Diary of an Experiment

Drumroll...the results of my experiment are in (🙂 = non-work block; X = work block)!

Sunday, October 7

9:57 am (in the car on the way to church): A fellow missionary mentions that she saw the post introducing my experiment. Commence work-related discussion. This raises a question: what is work? Is talking about work work? I'm reading Cross-Cultural Servanthood, one of two books we were given at the regional conference. I'm reading it by choice but probably wouldn't be if this weren't my job. Is this work? Baking for all-team potlucks. Is THIS work? Right away I'm inclined to say no, because I love to bake. So...are enjoyment and work mutually exclusive? Tracking this is going to be harder than I thought. I would posit that a blurred definition of work is endemic to church workers of all kinds, everywhere. (As you can see, I chose not to count 6-10 am as a non-work block!)

2:33 pm: Checked EM in the DR Facebook page for no apparent reason other than to see if I had any notifications. Habit, I guess. I'm still saying 2-6 pm is a non-work block. 

Monday, October 8

6:12 am: Posted a picture of my fresh passion fruit yogurt parfait on Instagram and hashtagged it #missionarymac. Is THIS work? 

5:26 pm: Have been trying to get a hold of a colleague all day, only to learn that Mondays are her day off. It's been a pretty boring day for me, which gets me thinking...what would I do with an entire, purposeful day off? 

6:26 pm: Put some finishing touches on my October newsletter before dinner; this definitely qualifies as work and forced me to X off the 6-10 pm block. However, let it be known that multiple chunks of my afternoon were spent reading for enjoyment. So, while it looks like Monday was a total loss, this technique is far from perfect. I've now worked in each of today's four blocks, but not for the entirety of any of them. 

8:34 pm: Ironically, finished Cross-Cultural Servanthood and started reading Boundaries, the other book we were all given at the regional conference. Cue the question...is THIS work?

Tuesday, October 9

6:33 am: I woke up to a work email and am determined to leave it unread until 10 am (which is actually going to be at least 1 pm, since I have a cultural session with Jacqui from 10-12 today and then women's Bible study). 

8:28 am: FAIL! In my defense, the colleague I was trying to get a hold of yesterday got back to me, enabling me to send the FORO follow-up email I had needed her approval on. I was hoping for a better open rate in the morning versus waiting until after Bible study.

6:00 pm: Aaaaaaand calling it quits for today. This may take some willpower...

10:02 pm: Random, mischievous thought: what happens if I check my email now?  

Wednesday, October 10

7:53 am: I have five unread emails, and I'm dying to know what they are! They might not be related to work...but they might be. The notification in the corner of the mail app on my phone is driving me crazy. Must. Not. Cave. 

9:13 am: EIGHT! And a WhatsApp voice memo. I can wait 47 more minutes...

10:34 am: Success! Just now checking my email for the first time while I wait for Jacqui to finish up with whoever she's with so we can have another cultural session. 

Thursday, October 11

6:36 am: Banning myself from checking my email until 10 am worked yesterday; let's try it again. 

9:44 am: Oops. I may have replied to one, teeny, tiny, little work-related WhatsApp message. It's my experiment and I'm still counting 6-10 am as a non-work block. 

6:13 pm: SO close, but I really wanted to finish one more thing. Let me reiterate: this is not a perfect system. I had to be honest and count 6-10 pm as a work block. 

Friday, October 12

10:14 pm: Just put my 8th 🙂on the calendar! And I have an entire day left! I can work boldly now and it doesn't matter, right? Wait...I don't think that's the desired takeaway...

Saturday, October 13

7:02 am: Still rejoicing in the fact that I hit the benchmark number of non-work blocks! I did just send a work-related WhatsApp message to schedule a conference call for later today, but as has become my precedent, I'll count 6-10 am as a non-work block if I do nothing else. (Which I did not!)

10:00 pm:  

Non-work blocks: 10. Work blocks: 18. Granted, I had to draw more than one line in the sand and force the issue at times, but I didn't think I'd make it to eight. In addition to pleasantly surprising me, the exercise raised my consciousness about how I spend my time. Despite the fact that my vocation brings me deep satisfaction, it's okay, even healthy, to put off 'til mañana what doesn't need to be done today. Habits don't change overnight, so I'm going to be a work in progress for awhile. I purposely designed my tracking spreadsheet to print two on a page, so I'll do a round #2 in a few weeks, months, or even years to see if or how my lifestyle and perspectives have shifted. I hope whenever that time comes that I still believe I'm living out Confucius's wise saying: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Done. 

Until next time, blessings!