by Noella Noelophile™
Growing up in the 1960’s, I remember the Weekly Reader.
This was a two-page “newspaper” for grade-schoolers, with articles about current events and scientific advances. One, that appeared in about 1966, sticks in my mind. The general gist of this particular piece was that by the time we grew up, computers would be doing everything–and our days would be filled with leisure time.
(Are you rolling on the floor at this point?)
Today we’re: posting, Facebooking, tweeting, texting, e-mailing, and a variety of other social-media activities–and that’s before our workdays start!
It seems that taking time to do something we enjoy makes us feel almost guilty! “Lost time…if I spend the morning in the library that’s three posts I could have done...who’s going to do this…and that…and that….the clock is ticking, that deadline’s coming up…and so forth, and so on. And somehow, when your work is in a creative field, there’s also the sense of, “This is work I love, why can’t I do it all the time? Don’t I appreciate having this opportunity?”
But a good point came up at a WordCamp session we attended, last summer: no one can work 24/7 (or as close to that as some of us do!), and remain productive. That’s true across the boards, no matter what your area.
One workplace that I remember with a lot of love, understood this. There was a time when everyone took a fifteen-minute break in mid-afternoon, had coffee together, and could talk about anything that was going on–except work! In a five-day workweek, then, they would have spent a total of an hour and fifteen minutes, weekly, “recharging.” “Wasted” time? Not at all–this was one of the best creative teams with which I’ve ever had the privilege of working!
With those thoughts in mind, how will you spend this weekend? I intend to spend much of today looking at cloud castles in the sky…browsing one of our favorite areas near the beach…petting our cats and holding my husband’s hand. And returning refreshed to resume work tomorrow.