Great article Allan!

Get off the computer and talk to people? I always forget that one

Allan,

Your son is adorable!

“#4 Leave the house.” Good advice. If I find myself getting lonely or just wanting to see faces other than the reruns of Law & Order I keep running in the background all day, I journey out to a coffeehouse. That way I can still be in front of my laptop and get some work done, but it’s sort of like socializing…. Kinda.

Rachelle

80 hours a week? Who’s actually productive for 40 hours a week? If I actually did 8 hours of productive work during the day, I’d never be working evenings and weekends.

But I definitely agree about family time. I (almost) never sacrifice time with my kids. I drop them off at school, pick them up, spend the evening with them and make sure they’re tucked into bed. Then I hop on the computer again.

Great article! This is right on time and in-line with my current situation!

I’ve got a similar process: from 4:30pm – 8pm or later it’s picking up our boy, taking the dogs for a walk, doing dinner, bath and family time. Then if there’s work to be done, I’ll get back on the computer. Gotta make time for ‘Lost’ though.

Great article,and good reminders to all of us. I think we absolutely have to draw lines between work/family time, and some clients don’t get that. That’s why we have to be adamant about it. I recently parted ways with a client who expected me to return his calls at night, work at all times, and be available on weekends. I won’t do that – even if I do work past 5, it’s my call. My life is not work, and my work is not life.

a great article on a topic that so often seems overlooked by the professional world. my goal is to only work after 5pm if i have off-set that time doing something i love (usually skiing or biking) during the day. and i’ve never felt better!

100% agree with you Allan. I made similar suggestions about how exercise can make you more productive at
3 Tips to Help You Live Again: Stop Being a Half-Asleep Zombie Creature

Good stuff.
As I get ready to start freelancing with a family it’s good to read articles like this.
More of this please!

#4 & #5 – If at all possible – I start my day surfing – and on these days – I’m more focused and productive.

Definitely getting away from the computer is the best advice. Let your mind wander else where. Like all of you, I’m sure you’re constantly thinking about the next project, what’s due throughout the week, when your checks are coming in the mail. Being able to just get away and let go for awhile is the best relief in my book.

thanks for this article. A few months ago I woke up while working and realized that I had been working for “Stuff” for the past 4 years! for our house, cars, and extra bs around the house. But i wasn’t fully there for the family. It took me a couple of months of losing my mind to let go of all the extra crap and get back to my wife and kids. I’m so much happier now and I realize that work isn’t what I have been created for. And like many of us I have tons of side projects and I have had to quit a few of them to release my mind from the B.S. I’m trying to live for now!

Great post Allan!. what the problem with me now im not exercise regularly.. thanks for your tips man

Allan, Don’t be offended. I think you need to sweat more Get off the bike and run (or trek – have your baby and a baby-backpack with you.)

Well, you are absolutely right with getting off the chair away from the computer and talk to people. My sons now are 4 yrs old and 3. If they are not in school, I really can’t concentrate with my morning job and I get easily angry with their fighting and tantrums, not mentioning the messes at my background, and their superpowers: crying out loud!. They do not want to have a father who’s just here present but the attention is 50% or less. I really need a break.

Thanks for the article, a wake up call indeed.

I know somebody who works about 80hours/week. It’s crazy as I hardly see the person and we’re quite close. Considering that they hardly have time for their immediate family, I suppose I shouldn’t take offense, but it’s definitely taking the toll on his health. The strange thing is his not a freelancer, so could you imagine how successful the person would be if they put that much energy into their own business. Boggles the mind.

Hey I think this is one of the keys to success. A friend of mine has a succesful company, but he never works past 5 pm. He is good at balancing family and work.

Great article.

I wrote about it in my blog (in spanish).

Ohana significa familia siempre unida

@Rongen, I do need to sweat more! But don’t be fooled I’m 6′5 330 pounds, a former college offensive lineman for a D1 college, I can still bench press 500+ pounds. I am the world’s largest designer!

Re #4 — I tend to find that even sitting on my park bench in the front garden helps. I live in an outer-suburb and there aren’t many peaceful, non-lonely places to go in the neighborhood, but getting some sun and wind close to home can be just as good. Having a nice front garden helps.

