Thursday, June 18, 2009

Time and Work

I came to the realization this morning (accidentally, as it were) that I am spending approximately 12 hours a day at work. Initially this figure amazed me, but when I sat down and thought about it, suddenly it became quite clear. "Good Heavens" I thought to myself, "12 hours - I mean I expected I would have a learning curve but this is ridiculous!"

But then I sat and thought about it a bit. In reality, I was spending 12 hours at work a year ago, but not in the same way: 1.5 hours driving to work, 8 hours at work, 2-2.5 hours driving home from work. Look: 12 hours, but really only 8 hours.

So I actually gained 4 hours a day.

Which then brought me to the realization that commuting is one of the silliest ideas I have ever heard of - and I should know, because I did it for so long (I have not had a commute of 10 minutes, my current drive time, since 1984). I don't really accomplish anything (except phone calls, of course, and I'm just not really a "Books on Tape" kind of guy), I spend money on fuel, and I have nothing really to show for it - except, apparently, less actually beneficial work for the same amount of time.

A little change will do you good...

3 comments:

  1. Don't forget that you composed some beautiful haiku while you were computing.
    I don't recommend long commutes but you at least did find some positive things in all the negative.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ooops - meant to say commuting, not computing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fair enough. Haiku time is less, and I did have plenty of thinking time - and I'm sure my commute will increase somewhat depending on where we end up here. Still, not spending 3-4 hours a day in the car is a wonderful thing.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are welcome (and necessary, for good conversation). If you could take the time to be kind and not practice profanity, it would be appreciated. Thanks for posting!