It鈥檚 never a good sign when a coworker handpicks you for an assignment about achieving a shorter workday, adding: 鈥淚t鈥檚 because you鈥檙e the most stressed-out person I know.鈥 But there was some truth to the superlative, and I knew I wasn鈥檛 alone. I jumped at the chance to address a problem that affects many of us. The inspiration: showing that people who clocked a traditional workday (about 8.6 hours) felt less productive and more time crunched than those who worked shorter days. The sweet spot, apparently: 7.6 hours.
Setting boundaries with work has always been a challenge for me. I cut lunch breaks short, stay at my desk past six, bring work stress home and even take it to the trails. For years, I鈥檝e talked gallantly about setting better boundaries like someone pledging to quit smoking; instead, I swept my bad habits under the rug, using my active lifestyle as false proof that actually I was fine. I ski before heading in to the office and run at lunch. I go for evening hikes with friends. Yeah, I work too hard鈥攂ut it鈥檚 not that bad!
The first day of my experiment went smoothly until about 5:25 P.M.鈥攆ive minutes before I told myself I鈥檇 log off. I wasn鈥檛 done with several pressing projects. The minutes ticked past: 5:30, then 5:45, then six. I鈥檇 try again tomorrow. A week went by like this. I鈥檇 start the day full of determination, then finish it stressed out and upset with myself for once again failing at something that seemed so easy.
I spent two more weeks trying to achieve the nirvana of balance I had been told awaited me, but it never happened. On days when I succeeded in working from nine to 5:30, with an hour for lunch, I wound up feeling frazzled instead of productive. Then I鈥檇 revert back to my former habits. (Case in point: I鈥檓 writing this sentence at 5:26 P.M. on a Friday evening鈥攁nd I know I won鈥檛 be going home in four minutes.)
Grappling with failure came with its own revelations. Horrified by the reality of my relationship with work, I started paying more attention to my focus and stress levels throughout the day. I began to let go of the notion that a fixed schedule鈥攅ven a progressive one鈥攚ould solve any of my problems. Instead, I adopted a position of flexibility: I can go for a run and show up at my desk at 9:20 A.M. without panicking, then enjoy more breathing room between meetings and story edits. Has this helped my productivity? Hard to say. But I spend less time feeling anxious about what my day should look like and a little more time listening to what my brain needs. That鈥檚 a start.