How Long is Your Work Week?

by Mike McDerment | January 9/2007 | burn out, cost of goods sold, freelancing, work week

This weekend I was talking with a friend who works for a consulting firm – he does city planning. He mentioned the partners regularly work 15+ hour days.

It got me thinking about work weeks and what is too much. Lee Iacocca wrote an excellent autobiography of his time at Chrysler and Ford. It’s a great read from a truly motivated individual. One of the big takeaways for me was that Lee – world famous CEO of Chrysler and turn-around artist – did not work on weekends…ever. To him, weekends were family time and totally off limits.

I believe that you need to be refreshed to be effective. When I first started out seven years ago as a solo consultant/freelancer/web designer – a true one man shop, jack of all trades – there were times when I worked too much. Gradually I learned how to achieve my work/life/day balance and stave off burn-out – it’s always lurking and if you are not careful it will snag you.

So how long is my work week these days? I usually get to my desk around 8:00 AM and leave around 7:00 PM. While I sometimes arrive earlier or later, I rarely work past 7:00 PM. I think it is important to have a clear and consistent end to your workday. So, I work about 11 hours per day (55 hours per week). Now, that does not include the .5-1 hour of reading I do (almost always business related) each night (3.5 hours per week). Nor does it include any errands I run after hours (office supplies, sending of documents, etc), nor the inevitable after hours phone call or two (2.5 hours a week there). Every Sunday night I spend about an hour planning my week and frequently (weekends and weeknights) I go for one to two hour walks where I just think about things (4 hours per week). I also spend about 3.5 hours a week on outside projects like mesh.

So, here is how that looks in a more palatable format:

Mike’s Work Week
++++++++++++++

55.0 hrs – driving the desk
2.5 hrs – running errands after hours
3.5 hrs – reading and professional development
1.0 hrs – Sunday night prepping my week
4.0 hrs – after hours time dedicated to thinking
3.5 hrs – outside projects
————————————————–
69.5 hrs – THE GRAND TOTAL

With this kind of schedule and this kind of discipline, I feel both productive and passionate. I could work more hours, but it would come at a cost.

How long is your work week?

abc

Hi Mike,

I think your calculations are way off unless of course you’re gearing this solely towards entrepreneurs. Here’s why your numbers are misleading:

If your work for a company and your regular work hours are 9am – 5pm, you actually get paid for 7.5 hours instead of 8 hours. So the total for the week is 37.5 hours instead of the 40 hours spent at work.

Good luck trying to convince your employer that you should be compensated for the errands you have to run after work. Shave another 2.5 hours from your calculations.

A lot of us are interested in improving ourselves but sadly this is not part of the work week for us working stiffs. I’m removing 3.5 hrs of your reading and professional development time.

Teachers often spend 2-3 hours a night preparing lessons. They are not paid extra for this and this is partly why some teachers don’t prepare well enough. I’m deducting the 1hr you spend for Sunday night prepping.

4.0 hrs – after hours time dedicated to thinking – Working stiffs dont’t get paid to think outside the workplace. Sorry Mike, I’m deducting another 4 hrs.

3.5 hrs outside projects – If by outside you mean project that have nothing to do with Freshbook’s bottom line then I’m slicing another 3.5 hrs.

Here’s my total for your workweek:

8am – 7pm = 11 hrs – .5 hrs lunch = 10.5 hrs/day

You work 52.5 hours a week unless you take a 1 hour lunch. Then it would be 50 hours a week.

I’m not trying to diminish your efforts but you can’t compare your workweek with someone who isn’t an entrepreneur unless you also take ALL of their time and efforts into consideration as well.

Someone who works 40 hrs/week might actually be spending more time working than you are if they have to travel 2 hrs/day to get to work and back home. If they have to run more errands than you…etc.
http://www.freshbooks.com/our-team.php#michael Mike McDerment

ABC – fair enough. So you know I was mostly gearing this towards entrepreneurs… I listed this post in our entrepreneurship category.

