The 7 Day Work Week
Cross posted on my personal blog.
It used to be the case that Sunday truly was a day of rest. Shops closed, people went to church, had an early dinner, and called it a day. Then stores started to stay open on Sundays. The hours got longer. Now some places are open 24 hours, 5 days a week. Some 24/7. It used to be the case that once you left the office for the day, you were done working. How could you work? All your stuff was at the office. How would anyone reach you? Now we have cell phones, IM, email on our phones; we are reachable all the time. “Open” 24/7. And that’s what people expect now. Our culture is moving towards a 24/7 work mentality to be more productive, and make more money. That needs to change.
It’s more coincidence than anything that I started to have these thoughts before, but on the same day that, I started reading The Four Hour Work Week. I’m just into it, and this post is not a book review, but Ferriss does talk early on about some of the stuff that spurred these thoughts. I wrote a while back about not responding to email right away. It’s not to be rude, but to set a precedent and draw some boundaries. If people think you are always available, they will expect you to be on call all the time. This isn’t healthy for you or them. And it’s not just with email.
I’ve had clients call me at midnight because they ‘needed’ to talk to me. I get calls on the weekend, and people who want to schedule meetings on Sundays. And it’s not that I’m lazy that I don’t want to do that; people can’t work all the time. It’s not physically or mentally healthy. So how do we solve this problem?
Don’t be afraid to draw those boundaries. Tell your clients or co-workers that you’re only available during business hours. Don’t answer business email on the weekend. Take the weekends for yourself. I took the 4th of July weekend completely off. From Friday to Sunday I did no work- I even put up an email auto-response. It was the first time in a long time I did that because I have the same mentality others do- I work a lot. Usually I take the weekends for side projects or small rush jobs I want to get out of the way. But it’s that mentality that causes a lot of people to burn out hard and fast.
Maybe it’s that we are in front of a computer anyway, or we think, “Well I’m not doing anything now,” that we take that call or work on that project. But we don’t have to produce all the time. It’s ok to do nothing. Having a lazy day is perfectly acceptable, and in some cases, needed. So far I like The Four Hour Work Week because Ferriss talks about how to be more productive in less time, and how to take time for yourself. I’ll post more about it as I read it, but remember this: Working 24/7 is NOT a good mentality. I think we should remember the days when Sunday really was a day of rest.
Tags: clients, people, productivity, relationships, tips, work | Posted in Advice, Lessons |
Another symptom I didn’t state in the post is that people (in my field anyway) are more likely working with others in different time zones. For example: I’m in NY or PA, depending on when you catch me. I’m working with people in IL, CA, India, and Australia.
Through no one’s fault, there an expectation of at least some face time- some real time talk- in many cases. Now a 3 hour time different might seem like a lot, but the tail end of a CA day is an 8pm NY evening. You start to extend your hours ‘just a little bit’ and it might be hard to stop.
Hey man I started freelancing a couple of months ago and I’ve been working 7 days a week for the last two months! Like you mentioned it’s best to take time off, however I feel like that is a stupid idea till I start earning good money. I have this idea that when I start earning a consistent wage I can start structuring my days. For instance 9-5 and weekends off.
What do you think?
One thing I have noticed that nothing is predictable for instance everytime I do some press about my work less jobs come in which is bizarre. It’s blood hard work!
Oliver,
There are some pretty common misconceptions in your statements that I think all freelancers, including myself, experience. 1 is that the more you ‘work’ the more you accomplish, which isn’t necessarily the case. You need to look at productivity. Good money is making enough to sustain yourself while not killing yourself doing it.
Also, I wouldn’t count on consistent wages all the time while freelancing. There will definitely be slow times you need to account for. The best thing to do is automate some income and create multiple revenue streams.
Thanks for reading! If you have a specific question, feel free to send it and I’ll feature it in the “Ask Me About It” segment.
Thanks for the advice Joe also I’m having a bit of trouble marketing my work. If you have a second could you look at my website http://www.olivercartwright.com and if possible give me some advice? Would find it really helpful as I’ve never asked for advice from another freelancer.
Thanks Oliver