Attempting to move a day from one category to another.
At the DayJob, I approached my boss about reducing my work-week from 40 hours to 32. Rather surprisingly, he had no problem with the idea at all. He has to clear it with his own boss, and has not done so yet, but doesn’t see why it should be a problem.
So, it’s not actually official yet… and it could still all go south, as they say. We’ll see. More on that as news breaks.
So, that would take Monday out of the category of DayJob day, and put it into Do-What-You-Want-Meaning-WRITE-or-Some-Related-Activity day. And it’s not just a day, alone; it’s a day attached to two prior days.
See, I work ever so much better when given big fat chunks of time, instead of little slivers here and there. The more I can put things in contiguous blocks, the deeper I can lose myself in the story at hand…
Plus: night time is the right time as far as my subconscious is concerned. The Muses like to boogie all night, yes they do.
Having a normal daylight-hours DayJob forces me shut down the music just when the party’s getting started. No wonder the gals look for other places to hang.
So, if this can become official, this should help.
March 4th, 2013 at 10:14 pm
If you like big chunks of time, how about this pattern:
M T W T F S S M T W T F S S
W W W W – – – – W W W W – –
In case the fonts make this unintelligible here’s a verbal description:
Take off the next Friday and Monday. The following week, work both Friday and Monday. Repeat forever.
This gives you a four day weekend every two weeks. It has no impact on your work since there are still four work days in every week. The only problem I see is if there are tasks that must be done on Friday.
March 5th, 2013 at 6:30 am
Brian —
Alas, that’s exactly the problem. There are tasks that really need to be done on Friday, and only Friday. Occasional exceptions if I’m actually on vacation or sick, or something. Plus: Fridays are also crazy busy, and if I take Friday off, I really need to be there on Monday to catch up, or people will be freaking out by Tuesday.
Mondays off, however, works because of the pattern of tasks that come to me from other people. People have to do stuff, and get the results of that to me in order for me to do my part. But on Monday, almost nobody has done their part yet, and what I get is rarely urgent.
March 5th, 2013 at 1:48 am
Yes!! Esp. since I just re-read the whole (so far) Steerswoman series, because you mentioned the wood gnomes. I’m a night owl, too, and did the same at one of my jobs, went down to 32 hours, and it made a huge difference in my attitude.
Enjoy!
March 5th, 2013 at 9:49 am
YES! Do this. I reduced my hours to 32 at a previous job–before I started graduate school. My productivity increased and I had a better attitude about my work! I took Fridays off with the caveat that if something really needed to get out the door (I worked for a publisher) then I would take the following Monday off.