Re Commuting: I have not made (nor would I) any accounting for commuting…nor shopping for clothes that I need for working, food to sustain me, etc.

Re Errands: The time is slated directly for running errands that are only relevant to work. Office paper, DVDs, etc. It is only occasionally I ask people to run these kinds of errands here at FreshBooks. Usually that is during the day (i.e. inside their regular working hours). I run most of the errands and I do it outside the workday and can’t speak to how this works in other organizations.

As for the thinking aspect…ask anyone who knows me and that total is actually closer every waking hour…the item above is dedicated time that I consciously set aside to think about business….by any other measure I would be working 7 x (24 – 6.5 for sleep) = 122.5 hours per week.

So…this is geared towards entrepreneurs. I probably work fewer hours than many. That is their prerogative – this is mine.
Megan

I don’t see why you wouldn’t count time spent reading, prepping and doing errands. I don’t think Mike is trying to paint himself as virtuous and certainly not comparing his work-related virtues to non-entrepreneurial types (I hope).

Obviously when trying to classify how our hours are spent, it’s not black and white. But there are things you do *in order* to maintain your work life and then there are things you do for your personal life. As long as the yardstick is the same across the entrepreneur/employed worker spectrum, I don’t see a problem with counting all activities that are required by your job — even the ones which are a little more discretionary. No, you won’t get paid for running errands or reading, and you won’t get fired for not doing them. But we all know that they have an enormous impact on our careers, how they advance and how satisfied we are with them. It isn’t outlandish to count those hours into work time.

The “Your Money or Your Life” yardstick for measuring work-related costs and benefits always made tremendous sense to me. How can an assessment of your work life be accurate if you’re not taking into account all the collateral time costs of the job.

The entrepreneur’s advantage isn’t in “getting to count” more hours, it’s in the fact that they (hopefully) spend more of their day on work that they have an affinity for.
http://www.freshbooks.com/our-team.php#michael Mike McDerment

Thanks and well said Megan.

You know, I’m beginning to wonder if commuting ought to count…it probably should…I don’t know…
abc

Thanks for clarifying. I found this on the main page of the blog and didn’t notice which category it was in. Since it’s geared for entrepreneurs then I don’t think it’s misleading as long as you don’t try to compare your hours worked to someone who works 9 -5.

“Re Commuting: I have not made (nor would I) any accounting for commuting…nor shopping for clothes that I need for working, food to sustain me, etc.”

Why not? If you count your 1 to 2 hour walks where you think then why wouldn’t you count the time it takes you to get to and from work?

Anyway, the reason why I replied is because I know an entrepreneur who constantly tells several of us that he works much more than we do. He likes to include items such as the ones you posted but refuses to acknowledge the time others spend doing work away from work.

In any case, in my opinion you work too much. 8am – 7pm is a long work day. I know that you love what you do and that there’s a huge difference between doing a job you love and doing one you hate, but those are still a lot of hours.

It was an interesting blog and no offense was intended.
http://foliovision.com/weblog Alec

Interesting to see someone else’s numbers.

Of course entrepreneurs count their thinking time. Otherwise we’d be free to think about something else. Some employees – inspired ones – could count some unpaid thinking time as well. Uninspired ones could deduct some thinking time from their work hours – from their results you can see they certainly aren’t thinking about their work.

In the evening, while an entrepreneur or a scholar is doing work reading, non-entrepreneurs are watching television or out drinking enjoying themselves.

I’m surprised you run so many of the small errands, Mike. I would have thought that is a very inefficient use of your time. Unless you like doing it. And actually I pay my employees for running errands, although generally I try not to have the most expensive person doing them.

The bigger errands I’ve found that I had to do them, as an employee may come back empty handed. And it doesn’t make sense to hand off the bank book either. That’s just asking for trouble, in most cases.

Anyway, my totals would look something like the above but very different hours. I like to be out in the sunshine in the afternoon and don’t mind being at work in the evening.

