4-day work week challenge from the other ALA...

Hmmm...I think it would be a challenge to simply work just 5 days a week (do people really stop working at 5 p.m. on Friday and not work or think about work until Monday morning?). I'll admit I have issues with being a balanced person. I've been extremely lucky to only take jobs that I love (or, you know, I leave). And since I've always jumped at the chance for new challenges, I've never been in a job for more than a few years, and I've always been in prove-myself mode.

Now, does that mean I'm super-efficient, and get tons done? Nope...I go through an ebb and flow of work-like-crazy, crash, work-like-crazy, crash...etc...and really every time I go on vacation, within a day or two I remember again what it's like to have my brain back, and I swear to myself that I'll make more thinking/ideas/creative/non-worky time.

Check out The Four-Day Week Challenge at A List Apart.

I don't agree with all of it (or, maybe it's just that I had a squeamish-shivering physical reaction to some of the suggestions...what?!? no IM?!? ) but I get the principle, and certainly I think I would be happier and do everything better if I found more time for people I love, art, ideas, plants, pets, and my house.

Maybe on the fifth day, I'll still work, but it will be a mind-spa day where I don't read e-mail, I don't go to meetings, and it's all about reading, experiencing, and thinking. Ok, maybe I can make that happen once a month. Baby steps, right?

For example, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's workshops and lectures are a great idea-rich experience. My friend and I went to a Kentridge lecture last night, and then we retired to Harry's patio in Westport to people-watch and enjoy weather and white wine. Plus, I thought a lot about Web work, and it's ephemeral nature... It was perfectly civilized.