Flexible working hours: Mowing on a Monday

As a relatively new soloist, I am still coming to terms with the flexible working hours such an existence brings. No longer am I bound to my desk from nine to five, having to find an excuse if I want to sneak out mid-afternoon to buy a book or wash my car.

I'm finding that with this new found flexibility comes guilt in the form of a little voice that quietly suggests “Shouldn’t you be at your computer? What right do you have to mow the lawn on a Monday morning? That’s a weekend job!”

Sometimes, most of the time in fact, that tiny little voice wins out and I find myself chained to my desk...doing stuff!

Fortunately, business is good so there’s always stuff to do, making the idea of being deskbound not such a bad one. Us soloists need a bit of discipline every now and then.

But there have been times when I could easily have taken advantage of the flexible working hours and afforded myself the luxury of doing other things – things completely unrelated to my business. Like getting on top of the Things to sort out around the house list.

But what if a client rang and I was changing a light bulb? Or Heaven forbid, cleaning the shower...naked! Would they be on to me? Would my sense of guilt give me away? What if that little guy on my shoulder yelled down the phone “Hey...Bet you can’t guess what Tim was doing when you rang?”

I can see the headline now...IDEAS GUY SERVICES CLIENT WHILST CLEANING SHOWER NAKED!

Well, I guess the thing is, there is freedom in flying solo...and it’s bloody good. It should be celebrated and enjoyed but never abused. Right now, I do have to remind myself that it’s okay to enjoy the flexible working hours and be at my desk for less than eight hours a day. And that mowing the lawn on Monday is the right thing to do.

In fact, writing this article has been quietly cathartic in that it’s helped me realise that a major part of flying solo is all about getting the job done and not about trying to fill in time. If I want to do that, I’ll head back to corporate life.

And if I did that, it would not just be my shower and lawn that would suffer.

Tim Reid is the original Ideas Guy having founded the business in 2003. He believes all businesses today must 'innovate or depreciate' and runs innovations workshops nationally to help them do just that.

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Finally, after five years I'm managing to take 2 hours off in the middle of the day with only a smidgeon of guilt. I start at 6, I finish at 6 (meeting public transport for hubby). And actually, the clients have been pretty good about it. Denise from Kumeu
My husband works weekends and various shifts during the week, so it's never been a problem for me to adjust hours so that I actually get to see him sometimes. If I have a school function to attend, or even a "date lunch" with my husband, I just work the hours afterwards. My clients never suffer for it - I'm actually at my best when I manage my life best. And working hours after dinner means I don't have any normal interruptions. Karen from Springwood NSW
It took me at least 12 months to get over the guilt of being able to do what I wanted, when I wanted. And now I can even have a 15 minute "power snooze" after lunch without feeling the need to justify it to anyone - even myself! Even though I have more work now as a soloist than I did as a corporate, the stress is much less due to being able to control my own time and life. Enjoy your freedom Tim, and make the most of it. Rosemary from WA
Interesting article. I once negotiated a major deal after stepping out of the shower. The mobile rang unexpectedly, and I stood stark naked in the bathroom, dripping with water, as I successfully negotiated a significant fee with a client! I guess the moral is that whilst you may be doing other 'non-business' things, if your mind is tuned into your business, you can always be ready wherever you are (and almost ... whatever you're doing!) Nigel Wilson from Kent, UK
I am a recent recruit to the soloist army and 3 months into my new flexible life am finding myself working too many hours a week and not taking advantage of my 'new' life, and it is good to hear that the feeling of guilt can be distilled in time. I am trying to build some non-work activities into the structure of a regular day, for example, working from 7am to 9am getting emails done and setting my schedule, before going to the gym for an hour followed by a hearty breakfast. I find that this way I am not waiting for gym equipment to become available and it is a great kick start to the day. Dugan Aylen from Norwich, UK
Dugan - The concept of working in blocks of time (as you suggest) can be extremely effective and including blocks where you work on you rather than the business is very beneficial. We rarely have our best ideas when staring at a monitor! Robert Gerrish from Sydney, NSW | Read my articles

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