One thought – if you’re an entrepreneur, you can’t afford to commute. Not more than two days a week anyway. There are so many other demands on your time and your energy, putting it into moving back and forth between home and work is just foolishness.

Great idea to put weekends right off limits. I’ve tried it and liked it and then creep starts again.
Richard

I always tell people that the work ethic of entrepreneurs in the IT world is to be admired. I started off as a small business owner (not IT related) and now I run 2 stores and employ 61 people. I suppose I’m still considered a small business owner but I started out with only 3 employees.

In the beginning, I worked roughly 50-60 hours/week and it was a real pain. My problem was that I handled virtually every aspect of the business. I quickly learned that it was vital, both to my business and to my health, to delegate various important responsibilities to others.

I am now at a point where I hardly work at all. In a sense I’m still running the show. I make most of the big decisions and I make sure I’m up-to-date with all the key aspects of the business but I don’t need to micromanage the daily tasks anymore.

Here’s a rundown of how I spend my time:

My Work Week:

3 hrs – Reviewing reports and getting up to speed
2 hrs – Touching base with key clients & partners
2 hrs – Checking up on the stores & socializing with employees.

7 hrs – Total

I’m at the office on Monday from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. I get up to speed and make sure everything is running smoothly. I also like to talk with all my employees to make sure morale is high and that all of their concerns are being addressed.

At 1:00 PM I leave and go to my other store. I talk with all my employees and make sure everything is running smoothly. I leave by 3:00 PM.

On Tuesday, I work the phone from home. I contact certain people in the industry and also a few of my best clients. This is also the only day I accept work related calls from my store managers. I have made it clear that aside from emergency situations that require my immediate attention, I am not to be contacted after Tuesday.

Here’s how I spend the rest of my time:

My typical Leisure Week:

Monday:

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM – Online Gaming. Whether it’s playing Halo on Xbox Live or Quake 2 online on the PC, I kick back and enjoy myself while fragging players around the world.

6:00 PM – 10:00 PM – Dinner and a movie with my girlfriend. Monday is dinner and a movie night. We both love French food so it’s usually a trip to our favourite French restaurant followed by a movie. Sometimes we rent a movie instead depending on what’s on or what mood we’re in.

Tuesday

12:00 PM – 4:00 PM – Downtime. After I have finished my work duties I like to relax. I generally watch tv and catch up on Internet shows such as Diggnation. My goal this year is to find more Internet shows to watch as there really isn’t much on TV in the afternoon, unless of course you like soaps.

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM – I usually go out around this time. I run a few errands and check out gadgets either at Pacific Mall or at a Best Buy. I don’t usually buy anything.

7:00 PM – whenever – Tuesday nights is when I go out with my good friends. Business is NEVER discussed. We generally go to a bar or pub. We usually talk about important issues such as global warming and various political issues but if there’s a Leafs game on we just talk sports.

Wednesday

11:30 AM – 2:00 PM – Wednesday is sleep in day. I rarely get up before 11:30 AM. Partly because I was up late on Tuesday and partly because I decided to treat myself to some extra sleep. I get up, have breakfast (an important meal – don’t forget that!) and surf the net.

2:00PM – 5:00 PM – In the Spring & Summer I usually go golfing but I don’t like to golf in the fall. I don’t know why but I just don’t like golfing during this time. If I’m not golfing then I’m either playing video games or catching up on TV shows or podcasts.

7:00 PM – whenever – I like to call Wednesday night romance night. We like to spend quality time together. Usually this means a quiet night in but sometimes we go to see a show or go to a comedy club. Something different.

Thursday

10:00 AM – 12:00PM – Breakfast, surf the net, a little online gaming… usually Quake 2.

12:00 PM – 4:00 PM – I like to visit my family and I specifically set aside this time to be with them.

6:00 PM – whenever – I either go out to eat with a few friends or stay in and play Xbox, surf the net and watch TV.

Friday

10:00 AM – 1:00PM – I usually go out Friday mornings. I like to get stuff done during this time. Various errands, obligations…etc.

