It has become increasingly challenging to factor golf into my work week. I need the practice.

‘Mindfulness’ is a movement that has been gaining traction in recent years, in line with the rise of technology. More time scrolling aimlessly through social media and gawking at Netflix led to a need for more purposeful time in the lives of busy, young professionals.

I’ve written about this before (see here), but this is not a mindfulness post. No, this post is a reflection on some recent decisions I’ve made regarding work, how they were mistakes, and how I plan to prevent them happening in the future. Quick summary below, or dive right in!

I can estimate the hours required for good, amazing, exceptional work
I need to account for a margin of error when making those estimates
Creative (down) time is crucial for ‘aha’ moments at work, especially when managing people
Context switching is a time killer — three 20-hr jobs is far more taxing than a single 70-hr job
Focus on ‘being bored’ and recalibrate, not being fully packed and needing to cut back

40-hr Work Week

The traditional ‘work week’ takes a lot of heat in 2020. Workaholics will swear by packed schedules, and jobs that require you to go above and beyond a 9-5. Others will counter; why be ineffective from 9-1pm just so you can spend 5-9pm catching up? I tend to fall somewhere in between — work when you’re most effective to get the job done, but set boundaries between ‘work time’ and ‘personal time’.

For the last two years, I’ve run a marketing agency, a business that is built on ‘hours in the day’. Quotes for clients are based on the estimated number of hours the engagement will take, with different rates depending on the nature of the work. A 10-hour project might take 5 hours of data entry ($12/hr), 3 hours of marketing execution ($30/hr), and 2 hours of marketing direction/management ($60/hr). Get your total, apply a mark-up that makes sense, and quote the client accordingly.

In theory, the same system can be applied to a full-time job. Let’s say I’m a Product Manager at a large tech company. I could analyze my week as follows:

Satisfactory (30 hours / wk): Managing my time well, and setting expectations with my colleagues/superior, I could accomplish adequate work in 30 hours of ‘productive time’ per week. I.e. I work from 8-2pm to execute on projects and communicate with teammates, leaving the remainder of the day to myself.
Above Average (40 hours / wk): Add another 10 hours to think through hard problems, be proactive about the projects I’m working on, and show my team that I’m going above & beyond what is expected of me as a PM. This pushes my schedule to 8-4pm every weekday.

I know I have capacity to do up to 60 hours / wk (8-6 Mon-Fri, 2-7pm on weekends). So, my reaction might be to fill this time with additional work — take on contract work, try to build a side project with a friend, etc. Eventually, I might have a schedule that looks like the following:

Full-time job (above average, 40 hours / wk)
Contract work (satisfactory, 10 hours / wk)
Side project (above average, 10 hours / wk)

This still leaves adequate time on weekends and weekday evenings for personal matters (health, relationship, sleep, etc.). Perfect system, right?

Problem 1: Margin of Error

I talked through this with my friend Thenuka recently, and he brought up a good point around margin of error. Paraphrased, but it went something like this:

“You need to have margin in your life... If things go wrong, you’re still flexible enough to handle it.”

As a Product Manager, it’s not feasible to be above average every week with 40 hours allocated. Product launches, blunders by myself (or colleagues), and other turbulence could change this. Arguably, it might take 40 hours some weeks to even be satisfactory.

Life happens too — friend birthdays, getting sick, realizing your fridge is empty and you’ve eaten out for 3 days in a row. An hour here, an evening there, and my ‘60 hours of availability’ could easily be condensed to 50 — which, in the system above, means I’m going to be outright terrible at one of my commitments.

Problem 2: Creative (Down) Time

Product Management, like many other roles, is more than strictly execution. That means that I need to be creative in the work I do — which won’t always happen in my allotted time for work. Often, it might be when I’m not doing work (i.e. cooking, reading, etc.) that my best ideas will come. So, similar to Problem 1 above, I need to give myself some ‘margin’ time — not in the event of fires, but proactively so that I’m able to be more effective at my job.

This isn’t possible if I pack my schedule. I might be itching to work on my full-time job on Saturday at 8pm, but if I’m behind on other pursuits (based on my time allotment), then I won’t be able to channel that energy.

Problem 3: Context Switching

Some of my friends work brutal jobs — ones where 80 to 90-hr weeks are the norm. When running an agency, my days were (hours-wise) quite relaxed. I maybe worked a 9-6pm during the week, and sometimes weekends. Compared to past roles, however, running an agency had me drained.

Why is this the case? Context switching; it’s a lot harder to do three 20-hour per week jobs, than do one 70-hour per week job. While I could try to block time for certain clients, it often looked like 8-10am on Client 1, interrupted for an hour to put out a fire, back on Client 1 for 30 minutes, break for meeting with Client 2, debrief on Client 2, and 30-minute query from Client 3 while still not finished on Client 1.

According to the APA, this type of multi-tasking can take up to 40% of productive time. Likely an over-statement, but even if it’s 20% of productive time, that’s 12 hours added to a 60-hour week due to having multiple projects to attend to.

Revised Scenario

With the three problems above, I think it’s fair to say that applying the agency model (X hours need for Y project) doesn’t work with a full-time role and other pursuits. With the 40-hour ‘above average’ work week in mind, I’d need to recalibrate as follows:

Margin of Error: 5 hours => 45 hours / wk
Creative Time: 7 hours => 52 hours / wk
Context Switching: 5 hours => 57 hours / wk
Overall: 42.5% increase

If I apply this to my entire 60-hour work week, that means more than 85 hours / week — which simply isn’t sustainable. I believe the solution is to do the following:

1. Undershoot & Experiment

Sure, I could handle a 60-hour work week, and pack my schedule accordingly. A better idea is to start with a 40-hour week (PM job only), and track my progress / feelings after the first few weeks. If I’m getting bored, maybe that calls for introducing additional work, or other stimulants (i.e. reading, new hobby, etc.). I believe it’s always better to be bored and recalibrate, than overwhelmed and trying to cut back.

2. Create Routine

Work is unpredictable, and that’s not something I can change. However, I can build routine in other areas of my life. If I start my work day consistently at 8am, maybe I could wake up at 630am and bake in a workout + breakfast every morning. I could also reserve certain weeknights for activities that I know replenish my energy (i.e. date night, movie, etc.)

Conclusion

I realized I didn’t give much detail to my actual scenario / mistakes in this article, but I hope the thought experiment alone was enough to shed some light on what I’m thinking. Simply put, I wanted to share that ‘hours in the day’ (for a work project, personal pursuit, etc.) needs to factor in more things than simply the work required to complete it.