This really isn’t something I’ve consciously done since I started working on my own, nor was it something I really did before that:
I’m going to aim to work 40 hours this week. No more, no less.
Many weeks, this turns out to be challenging, because of scheduling issues. For instance, for the last two weeks, I was involved in spring concerts at Mid-Vermont Christian School, including afternoon rehearsals and evening concerts. This made anything resembling a “normal” work week impossible.
This week, I actually don’t have much happening, so I’m going to give it a shot. I’ll probably still be fairly loose on what constitutes “work” and what doesn’t, but the goal will be to spend roughly eight hours of the day in my office (or on the road to and from the post office), and the rest not in the office. So, some evening programming is allowed, especially if it’s adding neat new features. That’s really more fun than work in any case.
People have asked me how much work I put in on a given week, and I honestly have no idea, because I let it blend together so much. I don’t think it’s much more than 40 hours of real work, and I’d be surprised if it were more than 60 even when you include the time I spend lying in bed or on the couch thinking and planning (it is work, really, though I definitely enjoy the perks of not being in a cubicle!). This week will give me a better idea, based on how much I do and don’t get done.
That leaves me with a good bit of free time in the evening. Today, I added a page to the “About” section of this site, describing what I do. That’s probably an example of what I mean when I say I’m going to be a little loose about what’s work and what’s not. Spending my not-work time talking about work is probably not the best example of not working.
I think I’ll see if I can entice Christine into a game of Text Twist next. :-)
