Springtime Workday Remix

  Young spring love 
  Originally uploaded by mormoralice.

Do not be jealous of me for what I am about to tell you (not that you would be--you're too highly evolved for anything like that ;-)), but I think I've accidentally stumbled on to something that will enable me to feel like I'm on a permanent vacation, even though I'm still working 6 days a week.

Let me explain...

A couple weeks back, I glanced up from my computer in the middle of the day to see that seemingly overnight the trees and shrubs were blooming with flowers and the cold dreary days of winter were replaced with 70 degree weather and sunny skies.

I thought, "Why am I inside working all day when it's so gorgeous outside?"

With the temptation of Spring as my inspiration, I decided to do some test tweaks to my schedule to see if I could come up with a way that I could 1) get my work done with optimal efficiency and 2) have the majority of my day free to do whatever I please.

Here's what I came up with:

5:30 am--Wake and have a cup of coffee
6am to 8:30am--Do client work
8:30am to evening--Free Time
7pm-9:30pm--Finish up client work and do blog stuff

This is my new schedule that I've been doing for the past week and a half or so. I do it 6 days a week, taking Saturdays off.

Although it's pretty much the same number of hours I was working before, it feels like I'm on vacation for some reason.

I mean, by 8:30 in the morning I tell myself, "I'm done with my work for the day!" (This is just a tiny fib I tell myself; while I do have an evening work session, I'm done with my work for the daytime.)

And of course it's completely flexible--if I have plans in the evening, I do the second work session in the afternoon.

This new way of working is just absolutely invigorating to me. This is one of the main reasons why I decided to start my own business-- I wanted to have a flexible work schedule, so that the premium hours of my day were reserved for me, rather than spending the "best" hours of my day cooped up in an office.

Perks I've noticed:

• Increased efficiency-- Because I know a fun, really long break is only a couple hours away each time I start a work session, I'm finding it really easy to cultivate the "mind like water" mindset that allows for working at optimum efficiency.
• Looking forward to work more-- I'm enjoying all aspects of work even more than I have in the past. Truthfully, it's always been quite fun, but now I'm feeling extra jazzed about my business partnerships and finding that absence from work does make the heart grow fonder.
  
• Greater work/life balance. I'm spending bunches more time offline, enjoying the sunshine and getting "real world" ;-) stuff done.
• I'm exercising more and eating healthier-- Before, I had a tendency to get transfixed by the computer and would inadvertently skip meals, then be starving and end up eating things that were not always that healthy. With having almost my entire day free, I'm able to stick to a more regular eating schedule, which fascilitates making healthier choices. The beautiful weather is also luring me outside more, and I've pumped up my exercise program.
• I feel more creative--with spending more time offline, I'm rekindling some of my dormant passions. I've been re-discovering music that I had forgotten about, doing some painting, and re-reading some books that inspired me when I was in high school and that now have new meaning to me. (I'm reading Atlas Shrugged right now.) I think that having a lot of offline mental stimulation promotes online writing creativity (aka--it's easier to write blog posts now).
  
• Overall, my days aren't feeling like "workdays"-- It feels like that elusive "work/life balance" thing that folks are always talking about.

I share this story with you, because many of you are online entrepreneurs and could also feasibly re-arrange your work schedule to do something similar if you wanted. Sometimes we just get in a rut of doing the same thing we've always done, and we forget that one of the major perks of owning your own biz is that you can make your own hours.

I'm wondering, do any of you change your workday schedules with the seasons or do a "summer schedule" sort of thing?

Comments

[Verna]

Great idea, Sharon. I have a little courtyard outside the front door of my condo, and I have a tiny garden and a patio. I love to sit outside and work on spring and summer mornings. It doesn't feel so much like work when I'm outdoors and can look up and watch squirrels or hear birds. Those days will be here soon. Yay!!

[Sharon Sarmiento]

Oh, let me tell you Verna, it's amazing.

If you can train yourself to be an early riser, then it gives you so much more daytime hours to have fun with.

For example, today my dog woke me up extra early. She woke me *before* 5am. Now it is 6:30am, and I'm pretty much done with the morning work session (at least the client work part of it.) I'm free until 8pm tonight! I just can't get over that. Love these odd hours.

[office hair]

Oh I so agree. Only problem is that my partner thinks all I do is "fluff" around all day and never do any work, men!

[Torrie]

We must be on the same brain wave-length! I have just done the same thing with my schedule. I'm not sure how the night session will go as I'm dead-tired by then, but we'll see. For me, I did it so I can enjoy the outside and be a better parent to my 4-year old. Thanks for sharing.

[Maryam in Marrakesh]

What?! That is beyond, beyond incredible. That's revolutionary. What are you doing all day....?

I want and need your life, faaaaaaaast.

[Sharon Sarmiento]

Yes, I'm finding that it really works so much better this way. I like having the day free.

Maryam--yes, it's definitely possible if you have the option of having a flexible work schedule. What do I do all day--basically I spend all day gardening, cooking, reading, going out to lunch, doing home renovation stuff (painted my kitchen cabinets last week), and just basically goof off and have fun. Sometimes I write outside with paper and pen, rather than inside on the computer.

It really helps with the creativity to shake things up sometimes. :-)