I worked ten hours yesterday and I’ll do the same today. I was a bit tired this morning, yet also energised, because the adrenaline is at work.

I wouldn’t normally do these hours – My shifts are six hours on a Monday and Thursday and four hours on a Tuesday and Friday, but we’re short staffed at present and it’s all hands on deck.

Three members of staff have left in the past two weeks. Two of those resignations were quite welcome, to be honest, as the members of staff just weren’t pulling their weight. They would work – yeah right – their shift and then leave promptly on the minute, regardless of whether the work was done or not. Well, the work still needs to be finished, so it was left up to Sallie and me, or the managers, to pick it up. Their timing, however, could have been better; three at once is a lot out of a team of six.

Sallie is my friend at work. She’s another – ahem – more mature lady and she brings a strong work ethic to the job. This is her second job as she needs to save for a new roof and her day job, although it pays the bills, is not enough for major repairs like that. I admire her tremendously: she didn’t sit on her bottom and complain – she went out and got another job.

Until recently, however, this meant she was working seven days a week and that is just not sustainable – everyone needs a day off; there is, after all, precedent.

What is the ideal time to spend at work? I suppose it depends upon what that work is and how much it excites you and energises you. My friend’s daughter works for a big accountancy firm. She regularly works until 3am. Her utilisation is 130%. To be fair, her manager has told her that this is not expected and that she should pass some of the work on, but she says that this is just not possible; all the work is something only she can do

Hard work isn’t just the hours though, is it? And it doesn’t have to feel hard. We can work hard on a creative project, and it is a delight all the way – even when we might be wrestling with it. There is something called being “in the zone,” where we are so engrossed in what we do that the hours fly by. I know that, when I am looking at dates on the yoghurts, for instance, an hour and a half can fly by and it will seem like just ten minutes.

Everyone works at something, even if it is (just) housework. What is your work? Do you love it? Does the time pass in an instant, or is it a grind? If the latter, then can you do something else instead? The housework still needs to be done, of course, but there must be other things besides. What can you do besides?

Mary

A Moodscope member