The Ideal Workday

Lately I’ve been reflecting on my work life and where I’d like to be in the future, in terms of both my career and my daily environment. I also feel exhausted by the idea that I’ll have to work 8 hours a day for the rest of my working career — presumably another 35 years. In a world where working from home and flexibility is king, I know I can’t be the only millennial with this concern…

One of my career goals (see blog post about Prioritizing Career goals) is to have a truly flexible schedule. So, I asked myself, if I had full control over schedule what would I want it to look like?

Part of this whole process to get to The Ideal Work Day is to (1) Believe that the ideal work day can and will happen to you (2) Identify what your ideal work day would be, if you had full control (3) Identify the activities or businesses you would want to work on during that time and (4) Work towards the ideal work day. Here’s a breakdown of each step:

Believe that the Ideal Work Day can and will happen to you

You are in charge of your life. Even when it feels out of control or our work days feel controlled by other people (coworkers, our boss, our boss’s boss), we do things by choice every day. We get up and go to work for individual reasons. Many of us go because we need the paycheck. Some of us go for personal fulfillment or career aspirations. A few of us even go because we find it fun.

No matter what your reason, flexibility and autonomy are important. So much so that studies have shown folks are more satisfied and work longer with better results if they have flexibility and autonomy in. More and more, those of us who work office jobs crave the flexibility to work from home or make our own schedules. I see this all of the time in my current role.

But what you need to understand and believe is that you can be in control of you work day.

Visualize and Write Down your Ideal Work Day

Before I mapped out my ideal work day, I first built parameters to address what’s important for me to accomplish during any given day. As you may know from my post Workout Schedule, working out is very important to me and I like to incorporate two workouts a day – one cardio, and one that’s more strength focused or flexibility driven. Additionally, getting a good night’s sleep and eating healthy are also important to me and I incorporated those elements into my parameters as well. Reading, writing and learning are also paramount to my feeling satisfied with my work. And of course, downtime is a must.

Below are my specific parameters that helped to shape my Ideal Work Day:

• Ideal wake up time: 7-8 a.m.

• Ideal bedtime:10 p.m.

• Workout twice a day between 1.5 – 2 hours total

• Take time to eat healthy meals

• Write and research every day

• Make time for reading

• Spend time with my husband and dogs

When creating your ideal work day schedule, it’s also important to keep in mind when you do your best work. For example, I’m terrible at doing work that requires a great deal of concentration (like writing) in the early afternoon. I usually work the best in the mornings and then get my second wind at about 3 or 4 p.m. I try to plan my most complex tasks during that time and then do more simple, administrative tasks that don’t require a lot of mental effort in the early afternoon.

In her book Better than Before Gretchen Rubin refers to a “morning person” and a “night person” as a lark or an owl, respectfully. I’m a lark — which means I do my best work in the morning and can benefit from getting up early to focus on my most important tasks. Some folks are owls and do their best work at night. Neither is better than the other, but it is important to know which one you are so you can structure your Ideal Work Day accordingly.

Identify the areas you want to work on during your Ideal Work Day.

After I developed my parameters, I went about trying to figure out my ideal and, most importantly, flexible schedule.

Work towards the Ideal Work Day.

Working towards the ideal work day depends on your personal situation. For me, a big piece of my ideal work day revolves around becoming financially independent, or atleast close to it.

Whoa, you might be wondering… What does financial independence mean and how do I get there?

Rather than explaining the concept in detail to you, I suggest listening to the ChooseFI.com podcast. I’m absolutely hooked! Jonathan and Brad (the hosts) provide such a fantastic and digestible framework for what it looks like to become financially independent, especially in their Milestones of FI and Why of FI episodes. They also explain what they call “FU money” where you’re not financially dependent on a 40-50 hour week job, but you’re working where and when you want. In essence, you have the ability to leave the “the hamster wheel” or “the corporate ladder” with little consequence because you’re not dependent on that income. Becoming financially independent isn’t about being lazy, though; it’s about pursuing your passion and having the freedom to do that whatever and wherever you want.

But back to my main point…

You need to figure out what your barriers are to achieving the ideal work day. For example, let’s say you’re like me and value flexibility, but your boss doesn’t typically allow flexible schedules. Is there something you can do about this? Perhaps there’s a conversation that needs to be had with your boss. Maybe you need to figure out why your boss feels this way and see if there’s any way to compromise or work around the why.  

Or maybe you’ve been in the same job for a number of years and are become increasingly bored with your work. Is there another job that you can do within the company that will challenge you or special projects that you can take on in your current role? What about part-time work?

My point is: if you love your job except for a few things, look for opportunities to have the ideal work day within your current role. If your ideal work day just can’t happen in the environment or career field you’re currently in and, as a result, it’s sucking away your energy and passion, then evaluate what is required to leave that field. Is there training or formal education you would need for a career field you’re more interested in? Is there consulting work you can do or a another small business that you can start? Are you financially independent and can theoretically leave the job you’re working in or allow a small business to grow slowly?

Thinking about the barriers and working towards breaking down the barriers to an ideal work day is very important. You can’t get to the ideal work day without doing so.

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So take the steps I outlined above and let me know what you came up with. If you feel stuck or need help along the way, feel free to email at livingincrementally@gmail.com

Look forward to hearing from you!