I restructured my 9 to 5 and I love it

StefanWassink
Aug 22, 2017 · 4 min read

Last June I have, after a little over 2 years under employment, made the choice to be a entrepreneur full time again. After being an entrepreneur for 6 years directly after getting my second degree I made the choice to accept a regular job for a bit. I was immediately poached for a nice sounding position utilizing my experience. I agreed and while working 40 hours I maintained 2 companies for myself and business partners, serving clients with multimedia products and advice in the evenings and weekends.

I have always been a creature of the night, mostly forced because of several sleeping disorders. I like to sleep in and work until late in the evening. It’s when most of my productivity and creativity arises. At my company I just started at 10 AM, no one cared as long as things got done and I was always the last to leave. It left me enough time to be there for client calls and visits so no one was “harmed” by it. But at the jobs, they were not so flexible, not even a bit.

I had to (literally) clock in at 8 AM and just produce for 8 hours during a period of 9. I was tired everyday because of my disorders and my productivity dropped. Worse, my spirit dropped, I was to tired to be happy all the time, mr. Positivity became mr. Meh…

But in June I became my own captain again and I have found a complete new way to schedule my days. Not only do I sleep in, I work in +/- 2–3 hours shifts now. Between the shifts I eat, watch some Netflix, go outside for walks or do some grocery shopping. At least a 1 hour break every time. In the last 2 months I have produced more than ever in that time window. Every shift there is replenished energy to take on the tasks at hand.


A typical day:

08:40 AM — OH GOD, the ALARM! Snooze 2 times and get up angry at the alarm.

(Now this anger goes away in a minute instead of hours.)

09:00 AM : Have breakfast, check messages on phone.

(The phone stays in the living room at night! I do not wish to wake up and immediately see all the request from me from all the apps. Not before I figured out what planet i’m on and wearing some form of pants do I accept this from my phone.)

10:00 AM : Start my workday feeling rested.

1:00 PM : Lunchtime!

(Often walking to the store for bread and stuff, 20 min walk total. I eat a lot of fresh foods so I go almost daily.)

2:00 PM : Work again, LET’S DO THIS!

5:00 PM : Make dinner, eat that dinner & afterwords some exercises for arms/back/etc.

6:30 PM : Last Shift, let’s finish strong…

9:00 PM : Done, enjoy the free time.

(I may sneak in a 20–30 minutes of work if i’m at home and found inspiration.)

In the weekend I work about 2–4 hours a day.

Of course if a client call at 1:20 PM I pick up and help. During downtime after 9 AM I will pick up my phone until nighttime. Also these times can easily shift a bit depending on the days phone calls and so on. But I always start at 10 AM so I have a clear start of the workday.


In the last few weeks I have made new products, learned a new programming language and had good client meetings. Every time I go and sit at my desk I feel rested and ready to go. Sometimes it’s hard to finish my lunch hour because the solution for my Javascript problem arose while watching Fargo or a beautiful poster I walked by gave me inspiration for the perfect webshop design. Also no client has ever told me this was a problem for them. But when at an odd moment a problem arises in their webshop, they know I will rescue them so they are happy with my service.

Most important, I sleep better and Mr. Positivity is back! I have had several good business ideas and I’m making those reality now. I have committed to several new courses to learn more programming languages and more marketing skills for the very near future.

I listen to my body and mind to make the peaks work for me and it has cost me nothing on the social side. I even gained in time for social connections.

What I hope to do with this article is inspire some people to look for their peeks as well and use them to your advantage if you can. For you these might be at 7 AM, but everyone has their own biological clock and taking it serious can make a big difference.

Of course you can’t cater to everyone’s wishes, but if only there was a little more attention for this on the common work floor it could help a lot.

)
StefanWassink

Written by

Tech junky and gadget lover. Entrepreneur in my heart and daily life. Traveler because I want to get lost. Aspiring blogger with little experience.

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