60 to 20
What I saw when I went from a 60+ to 20 hour work week.
Five years ago, I stepped back from a career in film advertising, without knowing what would come next.
I’d been in a leadership role, working closely with clients and managing both internal teams and creative projects. My days were bustling, always stimulating and often stretched into nights and weekends.
I took about six months off and then accepted an invitation to consult part-time for another company. I still didn’t know where I was heading, but I felt drawn to this next step.
As the consulting work began, there was an initial thrill to being back at work with more flexibility and autonomy. Heading home at 3pm and having dinner by 6pm felt like I was breaking some sort of rules.
After a month or so, however, I started to notice an interesting shift.
Something about my internal world started to feel familiar, drained, and anxious. I was puzzled. I’m working significantly less, and my responsibilities are not as far-reaching, what’s going on here?
As I was out walking one evening, my mind circled around a hiring issue we were currently navigating.
Then it occurred to me.
Oh…I’m thinking about them all of the time.
My official working hours had some limits, but my mind did not.
There was my answer. I wasn’t feeling my 20-hour work week. I was feeling my thinking.
The busyness of my mind was creating the feeling I recognized from my previous role. Although the circumstances had significantly changed, my patterns of thought had not.
This isn’t to say that overworking or long hours are irrelevant to our well-being. But the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
What’s invisible to most of us is just how much the thinking we’re engaged in shapes our experience.
Sometimes we might be focused on ourselves and analyzing our performance. Other times, our attention narrows around a client relationship or a co-worker dynamic. Or we’re caught up by a particular project, anticipating what will happen. Will it be successful? Will we figure it out?
All of that thinking comes with a feeling.
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