It’s a dorky question, but I often think about this. Is there an optimal number of hours to work each week? How can I know when I am working the right amount?
This is mostly a freelancer question. When you set your own schedule, the idea of choosing your hours is a blessing and a curse. It’s nice to wake up when you want and have flexibility to work around other stuff in your life. But it also means no real boundaries.
My Work Schedule
I work weird hours. Usually from 11am to 3 or 4pm, then again from 7pm to midnight or even later. That gives me my morning and late afternoon to take care of other stuff.
This works pretty well for me. I do get tired at night some times, and rarely have energy to do anything else after I finish work for the night. It is really nice to have the morning to myself though. In the future it might be cool to reduce the afternoon break and just take an hour for lunch there.
Working in a traditional office environment from 9-5 always felt terrible to me. I can’t focus on a job for that long continuously, even if there is a lunch break in the middle. It’s easier when I am working for myself because at least the tasks feel more meaningful that way.
Days Off
Having one solid day off each week seems important to me. I learned that after talking with a friend who was working two jobs. He said the only regret was that he didn’t have a single full day off any week, so he couldn’t rest up.
Ever since hearing that, I have made an effort to avoid any work on Saturday. It’s nice to take a full day to rest, and makes the other days more energetic. I also eat lots of snacks on Saturday.
How Do You Decide How Much to Work?
If you are a freelancer, how do you decide? It is determined plainly by the amount of money you need? Or do you hustle and work extra for some other reason?
Do you experience any guilt about how much or little you work? I am always thinking about if I’m working the right amount, even though that seems weird now that I put it into words for this post lol.
Let me know your experience. I am curious to see how other freelancers operate.
A healthy work/life balance is very important to prevent burn-out.
I let my body tell me when I need rest. I know from experience that when I work too many hours over a long period of time, I will get sick. I am a freelancer. So, I keep a balance of 3 days excessive physical work. Then I take 3 days of passive work (thinking and taking notes). However, I never really take time off, as my mind is always on my work at some point.
I also adjust my hours according to the clients I want to reach in different parts of the world. So, when I am preparing work for clients in other time zones I change my hours accordingly.
I love the uniqueness of this schedule. Plus, I get to communicate and do business with people from all over the world.
Ah that's a cool schedule that you have for yourself... 3 days on and 3 days light? Does that mean you are on a 6 day cycle overall?
Absolutely. I pick a different day each week as my "Me" day. On my "Me" day, I may binge watch tv, movies, or videos (while taking notes of anything I may learn, as sometimes I may have to watch or read the same thing several times to get the full message) Lol.
Or, I may take a day trip alone or with family or friends (and also take notes on anything I might learn).
Or, I may go shopping for something I like, that makes me feel good.
Or, I may do anything else that comes to mind that's fun, and improves and/or enriches my life in some way.
Then, after my "Me" day, I have more value to add to my work life, my clients, and also myself and my family. By choosing a different "Me" day each week, I get a wide variety of experiences and I love it.
That sounds awesome to me.
I appreciate the dialogue you're starting. You're raising some good questions about work/life balance. Thank you. I'm following, upping, and resteeming, because I'm recognizing what an important question you've raised here.
I'm a freelance digital artist, mainly focusing on videography, and I have three young kids to add to my workload every day. Finding balance between work and family life has been a journey of trial and error for me. I used to be a workaholic. Now I'm less self-indulgent, and that means I'm creating space for other people in my life. With humility, I admit that my work has stood between me and my family, at times, and I'll also admit that my feeling of "lack" has been worsened by a certain push to provide at all costs. Know what I mean?
That said, I've found peace through a blend of routine and flexibility – I'm up early to take care of the essentials for my family. I dedicate time each day to manage my workload alongside my dad duties. And I reserve time for my family again in the evening. But there's been many miracles that have shown me: Rest is an important part of success. So, more and more, I allow the prosperity to flow comfortably and naturally, with a feeling of "enoughness", and with abundant support, and with ample opportunities to stop and smell the roses.
Having kids is definitely a whole different level of responsibility haha. I never can fathom how some of these super entrepreneurs like Elon Musk can balance parenting on top of all the other stuff they do.
That's cool that you found a good balance. I think it will get better for me as I find some higher paying gigs, so I can have more flexibility. right now its a lot of 12 hour days but I agree with you that it can be self-indulgent
I used to work in little shifts. Working 2 hours and than taking a break for around 30 minutes.
I made sure I have some snacks (fruit or nuts) and a bottle of water all the time at my side while I was working.
