JennetteFulda

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • Archives
    • Travel and Adventure
    • Weight-Loss Blog Title Generator
  • Books
    • Books
    • Half-Assed: A Weight-loss Memoir
    • Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn’t Go Away
  • Timeline
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Advertising

September 9, 2015 4 Comments

Working on the weekend

I love the weekend

I would not go as far to say I enjoy working on the weekend, because that would be kind of crazy. Ideally I’d like to be independently wealthy and not have to do anything on the weekend, or during the week either. That dream seems unlikely though, unless I win the lottery, which I won’t because I never play the lottery. That said, there are certain advantages to working on the weekend, and it is those advantages that I like, if not the actual toiling away while everyone else is at the beach.

I promise I’m not a workaholic. I’m a freelancer, so I set my own hours. If I work on the weekend I usually take a day or two off in the middle of the week to make up for it. I rarely ever work 7 days straight unless I’ve scheduled things poorly, and most of the time my chronic headache makes it impossible to work that long of streak anyway. There have been days when I’ve sat down in front of the computer and tried to get work done, but my brain is like, “Sorry, we’re not open for business today.” And that’s just that.

The best thing about working on the weekend is that no one else is working on the weekend, which means no one is emailing you, which means no one is adding items to your to-do list faster than you can cross them off. I actually feel like I get ahead when I work on the weekend, whereas during the week I feel like I at best break even, or more often than not fall behind. I dream of a day when my to-do list and my inbox are both empty, but that day will never come, which is probably a good thing because that would mean I’d be out of work and out of money soon after. However, if that to-do list gets too long I get stressed out and anxious, so it feels good to take a big bite out of it all at once.

It’s like that bit at the end of Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey when Bill and Ted are about to play a big concert and realize they don’t know how to play guitar that well. So they take their time machine, travel to the past, spend 16 months in intensive guitar camp, and come back to play the gig. This is how I feel when I work on the weekend. I feel like I’m accessing extra time to get ahead.

The other great thing is that I can sit down and work on something for several hours straight, which rarely ever happens during the week. I know some people can get away with checking email once every few hours, but as a web developer, that’s not a great idea for me. You never know when something disastrous will happen to a client’s web site. If the server goes down or the site gets hacked or something isn’t working the way it should, I need to know about it right away. The result is that I tend to get distracted several times per hour with different requests or problems or security notifications and crap like that. So it’s hard to sit with a project and focus on just that for hours at a time, even though that’s when I’m most satisfied with my work. I don’t like handling 10 different small tasks in a day. I’d rather handle one long task, as long as it’s interesting. As a result, I’ve developed a fondness for working on the weekend or just in the evenings, when everyone else it mostly done for the day.

The only problem with this approach is that I end up staying up late and sleeping late, so if someone has an emergency at 8am in the morning they are shit out of luck unless they have my cell phone number. Which some of my clients do, and there has been more than one occasion where I’ve gotten a call from someone asking if I’d gotten their email about a horrible thing that is happening and I’ve had to say, “Sorry, no, I was asleep.” However, if you have a crisis at one o’clock in the morning, I will probably be available to handle it.

If I worked a regular 5-days-a-week, 8-hours-a-day type of job, I would be strongly against working on the weekend. I believe you need time off during the week to recharge, for your own happiness, and also because it helps prevent you from burning out. But since I can set my own hours, that time off can happen when I want it too. For instance, I worked on Sunday and Monday of this Labor Day weekend, but that’s partly because I plan on taking a three-day weekend of my own later on this year. I just won’t have to deal with all that Labor Day traffic. Nyah, nyah! Everyone else has to take their three-day weekend during that set government holiday, but not me.

It is important to maintain boundaries though, and you run a risk of letting work like bleed into real life when you work on the weekends. I try to be mindful of that and let myself take time off during the week without feeling guilty about it. I also don’t have a husband or kids who have their own schedules I’d have to sync my own life with, so there’s more flexibility. I don’t have to take anyone to soccer practice on Saturdays. As my work life stands now, working on the weekend isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I’m ok with that. It can make it trickier to schedule social events, but you can usually work around that. It’s a matter of juggling things properly, and while there have been times I’ve dropped a ball or two, I think I otherwise juggle things ok, in a solely metaphorical sense, because juggling actual objects is much, much harder.

