The Two-Hour Workday

My ex-boss scared the hell out of me when I told her I wanted to go freelance. She was the editor-in-chief of a high-profile national magazine, but she’d done a six-month stint as a freelancer. “I never got anything done,” she said. “I’d wake up, read the news, go out and buy a chicken to cook for dinner, and suddenly I’d realize it’s 6pm.”

This was my worst nightmare of how freelance life could go if I let it. Though ultimately supportive of my decision to resign, my boss knew all too well about the pitfalls of life sans office routine. How is any of this relevant to a parenting blog, let alone to those of us who are at an age when we know ourselves reasonably well, most of the time anyway, and can list a bunch of career and/or life accomplishments we're proud of (like having a kid, for one)? I think it’s relevant because at this point in our lives, that self-knowledge and career track record—not to mention, for many of us, the work-versus-childcare-cost factor—makes it seem plausible to quit the day-job for now.

For those of us who decide to continue working but as freelancers, becoming our own boss might turn out to be the best idea we’ve ever had. Eventually...

But as I quickly discovered, and as my former boss tried to warn me: There’s a giant sucking sound in the middle of the weekday. That’s the sound of your hours, your energy, your goals, and your productivity vanishing as the clock suddenly goes from a bright and glorious 7AM to an oh-shit 3PM, to a what-the-hell-happened 5PM. If you have kids to pick up from school, dinner to prepare, and a partner to be present and attentive to, then you know your day as an autonomous being is now over.

Tomorrow: Same thing all over again. Unless, in my case, you cling to those morning hours for dear life. Bang out as many of the day’s goals as you can manage between 7 and 9AM (or 6 and 8, or 9 and 11, or whatever the first two available hours of the morning are for you). If you have kids to feed and dress and send to school, 6AM or even earlier (ouch) might be the golden hour.

That’s the time to tackle the toughest, most challenging, potentially most annoying tasks—the ones you’re inclined to put off until you’re “more focused.” Forget that. Do them now. Finish that writing assignment. Call those clients. Prep for that conference call. Or spend some focused time planning your next goal, whether that's a personal project or a decision to start work again after some time off. 

Beyond a quick glance at the headlines—to see if there’s a catastrophic breaking news event you need to know about (a distinct possibility these days)—try to put off the news-browsing, the online and offline errand-running, and the email inbox-checking until after you’ve finished your high-impact two hours. 

Whenever I can manage that, I’ve set myself up to get much more done for the rest of the day, or to do errands or miscellaneous tasks—knowing I've made progress on the most pressing goals on my list. Want to take a break, or answer some emails, go for a run, and come back to your work for another solid multi-hour session? Or maybe you can afford to blow off the afternoon that day (lucky you). Whatever you do or don't do, those couple of hours of dedicated, 100% attention-span work will have been priceless.

Sidenote: I'm a firm believer that a few hours of intense focus at home can be far more productive than the same amount of time in an office. Having logged many years on both sides, and talked to plenty of freelancers and telecommuters, I can attest to that—especially now that I've (mostly) learned to avoid taking my freelance day from newspaper to chicken in a blinding flash. Meanwhile, I'm glad to see that a few years after the New York Times weighed in on the movement, telecommuting stats are still on the rise.