The NY Times has come out with a downer of an article siting a few web workers who died due to lifestyle related health complications.
It was implied that the desk potato lifestyle of these folks contributed to their premature demises, but I know of many, many, many virtual workers who have healthy, well-balanced lifestyles that anyone would be jealous of.
Being healthy is something we are all challenged with, no matter what our jobs are, but we web workers are strategically positioned to create lifestyles that promote an extremely high quality of life. We can work the hours that we want to, we can arrange our day around what we enjoy most, and we are entirely in charge of how we organize our lives so that we have time for playing outdoors, spending quality time with family, and having diverse interests (outside of the computer).
Let's focus on the positive folks, and harken back to last year's Springtime Workday Remix. At this very time last year I told y'all about a seasonal change in schedule that I came up with that made it so that I felt like I was on a continuous vacation. Let's review:
- 5:30 am--Wake and have a cup of coffee
- 6am to 8:30am--Work
- 8:30am to evening--Free Time
- 7pm-9:30pm--Finish up work and do blog stuff
Notice the free time--that is practically all day, from morning to night, the prime hours of the day.
Last year when I started this new Springtime schedule I notice these perks:
- 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 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.
The birds are chirping, the trees and shrubs are covered with flowers, we can venture outdoors in short sleeves and no shoes--now is the time to shake up our schedules and spend most of our day doing what we like in the sunshine.
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.
I'm re-booting this Springtime schedule today! Who else wants in on this?
And do any of you change your workday schedules with the seasons or do a "summer/spring schedule" sort of thing?
Related posts:
*How To Transition Into Working A 4-Hour Workday
*How A Tiny Change Can Make A Huge Impact: Eating To Maximize Your Productivity
*How to become a morning person relatively painlessly
NY Times story via
I am amazed, truly amazed that you can make this work for you!!! I can see this perhaps working for work, but for blogging too? How is that possible? esp since you have two blogs. Does this mean that you don't visit any other blogs?
Posted by: maryam in marrakesh | April 10, 2008 at 11:51 AM
Hey Maryam,
That's a good question--It used to take me forever to write up posts (like hours!), but when I started limiting my time (like telling myself I had to be done by a certain time) remarkably I found the time to write more posts, and to also do my regular blog surfing.
In fact, blog surfing is the first thing I do in the morning (doing something fun first thing helps me to look forward to sitting down at the computer). But I give myself a time limit so that I don't spend all day doing it :-)
This "time-boxing" technique works for blogging, work or any other thing you need to do (yard work, cleaning, Christmas shopping, whatever.) By pre-deciding limits of the time you're going to invest, it forces you to work more effiiciently :-)
Maryam, I also do this schedule 6 days a week, rather than just 5.
Posted by: Sharon Sarmiento | April 10, 2008 at 02:49 PM
It's true that when you say yourself "I'll work 2 hours then I'll go out for 5" something remarkable happens.
First, in the 2 hour you'll get mush more done than if you know have a full day of work scheduled ahead.
And second, while you are out, something inside you reminds you have work unfinished and great ideas keep popping in your head, and when you get back to work in the evening you'll be even more effective than the first 2 hours.
The work in the morning it's like an investment you make.
Posted by: Dan | May 08, 2008 at 12:41 AM
Hey Dan,
You are so right--I love working early in the morning! It makes my day seem so much longer (in a good way ;-))
Posted by: Sharon Sarmiento | May 08, 2008 at 06:45 AM