Creating a guilt-free work week
My experiment to make time for the things I missed in 2019
Last year, when I thought about work, I felt guilty. Very guilty. The feeling was frequent and intense. It mostly related to not making time for the things that I knew made me a better coach and a happier person. Things that, when I got busy, always fell to the bottom of my list. Like doing the work to develop some of my new ideas, writing articles like this one, talking to interesting people (just because…) and broadening my perspective through learning. It’s not rocket science and it’s far from an original story. I was busy doing the work of helping others feel inspired — and forgot to do that for myself.
Before you click away thinking “I don’t have time for a pity party”, this isn’t a “woe is me” story. I know how lucky I am. My coaching practice was heavily booked (perhaps a little beyond that actually) and I was working with many individuals and teams that fit squarely into my “ideal client” definition. But I wasn’t creating space for the new and different — something I crave. And if I’m honest, I wasn’t always making the best decisions about the work I was choosing to do.
So, I decided to take advantage of the flexibility that comes with running a practice like mine. I took control and created an experiment.
For the next 12 weeks, Friday is going to be my quarantined “Investigation Day”.
Each Investigation Day will have 5 components :
- conversations to inspire,
- reflecting and writing
- new product development,
- learning, and
- getting out from behind the desk.
I’m in the process of building a plan for each component, with specific objectives attached to each to help guide me (and ensure that I don’t end up in front of the TV). I’ve also enlisted a good friend and fellow coach to help keep me accountable. Her help definitely falls into the “conversations to inspire” category.
You might be wondering about the impact on clients by cutting a day from the week. I had a choice to make — either lengthen the time a client waits to get an appointment or lengthen my work hours between Monday to Thursday. Ultimately I split the difference. I have lengthened my work hours Monday to Thursday by 1 hour — which essentially makes up half of Friday. And I’m also focusing on being more efficient on those days. Only time will tell but I suspect that overall I’ll see more clients, achieve more and feel better about the whole thing.
The ultimate measure of success for my Investigation Days will be whether I feel less guilty — because if that is true I’ll know I’ve been doing the right stuff. Even before the experiment has begun I’ve noticed that I feel better. My latest edition of the Harvard Business Review arrived this week and rather than look at it and (guiltily) wonder when I’ll get to it, I put it on the list for Friday. Somehow, assigning it to a specific day with a context felt better. Of course, the test will be whether or not I actually get it done — but we’ll all have to stay tuned for that one. I’ll be writing a reflection at the end of each Investigation Day and will publish them here — which will also help me with the Reflecting and Writing part of the day.
Publishing this article is designed to get me back in the writing habit. It is also an opportunity to ask for your help. I’d love to hear your ideas about what I should read, watch or listen to, who I should talk to and of course, how you think I can make the best use of Investigation Days. So, let’s hear it!
