I work in a corporate job and have pretty consistently worked 8-9 hour days for as long as I can remember. There are occasions when I need to pull some long hours (prototype turn-on, etc), but 8-9 hours is the norm.

A few years ago, I would have quite a bit of time to wander and socialize at work throughout the day. In the past couple years, however, I’ve increased my productivity and taken on more responsibility. So now I get in around 7:30am (gotta love 8am meetings), leave at around 5pm, and am pretty well slammed all hours in-between with phone conferences and technical work.

However, because I feel so productive throughout the day, I have no guilt leaving consistently at a reasonable time (even as I see co-workers working long hours), and leaving my work at work to be dealt with the next day. It helps when you’ve committed to meet friends for a workout at 5:30 every day.

But…for me, outside of fun through my profession/career, I find going out for the night, movies, etc. to be rewards for having been productive. Sometimes though, you gotta do something to prevent burnout regardless…

I’ve gotta say, I feel great when I know I’ve been productive – I can look back and smile at what I’ve done and what I’ve learned. Then, I typically celebrate in some modest way.

I know that I could have fun more often…but similarly to getting to comfortable in a job, I don’t want to get to comfortable in spoiling myself having fun either…

so…I guess you have to figure out what exactly defines “fun” for yourself and how to have a healthy amount of it in your life…hmmm…

–S

My favorite fun things involve creativity, travel and being out of doors. So I set aside one evening a week to do artwork, I take a walk through my garden each day, and I am always planning the next trip, whether it’s just an overnight at a local state park or a longer vacation to a more exotic destination.

I also try to increase the size of my circle of friends and the depth of my friendships. Every day I make sure I call someone for a good chat or write someone an email or letter.

My daily “tasks” to stay connected with myself and others take just a few minutes, but they make me feel really good all day. When I don’t do them, I feel like crushing stuff, too!

I’ve always believed fun is absolutely essential to happiness. I work very hard and am very productive and organised, but I make fun as high a priority on my list as anything else (work, productivity, etc).

I like to set deadlines to help me do this – for example every Saturday I give myself until 1 PM – no later – to get things done. After that the rest of the day is dedicated to having fun, relaxing, seeing friends, etc. This deadline also motivates me to get up earlier on my days off so I can get a bit more done before my 1 PM deadline.

Same deal with weeknights – I work hard all day, so when I come home I don’t do anything more productive than checking a few emails. I spend every work-night evening just chilling out and it makes SUCH a difference, I am much happier overall, and more focused and productive at work.

The only downside to this system is I don’t get as much of the stuff on my to-do list done as other people, but something I’ve learnt is there’s *always* more stuff to do… that to-do list never finishes! So I’m not going to sacrifice time to relax and have fun in favor of doing more stuff because it will never all be finished anyway, and by setting limits on myself I also force myself to concentrate on what’s truly essential.

Anyway I hope this is useful to someone Great post and very timely!

Harmony

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http://thesmartlife.wordpress.com/
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Ironically, it is going to be a rainy weekend. The things that I had penciled into my calendar were for a sunny weekend. So, now I am back-pedaling trying to find things. Honestly, I’m a wee bit tired of being in the house already… and in need of some true fun because like you I work hard at a stressful job (in financial services), parents 2 children (14 and 2), and deal with many other things. Ironically though, the volunteer work I do is liberating and enjoyable.

Life is about a journey – but with kids who always need a lot of my time, energy, and money, I find that my me time has virtually vanished. For me, it is a matter of time — my daughter will be in college in 4 years and her brother will start kindergarten in 3 years. Ask me then about reaping the benefits.

I took a serious look at where my time was going, and I made a hard but deliberate decision to drop my most time-sucking volunteer commitment when my board term is up for renewal early next year and keep a very close handle on the time my other major volunteer commitment takes (not letting it take over the time vacated by the former, and not taking on any additional responsibility). This will free up 20 hours a month or so to focus on my new priorites.

As a high-tech worker, I have had jobs that required – REQUIRED – over 80 hours a week. I had two that required over 100 hours a week. That doesn’t leave enough time for basics like sleep and cleaning. Most of those jobs ended in a big layoff – so no benefit from all the hard work at all.

I quit my last job when they reorganized for the fourth time in two years (thus proving their abject cluelessness). I’m writing a book and remodeling my kitchen while I figure out what to do next. It will not be what I was doing before, that’s for sure.

As a teacher, sleep deprivation is a huge issue in my life already, and feeling like I never have my own time has been dragging me down for many years.

When I fail to manage my time, I end up working into the ancient hours, then end up too tired to be productive. The next day the cycle continues and I am too tired to even start out productive. I veg-out by reading e-mail or surfing websites to gather more mental clutter that I will never have time to use in class.

Tackle the tough jobs first, yes. Get them out of the way when you have the most energy. But also, know when to change how you do things. There are some “jobs” that you can eliminate by reducing perfectionism or by prioritizing.

I have stopped grading notebooks once a quarter, for instance. This used to take about three days of staying at school until 9 at night each quarter. Students grade each other’s each week and I take the scores. I check the daily entry each day because I have to stamp their planner, so I do read what is in them.

Ok, so I am starting my grading on Saturday morning this weekend in hopes that I won’t be up all night on Sunday!

Peggy, it’s all a question of balance and to never forget that neither fun or work are just means to a happier life. I guess we can feel guilty if we had made an idol of hard work and perfectionism.

It happens to everybody, I’m afraid.

If it’s OKAY to have fun, why should we then feel GUILTY about it?