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Lunch with my girlfriend. I pick her up at work and we go for a quick bite at a nearby restaurant.

4:00 PM – whenever – Friday night is all about ME. Me time includes a night in where I either curl up with a good book or a night out with a few of my rowdier friends who like to hit the night spots on Friday’s.

Weekend

10:30AM – 12:00 PM – I sleep in a little on the weekends. I like to read in the morning so I normally do that.

12:00PM – 2:00PM – More reading but this time it’s online. I like to scan Digg and Reddit for interesting stories. I also enjoy digging down the lamers.

3:00PM – 6:00PM – I visit family. Normally only immediate family but sometimes I visit relatives that I haven’t seen in a while.

7:00PM – whenever – On Saturday, I usually eat dinner at my girlfriend’s home. We normally go out for drinks with a few of our friends afterwards but sometimes we stay in and watch a movie. On Sunday, I stay in and read but sometimes I catch up on TV shows or frag some “mofo’s” (I love that word!) online.

That’s basically it. I purposely excluded some hours. This is where I eat, shower, shave…etc. Or, it’s time spent on the road.

I used to be like you, Mike. I used to constantly think about my business or business in general. I’m an avid reader but the only books I used to read were business related. Although I enjoyed them (and still do occasionally) I realized that I wasn’t doing what I wanted to do.

When I tell people what my week is like some of them think I’m neglecting my business but that couldn’t be further than the truth. My business runs much smoother now than it ever has in the past when I was overworked and taking care of every detail.

This has been my schedule for the past 2 years. I decided to take a firm stance about not working after Tuesday because I found myself being dragged back into the daily grind and this was totally unnecessary.

I have a great relationship with all my employees and they quickly realized that the schedule I created for myself works. Admittedly, when there is a problem, I do drop the Xbox controller and make work a priority.

However, I should point out that work is no longer my number 1 priority. Everyone has a different philosophy but I quickly learned that there are more important things than work & money and life is too short to spend most of your time on things that aren’t important.

Don’t get me wrong, if you MUST work 50hrs week to put food on the table then that’s a totally different story and I admire people who make such sacrifices. It’s just that in my case, I had no reason to overwork myself so I don’t do that any more.

I’m still very passionate about my business and have big plans but I have discovered the things I enjoy all over again. Although I do a lot of gaming and surfing the net for personal reasons, I read more than I have in the past and I enjoy myself and the people important to me far more.

The one thing I always tell people who are starting out is, “Make sure you look at things from all angles”. Balance is key.

Great blog! I have bookmarked it and will continue check back every week.

Warm Regards,

Richard
http://www.freshbooks.com Levi Cooperman

Richard….wow….is this for real? You have the most unique life of anyone I know and I must say I am impressed. Please check back in a year and let us know if this lasts. Wow, I am still flabbergasted.
http://www.freshbooks.com/our-team.php#michael Mike McDerment

Richard – You must have spent half your work week writing your comment

Anyway, congratulations. They say that the percentage of your time that you spend on leisure is a measure of your success. Personally I’m not sure I would enjoy your lifestyle – we probably just have different needs there – but I appreciate it. That said, mix in a whole bunch of skiing, perhaps some kayaking and/or canoeing and we might be getting somewhere
Pingback: Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive Open Thread: How Long Is Your Work Week? «
http://www.lifeonashirt.com Jana Eggers

Hi, Mike and all,

I’m glad I came across this post. I’ve been thinking about work hours lately. We are finalizing my employment contract with Spreadshirt. One point is specifying how much I’ll work for the company, particularly because I own another business. (It’s never been my full-time practice though.)

To be clear, this isn’t a point of contention. I’m dedicated to doing what it takes; I’m a start-up vetern, so I know what it takes… and they know that.

We both would like the contact to get across the spirit of that versus just specifying # of hours. Not because I won’t work the hours, but because of a recognition that it takes more than even 60 hours/week. Anyone have any experience with wording that fits what we do as entrepreneurs?

