In my last blog post, Structure Vs Flexibility, I talked about the trials and tribulations of a freelancer and someone commented this:
“If you really want to quantify how much time you’re working, then buy a small spiral notebook that will fit in your purse and take it with you everywhere you go. Jot down start and end times throughout the day of various activities you engage in with a brief description of what you did, and at the end of each day or week (whichever is easier for you), tally those times to see what you’re actually doing and how long it’s taking you to do it.”
And so I took their advice! Thank you jamieverse! A few things to point out before we look at the results and declare that it is 100% accurate and all my weeks are like this and this is definitely how many hours I work a week EVERY week.
- I started on a Friday and it finishes yesterday, a Tuesday, so there’s 1.5 weeks worth of “data”.
- In a normal 9-5 job you get a lunch hour that you’re still getting paid for. Whenever I ate lunch/took a long break I didn’t count this towards my total hours.
- I did not count travel time.
- I did not count the time it takes me to get ready even though I will spend most of the day in my pyjamas and only shower, put clothes on and do my hair & makeup if I’m filming a video. Maybe I should count that…
First of all you may notice some “secret project” stuff. It’s exciting but up in the air so can’t talk about it even though I really really want to! Another thing that stands out to me is that I worked almost 9 hours on Saturday. But the 2.5 hours of filming a collab in the evening was with Calum and we were drinking. This is where work/pleasure lines are definitely blurred.
Again, working weekends. Also I was ill on Friday and Sunday and every other day. Days that I’m doing work I’m just ignoring the fact I’m ill and working through it and then Friday and Sunday I broke. I’m actually still a little bit broken but resting today before going to Toronto tomorrow for Buffer Festival! I really don’t want to be ill when I’m travelling. If you’re confused by what ‘Dating Awards’ is, I am actually a judge for the UK Dating Awards so I’ve got to do all the researching and judging!
And that leads us up until today! If you’re curious today I’ve done emails, more Dating Awards work and writing this blog post. Then I’ve got a meeting and then I’m going to pack for Toronto. Does packing count as ‘work’?
If my calculations are correct I worked 69 hours and 10 minutes between Friday 9th October and Tuesday 20th October. That is an average of 5 hours 45 minutes a day (if we worked 7 day weeks). If you compress it into a 5 day week I’ve actually worked 8 hours 5 minutes a day. Woah, I literally just did the calculation before typing that and I wasn’t expecting it to be so close to a classic 9-5 job. So to everyone who says I don’t have a ‘real’ job, I work just as hard as you!
Well this was a fun experiment, I don’t know if I’ll continue documenting it but let me know what you think in the comments!
I’m not surprised by your working schedule, really ^^
I should do the same! But as a researcher, it might be even harder to set the line between work hours and non-workhours : does answering a student question in my bed on a Sunday morning counts? Should I add in the 10 extra minutes in the shower because I had an idea there and preferred thinking it out before leaving the warmth of said shower? Should I retract the 20min tea break during which discussions about a colleague research took place? And so on…
It’s so much easier to count your hours when you work in a factory doing manual labour!
Fairly surprised you don’t work more, just because I work freelance too some of the time. I find because I don’t get paid by the hour I’m willing to work longer than I would normally and have to check myself
That’s great Hannah! I’m glad you tried my suggestion out, and it worked so well! This proves the point that you work as hard as anyone in a traditional 9-5 job. I’m not surprised. It takes work to be successful in any business, and you’re clearly putting in the time! Congrats! 🙂
Good job Hannah, I knew you weren’t lax in work. What you should do now is track how much money you are earning in comparison to work to make sure you are getting what you are worth.
I think you are a very lucky woman doing what you love and making money from it. LOL nudy
Interesting post – I’m not sure who are the people saying you don’t have a proper job, that is obviously rude. But its true you don’t have a normal job. You are very fortunate to be doing something you enjoy, mainly for yourself with little or no commitments, or dependants. You are lucky – Many people are working 60 -70 – 80 hour weeks, in jobs which are not fulfilling, that they will never be able to describe as fun, and ultimately they are working for someone else, be it a large or small company. They often feel they have little choice but to carry on.. Many workers do not get paid for lunch. Many on minimum wages are allowed half an hour unpaid for lunch (which is not provided)
In the media industry most are freelance and are regularly starting at 8am and finishing at 8pm, 12 hour shifts are quite common on shoots for example. Some of the people that you may come across who are crewing a film or video shoot for example.
Kudos on using Field Notes for your… Field noting habits. ? They really are the best notebooks out there, at least at pocket size!
This was so interesting! I’d love to do it with uni work, particularly for honours next year, just to see how much work I really do!
This is such an interesting post. Now a days, many people still believe that you have to have, what is seen as a ‘real job’, however with the with the internet becoming more and more popular why not do something you are passionate about. Just because you are working from home most days and it is not seen s conventional does not mean that you are not working as hard or harder as them.
Beth x
http://www.hellobeth.co.uk
That’s a lot of work! But I am not suprised. It’s nice to see such nice post, maybe some people will appreciate more your work.
Much love!
lilianndehn.blogspot.com