I do sometimes go into the back garden where the dogs are, but one of them is clearly an obsessed Mac evangelist: my Pug has a penchant for licking my MacBook!

I, like all the above, agree full-heartedly. The bummer is that the clients dont understand the issue and expect one to be on call at all (or most hours). People sometimes dont understand why i wont set a meeting between 4:30pm and 8pm… they think i am being inflexible… i have to spell it out to them (slowly!). The weird thing is that kost of them were fathers of young kiss at some stage as well!

For me – thats one of the biggest pro’s of working from home – seeing the family. i have freinds who see their kids (awake) only on the weekends!

Exercise and getting away from the computer screen are the two things I keep telling myself I need to do, not do more of, actually do! Photography is a hobby of mine so a walk with my camera each day is the perfect combination. Note to self…. DO IT!!

very nice suggestions and tips right there. Thanks

A great reminder article. The getting-out-of-the-house issue is one I’m really trying to do more often. I’m not a freelancer, but I’m finishing up grad school and can easily stay in the house all day writing papers and grading papers. My fiancee dislikes my lack of human contact because when I finally see her, I’m like a puppy dog on Red Bull.

Very good reminders ..
As freelancers we tend to forget them sometimes
Happy parents make happy kids!!
I have a rule that I don’t return emails after 5.30pm and even if I am working at night – I never email my clients at that time – i will draft them until 9am when I send them off -

Great article, Allan.

I’m pretty lucky I guess. My better half likes to help with the freelance stuff, and when it’s time to get out for a while, we head to St. Augustine (Florida, U.S.). It’s a nice change of view, and historic so there aren’t many “modern distractions” that would remind me of work.

Great piece!

I work to live, rather than living to work. Because of that I adjust my work schedule so I’m not often working when my partner is home from work. It helps to have the office separate from the living space in the house. I come downstairs in the evening, shut the door and the office is closed.

It is also helpful to have established office hours when I deal with clients – and that is Monday through Thursday; 8:00 to 5:00. Fridays are a day that I will not have any client contact. I can get business paperwork done, catch up on marketing efforts, or work on a project if necessary. I just don’t deal directly with clients or answer my office phone.

For about seven years now I’ve been meeting for coffee almost weekly with 4-6 friends who also have their own businesses. It’s a great opportunity to actually get dressed and leave the house – in addition to being a good “reality check” with others operating their own businesses.

Gardening is my favorite way to escape from my computer. In fact, I just came in from about an hour of working in my garden. It’s great to get lost in “playing in the dirt” for a while. I’m now getting ready to walk about ten blocks to the post office to pick up my mail. It’s a gorgeous sunny day here today and my business allows me to make the most of it.

Great post. And i agree with all of it.
In fact, i was just sitting here feeling quite smug about the fact that i already do all of your suggestions…until i realised that I am in fact sitting here at ‘family time’ ignoring my partner and son, and staring at this screen.. And i’m not even working. Im reading other designers blogs..
Oops.

This information is already known by many if not most that this should be put into practice and yet it is nice to be kept reminded of this things to keep us on track of our work and personal life. Great post!

Achieving balance and also networking and promoting oneself is very hard!

Great post. This is the most important thing. balance of family and work. Without work you can’t support your family properly. Without family, what’s the point of all that work?

thanks fot the great post.

Good points.
I’m still working on that stopping work thing, but I found the book, “Choosing to Cheat” particularly helpful in giving me ‘permission’ to stop working…at least for a little while. Oh, Andy Stanley’s the author.

You really hit the freelance lifestyle on its head. My home office is in the middle of the house, without a door to close, so I have no choice but to stop working when the kids get home from school. And family dinner is a must for us, not just for healthy eating but for maintaining a stable family life.

Great article!

Great article. I totally agree with you on so many of the points if not all of them. When you decide to take that step forward towards having a family, it becomes your new responsibility to put your family first. I acutally work full-time in the medical world and full-time in design so I have to really find a smooth balance that works for me. Often times it’s staying up late or sneaking away to the computer when the kids are outside playing or in the shower.

