. Without structure, independence almost always collapses into total chaos. Discipline is a practice that keeps freedom alive.
If it feels easy, it’s probably not that meaningful. The most fulfilling work challenges you to push past your own preset limits. When you learn, you grow.
#44: Burnout is not a Badge of Honor
Mass exhaustion is out. It doesn’t make you important and it doesn’t impress anyone. Sustainable excellence beats short-lived overwork every time.
Remote work deletes distraction. The best work comes from deep focus, not shallow multitasking, and working remotely gets into that flow more often.
#46: If It Looks Hard It’s Worth Doing
Difficulty is a true compass. If a challenge scares you or seems pretty impossible, it’s the one that will make you grow the fastest. Follow that instinct.
Remote leaders aren’t seen in hallways. They’re seen in their clarity, consistency, and are reflected in their team. Mostly, they deliver on their promises without excuses.
#48: Skill Tests Are Mirrors (Not Hoops)
Tests don’t block you - they reveal you. They’re the fastest way to prove skills and uncover what you need to grow, and be better at your job.
Every failure is feedback. Remote workers who embrace mistakes as learning opportunities tend to rise in their careers at a much, much faster rate.
#50: Elite Performance = Elite Self Awareness
Top performers know their strengths and their limits. Self-awareness is the foundation of mastery because it helps you regulate yourself.
The Radically Remote Mindset
Saying NO to sameness is an ongoing struggle.
The Radically Remote mindset is an authentic rebellion against what many believe to be restrictive, exploitative and outdated norms surrounding how we should work (and live).
If you’re committed to building a career based on freedom, autonomy and impact then you have more in common with an elite remote worker than you think.
It’s the difference between people who just work from home and those who use remote work as a launchpad to design extraordinary lives.
These final ten spiky POVs capture what it means to live and work radically - with no apologies, no compromises, and definitely no sameness.
Remote work is defiance. It’s proof that we don’t need outdated office rules to build great companies or great careers. That was always a lie.
Money without freedom is a trap. Real success is the ability to choose your work, your life, and your future on your own terms. Remote work gives you the power to do that.
High pay means nothing if you hate your work. The true purpose of working remotely is to align your pay, passion, and happiness. That’s real work-life balance.
Pointless perks can’t mask broken management. The office hides dysfunction that remote work exposes, it promises stability and delivers none and it keeps people subservient to a machine that doesn’t care about them.
#55: Async Trust is Earned (Not Free)
Your employer and team can’t see you. To earn their trust you must be open to total transparency, in how you work and how you lead.
#56: Remote Leadership Matters
Leading from afar isn’t absence - it’s influence without proximity. Remote leaders set the tone by creating clarity, not exerting authoritarian control.
#57: Remote Work = Career Growth
Remote work is the fast track to global opportunity. Elite roles go to those who can prove themselves, and who aren’t afraid to be their best every day.
#58: Remote Work is a Status Symbol
Today’s elite remote jobs are the new corner office. Not everyone gets one, but those who do enjoy an uncommon level of freedom, pay and profound opportunity.
#59: What You Build > Where You Build It
Why do you even work? Do you know? Ask yourself what you’re building towards and if you’re happy doing it where you are. Remote work takes you everywhere.
#60: Top Performers Do It Better
Remote work is a brilliant spotlight. It magnifies the gap between average and extraordinary, making it impossible to hide. For top performers this makes succeeding so much easier.
Read This if Your Calling is Remote Work
In 1969, Margaret Hamilton wrote the code that put people on the moon.
She worked long hours, carried stacks of punch cards home, and stood firm in rooms that didn’t expect her to lead. It was impossibly hard, but she did it.
When everything was on the line - during that final landing sequence that almost went awry - NASA made a call. They knew Margaret was extraordinary and they trusted her.
They trusted her work.
Because it was fiercely original, and bold and EXCELLENT.
That’s the energy you need these days! Layoffs are rising, office mandates have repossessed your freedom, and AI is rewriting every rule of work.
This is not the time to go silent into that good night.
If you want to rise through the instability, don’t settle - rebel. Embrace remote work again - as a calling this time.
Let AI help get you there. If Margaret can do it with paper, you can do it with technology. And when you do, your spiky POVs - those deliciously bold, original, wild ideas will take you everywhere you want to go.
The future of work doesn’t belong to those who play it safe.
It belongs to those who don’t!
This is your go / no go decision.
Will you orbit safely in mediocrity, or land the damn thing?
Happy 60th edition everyone!
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