The Super Long Day Badge of Honor – No More!

Earlier this year I wrote a post “So when did 12 hour days become the norm?”, it has been on my mind a lot lately and need to write about it again.

My question then and now is, when did the “I worked a 20 hour day and I’m working on barely 4 hours of sleep!” become a badge of honor? A requirement to be a good virtual assistant business owner? Early morning, nights, weekends – you are at the beck and call of your inbox and the requests of your clients. It seems that the bragging rights from this type of schedule are not about how much you enjoy your business but how many hours you worked.

Why is that? Is this a carry over from our corporate jobs? I think that may be where I learned it. No only from my own experience but from watching others – even on TV. With all the cut backs, each employee has needed to work faster, harder, longer and become an expert multi-tasker.

To be honest, it was one fo the reasons I thought the VA industry would be a good fit for me. Lots of variety, enjoying the juggling of multiple projects/tasks. Yes I knew there would be long days, that is to be expected as a business owner. But when the days and weekends kept getting longer I realized I had only created another j-o-b.

There has to be a better way!

I’m sure we have all heard the term “lifestyle business”. It is definitely a buzz word from the last few years. I used to think, “Oh that would be nice, but that is just for info marketers & coaches, not for virtual assistants.”

Thankfully that is being drummed out of my head. The idea of being unique, having a business that works for me is what I am going for. In learning more about my personality, learning to really pay attention to my work style and the times of day I am able to concentrate and focus the best I’m finding a rhythm, work style and schedule that is starting to work much better.

Creating time for me to rejuvenate, write, doing something creative, walking the dog… anything that gets me away from my desk doing client work, makes a HUGE difference. Not only for me but in the creativity, feedback and brainstorming I am able to do with and for my clients. There has to be a balance and there have to be boundaries … but we will leave that for another blog  post.

Here are just some of the books, websites and blogs I have been paying attention to this year that are helping me to re-frame my  way of thinking.

Websites/Blogs:

Justin Lukasavige – http://www.coachradio.tv/

Karyn Greenstreet - http://www.roadmaptoreinvention.com/ & http://www.passionforbusiness.com/

Chris Guillebeau – http://www.chrisguillebeau.com/

Books:

Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

A Million Miles in a Thousand Days by Donald Miller

These are just a few of the people and resources that I have come to value and appreciate. I hope they can help you too!

Photo Credit: Moi Cody