I have given myself a break
As of today I am working from home for the next two - three weeks (right now I have a hard time imagining coming back at all, but I hope that feeling will pass). Thanks to my 9 to 5 work environment and endless counting of hours, I have four weeks worth of overtime to do with what I want. Rather than blowing it all on some exotic holiday or an extended family visit I have decided to give myself a mini-"sabattical" at home. I will be working because I have many, many things to do, but I will be doing so at my own pace, and since this is the first day I have given myself permission to do nothing for a little while.
I am excited and motivated and feel like I want to do twice the amount of work I do on a regular day. I really don't know why it is so liberating not to have to come into work each day. People there are nice. I have a nice office with a view and there is really nothing wrong with anything. But I love that I can sleep as long as I want, and work on the hours that fit me rather than 9 to 5. I love that I can start up quietly, blog and do hobby-things in the morning and work into the evening. I love that I don't need to spend time packing lunch and that personal errands, shopping and cooking don't need to be crammed into a small time window between 6 and 7 pm, when I'm already hungry.
I have tried to explain to my colleagues why I think working from home for an extended period of time is great, but judging from their expressions, when I talk about it, I don't think they get it. Most people either use the overtime for flexibility throughout the year, for vacations or simply let it disappear when the clock is zeroed once a year. Generally people without families(or with grown kids) don't take off the overtime, but use it to point out how much work they do all the time. I don't want to defend myself for taking off the time, I have rightfully earned, just because I don't have a family. I also don't want to defend myself for using that time for work, because developing a research proposal for my new job and writing papers is not only something I do for my work place, but basically something I do for me.
I am also looking forward to have more time and freedom for blogging and I think I will spend some time developing this work-blog this I have been talking about.
posted by saxifraga @ 09:41
10 comments
10 Comments:
I think this is very cool. I hope you continue to feel relaxed and productive for the next weeks and do so guilt-free.
That sounds great. I'd often rather work from home, but it's not really an option at the moment. I hope you enjoy the coming weeks!
Your plan is really awesome. And you shouldn't defend yourself for taking your earned time off... especially if you plan to work during that time!
awesome! Enjoy. And let us know how it goes. :)
Thanks all. So far, one day in, I can say this is the best decision I have made in a long time.
That sounds really good...and I'm very jealous! Nobody keeps track of their hours where I work. People simply work until they've finished what they need to do, and take time off when they want to. I don't even know how many official vacation days I get per year. Sounds good in theory, and I do like the flexibility and inherent trust in not having someone track my work hours, but the actual result is that I always end up wasting my vacation time because there is always more work I need to do.
mad hatter: I used to work in a place like that and I do understand get what you're talking about (even if I always rant my the 9-5 job here). I used to think that no one would find out if I just stopped coming into work, and that thought really saddened me. When I started in my current job I thought the time control system was one of the most positive changes from my previous job. Now after two years of counting hours, I can't wait to get some of former freedom back. I guess I am not easily satisfied.
enjoy your "sabbatical"!!
I was wondering: how do you think the number of hours worked in the 9-5 way compares to the number worked in the sprinkled throughout the day way?
Ecogeofemme: Generally I think I am able to concentrate for about the same number of hours per day. But when working the 9-5 shift I tend not to work much in the evening, because the day in itself wears me out and it feels like a major hassle to find all my work things at home for one or two hours work after dinner. The day is always interrupted at work at some days I am lucky if I can squeeze in 2 to 3 hours on real research-related work and that is simply not enough. When working from home I can get 5 to 6 hours of real work (i.e. not including breaks, lunch, surfing the internet etc) in in a relatively relaxed day, and much more if it's crunch time. For the past few days I haven't worked very much though. Since I have also taken this time off to make room for some personal priorities I have spent quite some time on those.
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