I do some of my best work during the weekends, don't know why, but I like how the weekend feels. It's got a good energy about it. I don't like Mondays, so I generally consider it to be a write-off. The way I work is quite haphazard, I do my best work early mornings around 0600 and then around 1400. I find that time between around 1100 to 1400 quite unproductive so I don't even try.
I'm getting to a point, where it feels like I should get myself more organized but this works for me, for now. If there is a need in the future, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Usually each day, I'll have a mental checklist of things to do and a daily checklist of things to do. The daily stuff, is usually habits that I'm building or just things that I'd like to do on the daily and keep track of. This article is part of that daily routine.
There are weeks where I'll probably have not a lot to do and there are weeks where everything happens at the same time. I'm starting to like those weeks. I have a limited amount of time to do things, but the same things start to take a lot less time. Just like Parkinson said it would.
I'm not a fool, I realize that I can only do this till I have a family of my own, but in some ways, it's why I'm doing this now. Not because I'll have to give up some of these projects, but quite the opposite. I want to figure out how to do most of the things I really want to do everyday, without anyone even noticing. This is step one of that process. Right now, I've eliminated most things to the minimum, but I don't know what step two is yet. Time will tell. It is probably time itself. Or the allocation of it. I think I can build a software for this exact purpose, useful to just one person, me.
I'll think about it a bit more but it looks like it could work.
Owning my time
My time is my own, this is what I really wanted. To be able to do what I wanted to do, or not do for that matter. So I'm only doing things that take me further in that direction. Next step is to automate a few things and it's feels more than possible. Now that I have freed myself from the clutches of the employer, which I'll admit was an important port in my journey to Ithaka.
It is true, you have to be willing to give up what you have to go after what you want. This means the somewhat guaranteed salary, the weekends, the paid holidays, the lifestyle, and the lack of risks. I'm more than happy to give all of these up, I feel a lot like myself having done it, every fiber of my body is in Joy. It's how I know I'm on the right path. To be honest, I did not know what it would take to have it, now that I know, I'm happy to do it all over again. To risk everything I have to the possibility of a shot at success (whatever that may mean to you). Mainly because it turns out I don't like being told what to do.
One of the biggest reasons for that Joy is that I can push myself to build things which I never thought I'd be able to. My north star has always been, to be the best programmer I can be. That hasn't changed, but I find that I'm able to allocate more time to myself to be able to do just that.
I'm working just as hard as I always have on average, there are some months like this one which are the exception, but overall it's the same. I'm not stressed all the time, not any more than I would be at work. I'll do the things the way I want and If I fail, it's one me. That's an acceptable trade-off. To live life on my terms.