Oh – and I so dig the pictures. You are so the family guy and it rocks!

This is great advice. Especially for someone like me – a young professional (23) who works full-time at an agency, but also runs a freelance photography business – it’s hard to balance time with my fiancée, running (training for a marathon), and sleep!!! When you’re young and starting out your “life career” but your heart also has a passion for freelancing… it’s hard to know how to balance that out. Are there any other young freelancers that follow this blog and have advise on balance your time? Thanks for the post!

I completely agree with you regarding the family time and flexing your muscles thing.
Having to work odd hours was one of the major reasons of switching from my first job to the second (and current) one. Funny i read your blog today, coz i just watched the movie click yesterday. And it tries to carry forward similar feelings.

Also we have table tennis table at office to help us do a minimal exercise every othr day .

For me anything more than 40 hours a week is counter productive. It’s important to recreate, spend time with my family, play games, read, etc. During these times do I get more ideas or solutions on the task at hand. Great article!

Great article. A balanced life is so important. And spending time with family should be a top priority. When our kids are grown up and we look back, I’m sure we’d like to say that we spent time with them rather than putting extra time into work.

Wonderful article! This one hits home for me. There are so many companies nowadays that expect you to work 50-60 hour work weeks (minimum). I am in the accounting industry, and just finishing up school. Every company that I have though about interviewing with has told me that 50-60 hour work weeks are normal. That does not sound fun to me. Luckily, I found a company that believes in work/life balance.

Good article and I almost totally agree with you, except..

“Remember that work is your tool to make money, its not your life.”

Although my thoughts certainly are with my work too often I cannot see it as not being my life. I’m a jazz musician and I totally love what I am doing. It’s such a blessing to be able to make music, let creativity flow an (hopefully) bring a short moment of enlightenment to an audience.
So my work is definitely not just a tool to make money. Fortunately I can live from playing music and don’t even have to make artistic sacrifices (like playing in a Top 40 band or background music at receptions and such), but money certainly isn’t my biggest motivator.

Yeah, music is my life. And that’s what makes it so difficult to find a good balance with the “rest of my life”.

But I’m not complaining! Just wanted to share my thoughts on that one particular point.

Cheers,
Yonga Sun

Very interesting.

I happened upon this through del.icio.us and although I’m not a freelancer and live alone, I’ve just made a decision about returning to work at a place I resigned from only two months ago. This article resonated with me. What happened is, one of my former co-workers is taking three months’ maternity leave, so my old boss asked if I’d come back as a temp for an hourly rate (rather than the annual salary I was getting).

The thing is, the hours are bad and my former boss wastes a lot of time with unproductive three-hour staff meetings and the like. (I remember two long vacations he took as the most productive periods–for myself and the department in general–in the two years I worked there.) But the work isn’t difficult and the other staff are very companionable. In fact, I had lunch with them yesterday, and they pressed me hard to return. My (former) boss was nearly begging, saying I could have whatever schedule I want, take time off, etc.

So here’s what I decided: First, my hours will be 9:30 to 5:30 Mondays through Thursdays. Fridays off so I can volunteer, do some job hunting for after the three months are up, and generally have a life. Second, I want all meetings to have agendas distributed in advance (which we never did before) and no staff meeting should last more than an hour (if I return, I’ll buy a timer for the office). With those boundaries I should be able to do the job in 27 hours a week (allowing one-hour lunches and a weekly one-hour staff meeting) that I used to do in 40.

I’m not sure he’ll go for it, and to be honest I’m not completely certain I want to go back, but if it’s only for three months this will make it bearable. The per-hour rate is actually better this way then when I was on annual salary, though only by a little. Mostly I want to make sure I can be productive in a shorter time. In my wildest dreams, I hope that once the pattern is established, it will continue after I leave and everyone can be more productive in the same (or less) time. As the article so rightly points out, no one can be productive for 80 (or maybe even 70, 60….) hours a week and we all need to stop staring at the computer screen now and then to keep the creative juices flowing.

Fantastic article! The never ending challenges of juggling family and work.

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Thanks to remind me about my healthy and family. ^^