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • More
  • Print
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

Leave a Comment (4) Read more about: freelancing, labor day, scheduling, vacation, weekend, weekends, work, working

Jennette Fulda is the author of:

Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn't Go Away

"Smart, unflinchingly honest, and laugh-out-loud funny."

- Lisa Genova, New York Times best-selling author of Still Alice

  • Amazon
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Powell's
  • Indiebound
You may also like:
  • Three days without my laptop
  • Two years of freelancing: Still not broke!
  • Hello, Mom! I’m still alive
  • Intrepid tales of New York, coming soon!
Post navigation
Later: Things to do near Cumberland, Maryland?
Earlier: Not a picture I’ll be bragging about
Home: Main blog index

Comments

  1. Natalie says

    September 10, 2015 at 1:18 am

    When I worked freelance I tended to manage my time poorly. So a month-long project would mean a couple of relaxed weeks and a couple of frantic weeks with no breaks!

    And now? Now I’m a trophy wife so I don’t work.

    Reply
  2. Jean Mader says

    September 10, 2015 at 10:52 pm

    This may be a bad time to ask- but will you be publishing another book? Really enjoyed your first two!! Since you like to work on weekends…

    Reply
    • Jennette Fulda says

      September 11, 2015 at 4:18 pm

      @Jean Mader – I’m not working on a book at the moment, but I will let you know if another one is on the horizon. Thanks for interest! It’s nice to know people enjoy my work.

      Reply
  3. Debra says

    April 16, 2016 at 12:38 am

    You had me at half-assed! Catchy title, enjoyable read and an inspirational journey! Surely I will need to read your next book about my favorite meal – Chocolate and Vicodin. Sshhhh don’t tell anyone I’m actually a Nutritionist looking for her own journey AWAY from Food, Fat and Fate.

    Thanks for you humorous candor

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I wrote some books

Chocolate & Vicodin: My Quest for Relief from the Headache that Wouldn’t Go AwayHalf-Assed: A weight-loss memoir

Follow Me

Jennette Fulda on Facebook

Recent Posts

  • That billionaire brat made me feel bad that Twitter is imploding
  • No one grows old on DVD or CD-ROM
  • Losing more than 100 pounds…again: Part 3 – The Differences
  • Losing more than 100 pounds…again: Part 2 – Losing Weight
  • Losing more than 100 pounds…again: Part 1 – Regaining Weight
450

Travel and Adventure

Weight-Loss Blog Title Generator

Most Popular Posts

  • Two weeks of Blue Apron: Six recipes, one blogger, and not enough bowls.
  • Remind me never to go off my meds again
  • Like the back of my hand
  • The Big Move in Retrospect: Everything good and the bad about moving from Indianapolis to Chapel Hill
  • It’s hard to type when you break your arm
  • My health insurance denial letters. Past or future?
  • Punta Cana, Dominican Republic: Day 1, Getting there is half the fun!
  • Not a picture I’ll be bragging about

Blog Archives

Search

Know thyself, quiz Monday

Jennette Fulda tells stories to the Internet about her life as a smartass, writer, chronic headache sufferer, (former?) weight-loss inspiration, and seemingly nice person (who is silently judging you). You can contact her if you promise to be nice.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for keyboards ruined by coffee spit-takes or forehead wrinkles caused by deep thought.

Follow Me

Blog Archives

Newsletter

One day I might actually e-mail something to my mailing list. If you want to be there for that moment, sign up below.

AS SEEN IN

  • The Washington Post
  • The Today Show
  • The New York Times
  • The Wall Street Journal
  • The Globe and Mail
  • Associated Press
  • Women's Health
  • Glamour
  • Shape Magazine
  • Runner's World
  • Health
  • The Early Show
  • MSNBC
Copyright © 2023 Jennette Fulda • All Rights Reserved • Privacy Policy • Site design by Makeworthy Media