I usually started in the afternoon and worked till night and kept the morning workfree.
I had 1 day completly free,which I usually used to go out and cure my hangover :-)
The bad thing there was I was often very hyped still from work and had problems falling asleep and had a hard time shifting my working hours to the morning.
Now I work a bit more whenever but I feel with my schedule I got more done and also worked more efficent, so I want to make an effort to grow into that again.
Just wanted to let you know I have read a lot of your articles the last hour and I am a fan now
2 hours / 30 minutes is a nice schedule... very relaxed lol. I fall into a pattern like that pretty naturally but I try to push myself to work longer, maybe more 3-4 hours before taking that break. Otherwise I find that all the breaks can add up to too much lost time.
TOTALLY RELATE to the sleep thing. On the most hustle nights, I work on my laptop until 3am and just crawl straight into bed. It's a weird feeling. Taking a shower at the very end of the day (+ reading a book for 10 minutes after that) can help to create more separation between the work and the sleep part of the day.
Thanks for reading my articles! I am grateful for your declaration of fandom... hopefully the next few weeks of content will keep you happy. Some good stuff coming up :-)
Yes, it was relaxed but I also wanted to be very focused and in the zone otherwise working was contra producitve (I was/am a poker player so working bad meant loosing money).
I remember a study about the human ability to really focus and how long this was possible and that was shockingly short so I wanted to have more time to recharge, but you right it was very chill ;-)
But I honestly think for a good work/life balance and also to improve efficency of our work, we should not jeapordize our sleep. I tried to avoid the blue light for an hour before going to bed but that was harder than I thought :-) and eventually just gave up and started using f.lux
I try to me loose with it, if I can push, the coffee pot goes on and I go in to the belly of the beast until I've got nothing left, (hopefully returning victorious)
Other days I wake up and I've got nothing, so I take it slow, do some light admin and perifery work and take a long bath and just CHILL...
The key is listening to yourself and taking things day by day.I try to keep client work flexible enough that if I need to take an emergency break I can, usually the long hustle days provide for that :)
That' being said, sometimes I'm the worst boss I've ever had- I should chill way more often really...
So you keep it super flexible? Do you literally decide in the morning what you will work on, based on how you feel that day? Sounds like a pretty relaxed setup, although I might get some anxiety about picking the right/wrong days to hustle if I played it that loose.
Yep, that's what I TRY to do anyway, of course client demand plays a part, so if I've had a particularly tough week, as soon as things settle down I start to take it easy, even if I still feel like I CAN work, I know that if I don't take time out, by the next swell of work I'll be SUPER burnt.
I find anxiety happens regardless so you might as well have a bath or a day watching star trek in sweats now and again ;)
Well, for me, I don’t really schedule work time and rest time, as a consultant, I put all my energy each time I got a job or a contract, I make sure I do the job as fast as possible without really considering such fixed rest and work time, but I do listen to my body to know when I’m feeling weak, then I rest, irrespective of the time(day or night)
As soon as I finish each job, then again I can spend days in a week doing nothing serious or rather my own personal stuffs, that’s how my own life plays out.
That's a great schedule. You aren't the first person I have met to use that sort of binge on / off work schedule.
Was it always this way for you? The one caveat with your schedule is, you have to earn enough from that job/contract to be able to afford the days off afterwards. I find it hard to carve out more than one day off in a week right now lol, I want to get better about it
We’re the architects to our lives, more power we accumulate, more responsibility, less time. This is one thing I always keep to mind, ‘no level is fairer in life’.
the 'proper' balance is to work until you get tired and your productivity declines.
then take a break, rest up, and start again.
it makes no sense to work while your tired, make a lot of mistakes, then have to correct them (if you can) that just wastes time.
What if you get tired early in the day? Sometimes I feel like working through being tired can be useful
if you work at home you set your own hours.
I'm a writer (or at least I pretend to be.) Typically I stay up much of the night and sleep a lot during the day.
Work-life balance isn't a dorky topic. For some people, work IS life. So, it's all about opinions here.
I think its dorky lol
I don't go to sleep... I fall asleep...
I rather be awake working because the harder I work now the more free time I will have in the future. I understand humans need breaks and I know tomorrow isn't promised... But you cant get back yesterday.
You literally fall asleep at your desk every night?
Great question. I'm a free agent, also. I try to put in long days when I have the energy and take breaks when I need them. It sure beats the corporate grind! You have to be a disciplined saver/spender when you freelance as sometimes the water goes to a trickle. Glad to see that you have the guts to go it alone.