Again, thanks for the post and comments… good reading to see the diversity. As for my input on that specifically, I work usually from 7-7/8. I use the early morning hours for planning, and the late hours for catching up. I’m still adjusting to traveling to Germany regularly, so I haven’t gotten that scheduling worked out.

I typically don’t think of travel or commute time as work, unless I’m working. For example, on my trip into work, I’ll often be calling people and leaving voice mail messages — that’s work. My trip home is often spent on personal calls to keep up on that side of life — not work. And, even if I’m thinking about work when I’m running or cycling, I don’t consider that work.

I do stress to folks that work for me that I don’t expect them to work the hours I work. And I do mean it. My work is my family time, as my husband is a work addict too, and we don’t have kids. Work is what we do, so while someone else spends time at their kid’s soccer game (and should!!!!), I’ll be working… because I love it! I think this is important for entrepreneurs to do this for their employees. They need to know that we have a different passion. If they have it too, that’s great, but the whole company won’t and people need to feel comfortable that we respect a normal life too.

Hope that helps!
Jana
Richard

Levi, I guess it’s unique but I know people whose lifestyles are much more unique than mine… partly because it’s a much stranger lifestyle. lol. Nothing is forever but this has pretty much been my schedule for a couple of years but I’ll try to check back again in a year.

Mike, that comment cracked me up! Very nice! Also, regarding your comment about measuring success, I agree but there’s much more to it than that. There really isn’t a formula to measure success. Perhaps happiness and balance is the best way to gage success. You appear content with your life so perhaps you have achieved your goals without even knowing it. Think about it.

Kayaking and canoeing sounds like fun. Exercise was missing from my daily schedule so recently I have started going on long walks and I plan on taking kickboxing lessons soon. I hate to reduce my gaming time so I might try to shave an hour off my work schedule to fit in the lessons…we’ll see.

Keep up the great work. As always, your blogs are very interesting.
Richard

—Levi, “Please check back in a year and let us know if this lasts.”—

Hi Levi,

I’m a bit late but I thought I’d check back. Before I post an update I’d like to congratulate you and everyone at Freshbooks for your impressive growth over the past year.

I haven’t really kept up with your company but I’ve read several articles about Freshbooks on various prominent Websites. It appears that you’re also continuously improving your service and adding great features. I guess this is why your userbase is rapidly growing. Great work!

I won’t post another detailed report on my work hours because the last time I did that Michael commented that I must have spent half my work week typing it out.

Here’s a summary:

My Work Week:

7 Hours/week (same as before)
The main difference is that I spend more time working from home. I could work from home 100% of the time but I’m not quite sure if that would negatively affect the business at this time.

My typical Leisure Week:

I spend less time online (Digging down the lamers is still fun though) and more time exercising. I’m pretty trim but I’m in better shape now than I was a year ago. I mostly jog and play a few sports… no weightlifting.

I recently broke up with my girlfriend so now I have a bit more time on to do other things.

My business has grown a bit… net profits have increased roughly 15% in the last year so things are going rather well.

I’ve traveled quite a bit in the past few months and I’ve met several business people. I’ve realized that I have very little in common with most business people. I suspect that you guys can relate.

That’s about it… I hope I didn’t type too much this time.
http://www.freshbooks.com/our-team.php#levi Levi Cooperman

Hi Richard,

Wow, very cool, I am now still very impressed with your work week, but even more impressed that you remembered to check back in a year.

I’m also intrigued with your business performance…how did you increase your net profits by 15% while still working only 7 hours per week?

Great stuff!
http://www.freshbooks.com/our-team.php#aaron Aaron Adams

Richard, your heroics will not be forgotten here.
Alan T

I am a chef, and I work 90 – 100hrs a week, every week.
I have worked approx. 456 out of the last 468 days.
Start at 5.30am, finish at about 9 – 11 pm.
I would not recommend it for anyone… I’m about to go mad. sure the money is great, but can you put a price on your sanity???

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