A Life-Changing Revelation at Closing Time
When do you decide to call it quits? When do you just pack it up and go home?
I’m self-employed, which means I get to set all the rules for my company. I don’t have any bosses breathing down my neck, telling me what I can and can’t do.
I don’t have to come to the office at a specific time or stay until a specific time. If I don’t have any meetings scheduled for a particular day, or any deliverables due or anything like that, I can choose not go to work, sleep in late, or do a half-day.
I have total freedom and control over my schedule. I can literally get in my car any random day during business hours and drive to Mexico, get a hotel on the beach and watch TV, drink Coronas, and swim in the surf.
The problem is, just because I can do these things doesn’t mean I do.
Actually, I almost never do anything like this. Aside from scuba diving trips that I plan long in advance, I really don’t take time off. And I rarely do half-days. And I’ve never driven to Mexico before.
Being self-employed is kind of a bummer, sometimes, because it means that you’re responsible for everything, so if you don’t do it, it just won’t get done.
Over the years, this had kind of turned me into an automaton of sorts without my even realizing it. Recently, I’ve felt like a slave to the office, like I have to get in my car begrudgingly, go to the office, and work until my work is done, then finally go home when I’m tired and burnt out, which is often 6:00, 7:00, 8:00 in the evening, or even later.
Until a few weeks ago.
Although I’ve had my own office in downtown Tucson for the past three years, I tried something a little bit different. I spent $100 and got a “punch card” at a coworking space on the opposite side of town. I’m not even sure why: I just wanted to try it out.
On my very first day there, I really liked it. They had a fancy espresso maker, the lighting was much nicer than what I have at my office, and there were other people there, which is very unlike my office, where I always work alone, all day, every day, by myself.
At the end of the day, I had a huge epiphany. The lady who worked at the front desk came to find me and said, “It’s almost 5:00. We’re closing up.”
For whatever reason, this hit me like a ton of bricks.
“Oh yeah,” I remembered. “Other people have ‘quitting time,’ and that’s usually at 5:00.”
“Ha!” I almost laughed out loud. What an idea! I thought.
Just arbitrarily quitting at the end of the day, whether the work you have to do is actually done or not?
It’s been so long since I’ve worked for someone else that I literally forgot all about this concept. I’d been so steeped in the habit of getting as much done as possible and not going home until I’d accomplished what I wanted to do at the start of the day.
But here I was, facing the prospect of being kicked out of the coworking space at 5:00 pm, right on the dot.
What a blessing! I decided.
I can go home now and finish whatever I’m working on… tomorrow! It will still be there waiting for me.
I felt so liberated; I was almost giddy.
What would I do with myself, not working, at the very early hour of 5:00 pm? I had no idea. As I packed up my stuff, I pondered the options: should I go out to a restaurant and get a beer by myself? Should I go to that music store I keep driving past and look at those guitars I’ve wanted to check out?
The opportunities seemed endless. I was nearly overwhelmed by all the options I had now that I was leaving the office—my temporary office—right at 5:00 pm.
I walked out the door, and the lady turned off the lights, walked out right behind me, and locked up the building, and left.
I giggled as I hopped into my car and drove home.
And I was done with work for the day.
It was just that simple.