Re: Average Hours Worked

[Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Andrew Plato (who apparently can't stay away from TECHWR-L <g>) wrote:

> > Some people actually enjoy working a more open-ended
> > schedule where they will gleefully put in 80+ hours
> > a week. I work at least that, but I love my work and I
> > have control over my life. So working long hours is
> > not anything to be proud of, its just the way things
> > are. I don't even really know how much I work each
> > week.

And Goober replied:

> So if I love to write I should be happy putting in 80
> hours a week in exchange for payment for 40 hours a
> week? I don't think so. I love what I do, and I'm told
> I'm damn good at it. Compensation is why I'm working,
> otherwise I'd be doing it for free. In the end,
> stripping out all surrounding factors, whether you are
> employee or contractor, you are providing a service.

I recall a successful businessman telling a story on himself. It seems that he hired
a consultant to help him improve his operations. After examining the businessman's
operations, and pocketing his substantial fee, the consultant took the businessman
to lunch and told him, "If you can't get it done in 40 hours a week, you're doing it
wrong."

That's one perspective. Another is--and *I* think this is at least part of Andrew's
point--that if you enjoy what you're doing, it isn't work, and you don't worry about
the hours. You are so engrossed in what you are doing that time flies along as you
happily work along and thing the folks who are paying you are idiots for doing so
because you're having so much fun!

It doesn't matter to me what anyone outside of the people with whom I work think
about either the quality of my work or the number of hours I put in. I like what I'm
doing, but I don't love it to the extent that it IS my life. I like a lot of other
things, too, and I make time for them. But I do THIS work because I really do enjoy
it. I'm less worried about giving my employers a freebie than some people are. If
I'm fairly compensated (in MY opinion), and the job requires more than 40 hours a
week, I have no problem with that. But if I don't like it, I move on to something I
expect to like better or that better fits my lifestyle needs at this time.

I don't feel chained to this job or to any job, but I can understand how some people
do. I guess I just don't think there's a right or wrong answer for everybody. Andrew
likes to work a lot of hours; he's having fun. Who am I to say he shouldn't enjoy
himself as HE sees fit. Same for Goober, or myself, who don't work such hours. Maybe
I won't have what Andrew has, but that's okay with me. I'm happy with what I have,
with where my career is, with where my life is, and with where it all is going. From
what Andrew says, he is equally happy with his life.

=====
Tom Murrell
mailto:tmurrell -at- columbus -dot- rr -dot- com
Personal Web Page - http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/index.html Last Updated 07/19/02
--The opinions expressed in this email are mine...at least I think they're mine...I'm almost positive.--

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