I learned the hard way how to work 30 hours, Amazon-style

Twenty-eight days. That was the record for the number of consecutive days I was plagued with a migraine.

I tried acupuncture, drugs, exercise, massage, different drugs, meditation (which I still do), greater dosages of drugs, yoga, creative visualization, diet changes, a Qi Gong master and a psychic. I was desperate.

With my employer’s blessing, I shaved hours off my work week years before Amazon announced its 30-hour work week experiment. That would cure me. I was certain.

I imagined snapshots of myself and my three girls in the park, mouths open in laughter, me on the massage table, and my husband's eyes wide with surprise at a dinner that included more than four ingredients. I now had oodles of time, and I was headache-free, right?

Wrong. What I failed to take into account is that a mom’s (and dad’s) work is never done. I carved out a whole Friday without having to go to my job. And I never worked harder.

• I took on added responsibility. Yes, I can pick up your shirts from the dry cleaners. Yes, I can volunteer to work the school’s fall festival.
• I decided that NOW was the time to write that book, clean the gelatinous goo at the bottom of the refrigerator crisper, and clip coupons — since I was making less money.
• I spent entire mornings cleaning and organizing my car, my closets, my drawers — all the things I felt guilty about never getting around to when I was bedridden with a headache or at work.

​Cry me a river, you say. I’d take the time if I could. If I was financially able or if my employer would let me.

OK. I deserve that. My point is that my migraines, as well as my relationship with my kids and spouse, did not improve by working less until I actually learned to work less.

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I doubt I am alone in this. Or am I the only parent rising before the sun, making doctor’s appointments and filling out permission slips during lunch and going to bed infomercial-late in order to get it all done?

If you cut your work week, do these

Whether a 30-hour work week is in your future or in the fantasy realm doesn’t matter. Learning to work less for working parents — and we’re all working parents no matter where that work is done — is a skill. And we can all squeeze out a little less work, whether in a day or a couple of minutes. Here’s how:

1. Give yourself time off - and stick to it.

I cringe even typing this. But I still, at times, have to schedule - in my planner or phone -  no-work time. It reads something like, “Watch ‘Downton Abbey' marathon” or “read ‘Fifth Wave,’ which is in reference to the excellent teen sci-fi trilogy by Rick Yancey.  The pure fun of juvenile science fiction saves me from my instincts to put away the dry dishes in the sink rack or find some other work to do. Find something like that, write it down, and then do it.

2. Ditch the guilt.

I experienced all kinds of guilt about either not pulling my weight at work or not pulling my weight EVEN MORE at home now that I had hours to lounge away with my family. Guilt serves no one. A rested, relaxed and energized human-being (not a human-doing), however, serves the world. That’s what I tell myself, anyway. It works.

3. Aim and focus.

Deciding where to put your attention and then focusing on that will help alleviate the guilt. Friday is slumber-party night with my girls, and I aim my attention and focus at them. When I’m at work, it’s not as if my thoughts never drift to my home obligations, but I try to keep them on my job, even when working from home. Likewise, when my iPhone calendar dings and my butt is headed for the couch, then that is where I put my focus. My focus may be redirected from time to time as I attempt to break up a fight between my girls or fetch them a snack, but it returns to the task at hand: Chillaxing.

4. Don’t overbook.

If you want to work less, feel less guilt and give everyone in your family life quality time, expect the unexpected. Sick kids happen in the middle of the workday. Water heaters bust when you’ve scheduled some major down time. Don’t book so much into your day that there’s not even a couple minutes for some well-earned respite.

5. Turn electronics off.

Shut off emails, texts and social media. There’s a good chance those are used for work. All it takes is one answered email, and you’re off and running.

6. Have a chill short list. 

Having a list of go-to joys and relaxing intermissions when you unexpectedly find you have the time is priceless. Mine: Go to the coffee shop alone, lay down with a book or wander the bookstore or library aisles.

I'm still working on working less

I am not migraine-free. But I don’t have the run-on pain for weeks, and on most days, I manage to knock them down before they become all-consuming. My instincts were correct that “the cure” I sought lay in working less. No drug, no energy body work or denial of food has been as effective at lessening the frequency of migraines than simply chilling out.

But it did take me more than six months to learn how to do just that. I’m still learning, really.

(By the way, working more did not equal being more productive. My work output for my employers stayed the same, which is why some businesses in Sweden are giving the 6-hour work day a go.)

I’ve been toying with the idea of going back to full-time. I love what I’m doing now, and, not to sound so cliché, but it doesn’t feel like work-work. I wonder, naturally, if my run-on headaches will return if I return to a 40-week schedule. But I don’t think so.

Working less only works if you work it. And I’ve been working real hard at it.

Reach the reporter at sonja.haller@arizonarepublic.com. Follow at twitter.com/sonjahaller.

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