By Edith Carron
I recently modified my work schedule to have more time to write and avoid the massive burnout luring at me like a vulture. Since May, I only work every other Wednesday, cutting my week in the middle every other week. I absolutely love it so far (no joke). If you read me on the weekly, you know there is a “but” coming and you are absolutely right. Now that I made all the arrangements to have the time to write and that I am NOT paid for those days (my salary is reduced to 90%), I feel the extra pressure to be productive and write money-worthy articles. And well well well, if I didn’t see that coming.
Every day is a race to optimise every hour, to do more and be my most productive self. Everything lands on a to-do list: what data needs to be collected today, any emails needing my attention or reminders to send, exercising, calls and administrative stuff, reading, writing, etc. And a finished list does not give me the deserved “well done, you can rest” feeling, nope, I now can do more! Weekends, and too many evenings, instead of being guilt-free rest and enjoyable, have become precious time lost in anxiety. This inevitably leads to an anxious, disconnected and procrastinating Monday.
Or at least it was until I changed my weeks. For the first time in a long time, I had a productive Monday and enjoyable downtime (not yesterday though, this was last Monday as yesterday was a dumpster fire). The result of the UK based 4 day week trial, where the participating companies reduced their employees’ work time to 80% for 100% of their salary, shows the many benefits of reduced hours. It also says a two months practice period is necessary to adapt, to the new schedules and a new way of working before such benefits can be observed. Taking this into account for my personal experimentation, I can only expect to find a new rhythm and feel the real benefits next month (trust my mathematical process).
To the positive bits now. I went to bed on Tuesday night looking forward to waking up and excited for the day to come. This used to be routine for me, I loved mornings, but I haven’t felt excited for the next day in the last few years. Unexpectedly, the feeling lasted for days afterwards, ultimately making me more productive at my work-work. I am more focused and my productivity is increased in the days after my Wednesday off. And I do feel like a timeline with dates and days would be helpful here but I can’t be bothered and I am already late for publication (this is called Journal of a Procrastinator for a good reason, I don’t know what you were expecting).
In a conversation with my therapist, she asked about my hobbies and what I do to feel joy. To what I answered: sewing (to make clothes), reading (to analyse), writing (self-explanatory) and running (to beat my own time and distance). Looking at this constant quest for purpose and productivity, she recommended I start a pointless hobby, without productivity. I started knitting because I do listen to my therapist from time to time, and although I am utterly rubbish at it, it is therapeutic. I only knit shapeless-all-round-pretty-ugly squares, but as for writing it can eventually improve and lead somewhere. But the important part is that I enjoy doing it.