Jessica Hische, freelancer, in search of the ultimate day-schedule:
When I moved to San Francisco I was suddenly surrounded by people with “real jobs”, who didn’t have the flexibility I had (and who loved filling their weekends with fun non-work-related activities). I found myself, more and more, conforming to a normal office work schedule, running into the same problems I had the last time I kept a 9-6 workday (i.e. giant unproductive blocks of time before and after lunch), but compounded by all the additional running-your-own-business daily bullshit.
She reorganised her day schedule using a few basic rules (such as: “No deadlines on Mondays”), resulting in a tight – but more importantly workable and productive – schedule, packed with for fun and for work moments.
My schedule looks very much like this… everything is blocked out. It is both my short term planning and todo list for major blocks of work. Afterwards I readjust this and it becomes my time registration for billable hours.
Like Jessica I very much conform to the “9 to 5” even though I have the flexibility to work anytime and anywhere. I like the structure that it brings into your life – evenings and weekends are for fun and relaxing.