Hiccups meant to be enjoyed

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Today is the first Saturday of 2010 that I am working. I always try to start working half days on Saturday beginning in February so I’m off to a good start. What I’ve discovered over the years are the different seasons of my relationship with my work.

With a new year, I begin to slowly awaken for the upcoming busy work season that awaits me, much like a bear awakening from its winter hibernation. Work productivity erosion has settled in big time and, much like a stiff old rodeo cowboy who has fallen off the bucking bronco one time too many, I move ever so slow as I go from here to there with my work.

Once awakened, I begin conquering this work productivity erosion and getting the “sleep out of my work ethic”. Slowly but surely, I start working harder and longer much like a migrant farm laborer picking fruit when the crops are in season. There’s really no big deal about this hard work when I think about it in a yesteryear context of when my ancestors worked hard every day while chasing their dreams in their new country. March is normally my toughest work month when I clock about 250 to 270 hours at my office.

After my busy work season, I echo a long and loud mental and physical sigh of relief. At this point, it’s not uncommon for me to experience a serious adrenaline hangover or to feel like a victim of abuse from the constant demands to which my body, mind and spirit have been subjected.

Then the fun season begins with my very relaxed work schedule of Tuesday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It’s wonderful at this point of the year with only occasional departures from this leisure schedule to meet special client demands. Sure it’s possible for me to accept additional clients, work harder and make more money, but why is the question I ask myself when those thoughts enter my head. My answer is always the same because the wealth of leisure is golden.

It’s during this “Life of Riley” season that work productivity erosion slowly returns to the point that on some days it takes me all day long to get nothing done. It’s the flip side of Parkinson’s Law – the classic economic adage of “work expands for the time available to complete it” – in that my loafing at work expands for the time available to loaf.

With the economy being as bad as it is with rampant unemployment everywhere, I’m grateful to be busy and earning my keep. The lesson I’ve learned from the seasons of my work is that, just like winter, spring, summer and fall, work seasons come and go just like hiccups meant to be enjoyed.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum