Back when I was a student, working on my first TYPO3 projects, I followed the pattern of every "successful" freelancer: I worked overtime, every other night and skipped weekends. Whining about still not getting my work done in 12 hours a day, a friend of mine gave me a good advice: try doing it in 4 hours instead.
Despite being reluctant I followed his advice for a couple of weeks and while it took some time getting used to it, I ended up being much more focussed and tackling the important rather than the non-important urgent tasks.
If you already start your day knowing that you are going to work 12 hours, you will follow the notion of "now that I have to work for so many hours anyway, I can as well spend some time procrastinating".
These days I'm falling into the trap again. Besides some paid customer work I'm putting the same time on top for getting my freelance bussinnes running and working on Flow and Neos. It feels like a three-month sprint. Now, sprints can set free a lot of energy, but you can't sprint forever.
Today I stumbled across a post "Stop working (so hard)". It reminded me of that old advice and set my goal for (somewhen) this year:
Kyle Bragger wrote on medium.com:
Nowadays, I’m working 4-day weeks, and doing no more than an hour or two of intense work at a time. I take a lot of walks. I’ve lost weight. I’m happier. My wife is happier. I’m more present. And most importantly:
I’m doing the best work of my life.
What is your working model? Do you take a walk during work time? Spend nights working despite having a partner and family?
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