Working Hours

What are you basic working hours?

Two weeks ago, I changed mine as I am doing a lot of work in the construction industry, which starts at 8am. I now arrive in the office at about 7.40am which gives me a jump on competitors who in the main dont start until 8-8.30am. I find this has made me some much more productive, as the phones are very quiet which means I get to crack on without interruption.

I have also picked up work from competition, as if I hear they have temps due to start, I ring and check they have arrived before they do, and if they havent, I get the opportunity to replace them

Key thing with hours and everything you do, adapt!

08:30 to 17:00 Just need normal interface time with a variety of clients

EDIT: Of course I start earlier when going to a 4N breakfast...

my actual hours vary a great deal, thinking about it. The phone starts ringing from about 8 but the line transfers either to my mobile or to JAM when I am not at my desk.

I tend to be at my desk around 8:30 if I am in the office, and tend to work until around 6.

I now work for someone else, but I still work really long hours...I am in London at least once a week at the moment and that is a 14 hour day at least and I can't switch off at night, blogging and forum updating, sorting out webinars and setting up e-mail campaigns!!

Love it!!

I'm finally managing to get into a proper routine in terms of working hours rather than going through fluxes according to my workload; so I tend to get up at 8, catch up on emails, set myself up for the day, head to the office for 10/10.30ish and work til around 6.30.

Only been doing it for a couple of weeks but I've found myself working in the evenings and on weekends less, which is what I was hoping to achieve; and I'm actually getting as hell of a lot more done during my working week than I was before.

I have a purpose built office at home and making the division between home and business isn't always easy. I'm at my desk at 7.00 every day and often send stuff out in email form after 11.00 at night. As someone who writes I'm more creative at night, so sometimes I'm still working at 2.00.

Don't feel sorry for me yet though, because most days I only work a total of 8 or 9 hours, it just integrates with real life. I do quite a lot when my missus is watching Downton Abbey or Helicopter Heros.

When I'm doing a seminar across country it's not uncommon to get up at 04.00 and be home around 21.30. I do 50 of these a year.

Get in at 8.40ish. The office closes at 5 and I tend to escape any time between 5.30 and 6. Lunch is either a sandwich at the computer or a nice meal with a customer or insurer

I'm still working at the day job and doing the business part time BUT I've just managed to book a day off the day job per week up until Christmas and I'm negotiating to drop a day at the day job in the new year, permanently!

So my hours vary...

On a day when I'm doing the day job I work on Libro either 5-7 am or 4.30-9 pm (with a dinner break!) if the work is there to be done. I'm lucky in that I work flexi-time and have understanding employers, so if I need more time for Libro, I can carve it out, even at relatively short notice.

On a weekend or day off, if I have work in, I tend to start early on the actual work (6 am usually - I'm a morning person) then use the middle of the day for other tasks eg fiddling around with the web page or writing a blog post, networking, marketing...

I'm aiming to do a 6 - 5 kind of day but with plenty of breaks for yoga class / a run / lunch with friends - I enjoy my work but I never wanted it to take over my life!

At the moment its' around 9am to 8:30ish normally. Hopefully it will settle down to 6/7ish in the near future, but it's a bit manic at present.

My office centre kicks me out at 9pm, it's a real saving grace as i probably would be there to stupid o'clock otherwise.

I am feeling very out of place in this thread...

I have finally settled down to a sane working day which starts at 7:30 with all the wake up and check this stuff and then progress through the day until 5-6pm when I shut the PC down and move from home office to lounge and kitchen and work off the laptop for hosting and wifi support stuff until 11pm. The support is minimal during the evening so its only a watching brief most of the time. Summer is a busier time on the wifi but, even then its not heavy.

Weekends are now strictly for me, unless I cock up and have to sort anything out.

Don't worry Paul, I'm a bit like you. Make sure I'm at my desk by 9am latest (commute is 30 sec walk...still struggle sometimes in these cold winter mornings) and tend to knock off around 5:30ish.

Of course I'll occasionally do things outside these hours when the situation requires it, but as the exception not the rule.

To all people working really long hours...could you not get everything done in much less time if you left Twitter/the 4N forum alone? #justsaying!

I tend not to have fixed working hours especially on days like today where I slept through the alarm which was set for 6am and eventually got up at 10.15 but then I was working long into the night blogging, emailing etc. I work when the mood takes me and I can do an awful lot in a short space of time. I also work weekends but some weekends I don't and last weekend I never switched the computer on once.

I've got much better at this after becoming a "bit ill" earlier in the year. I realised that at the grand old age of 34, I couldn't work every hour that God sends anymore, so I really cut down on the hours.

We get to the office between 8.30 and 10 am depending on schedule (of course there's sometimes a breakfast meeting before this!) and usually manage to leave before 6, although I have been known to leave at 4 if I feel like it!

I don't take the laptop home anymore, which although we've got a PC in the home office, restricts what I could do at home on an evening, and I usually do about 3 hours on a weekend, but always make sure I have at least one weekend day off. In total, I've probably cut down from getting on for 70 hours a week to a more realistic 50, and the best thing is - I get just as much done! I've learnt to delegate, and outsource where I should, and so my own in-tray is better than it ever has been.

Oh, and the best thing - my Mobile number isn't on my business cards anymore. The main thing for me is that I can turn it off on a Sunday or when appropriate, and I don't worry that someone might be wanting to get hold of me! Try it...

I literally work every hour that I can manage, although I try my best to keep Saturdays free, that's my football time.

Yesterday, I did 5:30am-22:00pm and I was up at 7am today to start again. It doesn't bother me though, it'd be worse if there was no work to do and I absolutely love what I do.