An experiment I'm trying
A container of time
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Recently I asked myself the question, “What if I worked three to four hours a day?”
Now, I don’t work mega hours. But I tend to be rather flexible with my time. So much so that work and time often bleeds… to the point where it feels like a container (or ‘boundaries’) would be helpful.
I have tried time-blocking before. Which, for me, is a little too rigid. (I like lots of space in my calendar, and I am lucky to have a life that allows me to do this.)
But I fancied the idea of giving myself a limited amount of time to ‘do work,’ and the rest of my time was mine to do as I please.
To add an important caveat: When I say ‘work,’ I mean ‘production work.’ Which for me is client calls, emails/admin, and content & marketing.
I don’t mean learning and journaling and playing and thinking. Even though all these activities are extremely legitimate and valuable parts of my coaching practice and business.
The three to four hours ‘work’ container is precisely to give me more room to play.
I suspect it’s no coincidence this idea ‘came to me’ not long after reading some of Oliver Burkeman’s writings on the concepts of a four-hour work day and the three-or-four-hours rule for getting creative work done.
I’ve come across these ideas before. But, as everyone knows, it’s one thing to read an idea; it’s another thing to integrate it. And yet another to make it your own.
Now, I know plenty of us don’t have three to four hours a day to spend on our creative work. But if you could adapt this to your own schedule and circumstances…
What would you do if you had only three to four hours for ‘production work?’
What if you had three to four hours per week?
What if you had three to four hours per month?
What if you had two to three times that amount of time to play? To journal? To learn?
What if the norm was giving more attention to the roots of your work, and less (or more constrained) time to the fruits of your labour?
How would you speak to yourself?
What would you be interested in?
What would you try first?
These are my thoughts, two weeks after returning from holiday, and having no major desire to be on social media (or broadcasting to the world in general).
So, perhaps I am entering an introverted season of my work-life right now ;)
But also, perhaps I’m giving myself the room to do what needs to be done (which is very much happening; I’m still showing up for my business) — and just as importantly, I’m giving myself the room that is needed to play :)
Much love,
Kathryn
PS. I’m still doing free chats! I might not be feeling super-extroverted online, but I’m always up for a deep conversation where we get to untangle an issue and help you figure things out and gain clarity.
If you fancy a confidential but casual conversation where we get to dive into an issue, and help you feel more at ease and confident about the direction you’re going in, book a free chat here, now.
Maia Toll recently wrote about creativity needing structure. I responded that even oceans have boundaries.
I rather like the 4-hour day. It's my sweet spot. I take it even further with 2 of those 4 hour chunks being constructive moodle time. Time where I sit and intentionally think about how I do things, or time I review and plan. The other 3 days are client facing.
I love that model.
It also helps me to on ramp and off ramp my week.
I look forward to hearing how the experiment goes. I often feel like I work quite short days, and I also have problems with time-blocking and consistency. But time, as you say, loses boundaries and then days can bleed into each other. I need to try a bit harder to stick to the structure I lay out for myself!