Working more and less

The transition into my current role, responsibilities, and work environment have forced me to reevaluate and adjust some of my beliefs and practices about work. Here are a few of my thoughts.

I need to work more and less. I need to be more focused and productive while I am working but spend less time engaged with work. It's just as draining for me to be at my desk for 4 hours of inefficiency as it is to really hone in get stuff done for the same amount of time.

Down time works better in bulk. A full day off has more restorative kick than 2 half days. Better to pack you day and have your evening free than to work "all day" but in 2-3 hour chunks.

Productivity is the point. Things that put me in the right head space to work are work even if they seem like the farthest thing from work. If taking a break and going for a walk helps me have the idea that's work. If laying down for 20 min makes the whole structure of the message crystalize than napping is work. I need to see my work environment like and artist studio where ideas and inspiration matter not like a factory where punching a clock and being at your post are the highest value. I work best when I work how I work. The goal is not to first and foremost fill a role, keep an artificial schedule, or be doing certain things the goal is to produce and what ever get me there, from spending time in prayer, to taking a shower, to reading a book count if they are making me more productive rather than less. That said...

The unpredictability of my job makes a schedule more important not less. The fact that my job will never fit neatly into a 9-5 box and that I can never accurately predict what my week will hold, when inspiration will hit, and what will be required of me means that rather than throwing a schedule out the window because I know it will have to change I need to embrace it and stick to it. I need to guard refueling time because I never know when I will be asked to give out more than I had planned. I need to be very intentional about disengaging because I never punch out and go home and if I let it the work can always be at the front of my mind. This is not good for me or the work. I need to be intentional about leaving bigger space for the bigger things because they will get swallowed up otherwise. And I need to strategically plan less work than I can get done in a week because when I'm planning know I don't know everything I will need to do that week, maybe even that day.