February 13 | Set Your Own Hours

The phrase “set your own hours” often sounds similar to “work whenever you want” when in fact, the two phrases couldn’t be any further from each other.

‘Working whenever you want’ echoes of a certain kind of laziness. Like we got up god knows when this morning and puttered about until we finally decided to clock in. In a roundabout way, the implication is that it doesn’t really matter how much or little we work, or what we bring to the work.

Setting your own hours—now that’s a different beast entirely. Sure, the element of freedom is the same, but the agency is different. You are exerting control over your calendar. You are, in an act of agency and (hopefully) wisdom, making a judgment call about when and for how long you will produce the best result and setting your own hours. 

For many of us, that’s more than idealistic. We have operating hours, working at businesses with customers and coworkers that require us to keep the same hours as them. We’re passengers to the choices of others, having to clock in and out at the whim of the schedule, not our own choices.

Unless… Well, unless we’re lucky enough to have some choice in what work we choose. Not everyone does, but many do. 

In that case—if we have the choice about how much money we need to make to survive, what careers we choose, what lifestyle we live, and what matters to us personally—haven’t we then maintained that agency?

Don’t we all set our own hours?… Read the rest