with Britt Reints
Forget the 9 to 5; Full Time, All the Time is a blog about the mobile working life - when you have the freedom to work from anywhere and the responsibility of always having your smartphone turned on. Britt Reints works as a freelance writer while traveling fulltime in an RV with her husband and two kids. She explores balancing real-life bills with an unconventional work life, and finding time to maintain relationships with family and friends.
You can also find Britt at InPursuitOfHappiness.net.
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It’s not uncommon for me to be on an airplane on a Tuesday afternoon, on a conference call on a Saturday morning, and answering email late into the evening on any given day. One of my favorite things about my mobile lifestyle is that I’m not chained to a time clock or some antiquated schedule that dictates that business gets done from 9 to 5 on five select days of the week. One of my least favorite things, however, is that I seem to have lost my designated time off in the process.
I take my cell phone with me everywhere, allowing me to respond to emails and take phone calls even if I’m not sitting at a desk. I don’t have set hours during which clients or editors can contact me, which I hope makes up for the fact that I might be unavailable for several hours in the middle of a work day. It would be hypocritical of me to tell someone I won’t work on a Saturday, I think, if I also haven’t worked on a Thursday. I strive to make myself available as much as possible in order to make up for the times I’m not available and for the unpredictable nature of my schedule.
But everyone is entitled to some down time, and I struggle to make sure I get enough of that. Sure, I have moments when my cell phone can’t ring - because I’m 10,000 feet in the air. Air travel can hardly be considered relaxing “off” time.
Now that the kids have settled into a (virtual) school routine, I think it’s time for me to consider settling back into slightly more normal work hours. That might mean fewer day trips during the week in exchange for getting to truly unplug on the weekends. The alternative of always having one foot in the (virtual) office kind of stinks.
I think it’s imperative to be “off” on a regular basis. No matter how much you adore what you do, anything that you do for money is a “have to” to some extent. I’m a big believer in having adequate “want to” time so you can stay relaxed and fresh. It’s especially important when your job is a creative one. You have to go out and gather experiences in order to fuel your creative engine.
Megan | October 26th, 2011 at 10:09 am
Working for yourself does allow a lot of freedom, it means what you are doing isn’t really a JOB, but something you enjoy so maybe this is why it’s hard to find time.
I would say disconnect and really disconnect. Go take a walk or do nothing for a while. Try not disconnecting to just do something else, do nothing and enjoy that.
Good luck
xoxo kt MiniHipster.com
Katie | October 29th, 2011 at 7:43 am