where to start:

[badhank]

I have had some trouble getting the wheel rolling for 80/20 mentality, maybe you guys can beat me over the head with the blatantly obvious when i give you my specifics.

Im a programmer and server admin.
i get paid hourly, regardless of how much gets done (except for then theres an impending deadline, like once every 3-4 months).
i usually get a lot done, but am free to work as much or little as i want.
i do not receive a lot of email.

I am being paid while developing a "system" lets just say. Once the product becomes profitable i am in for a ground level share of the company.

Whats my first move to cutting this down. I am in the process of getting 2 days telecommute/week.

[datangeL82]

Well you can apply it other things besides work. Do you have any friends that give you grief? Any clothing or items in your home causing clutter? Any rituals that eat 80% of your money (i.e. eating out, buying electronics you don't need)?

[badhank]

Thanks for those suggestions.

Do you have any friends that give you grief?
I have a high standard of ppl i call my friend, all (the few lol) are positive influences. think this one is ok

Any clothing or items in your home causing clutter?

I could stand to drop a few items, but a few more items = less frequency of laundry, so im happy with that. I do have some stuff i dont use, but its in boxes/bins, in groups, in the closet. i think this one is ok as well.

Any rituals that eat 80% of your money (i.e. eating out, buying electronics you don't need)?

the most of my $ goes to expenses need like rent, car insurance, internet, cheap food (i just bought 25 frozen dinners cause they were $1 each 2 nights ago), and the rest goes to debt repayment and keeping a working float... I buy very few frill items, download a lot of things instead. I dont wanna say im cheap, but i do take heavy consideration before i buy anything. always room for improvement in that tho. I will pay closet attention to this.


This still leaves me with the work issues. If anyone in my situation has done even a few small things i would love to hear it. If your situation is in any way close to mine i would like to hear that too, maybe get some ideas...

[badhank]

anyone? im basically begging for scraps here... again asking for any advice... Is no1 in my situation?

[webgal]

Perhaps if you give us more to go on like a typical day. There may be some ways to make it more efficient but of course, you'd have fewer hours and less $$.

[badhank]

Well my first post seems vague, but thats my job i guess!
I get in whenever i feel like it. me and the other guy were requested to show up at least 11-12, and im in usually at 9-10, hes never in until at least 2pm and often 4pm... So its pretty easy goin.

I have many things to do, and no set dates (with the exception of 3-4/year aparently) I do my best to do the minimum to get each project running and not let scope creep or lack of time kill my productivity.

I wish there was a better option than doing the same amt in a shorter time...

[MariaG]

@badhank - it seems to me that you're looking for a way out of your job. You say you already have a laid back schedule, little email, and very few deadlines. One thing you mentioned is telecommuting. That's a great option for reducing your "seat time" and freeing you up to work on other projects.

If you're looking for ways to optimize your personal life, I would suggest things like setting up systems for managing your social contacts, household responsibilities, and the like. I've started a series on my blog about applying 4HWW to your personal life (http://www.blog.neverthesamerivertwice.com/2008/03/03/my-four-hour-workweek-free-virtual-assistants/).

I can't tell if you have a family, but if so you may find Family Hack (http://www.familyhack.com/) a helpful resource. I also featured a guest post on site about using 4HWW to manage a family (http://www.blog.neverthesamerivertwice.com/2008/02/18/4-hour-workweek-family-application/).

Overall, most of us would probably be happy to trade places with you. You're in the perfect position to get a muse up and running - now do it!

[badhank]

thanks maria, i know i have it decent, but that really puts things into perspective when you say it that way, i have what a lot of ppl are aiming for. In fact im a payed (hourly) partner, where some older ppl are assuming the risk and having me as a technical lead until our product/service "takes off" in which case im in for a share... so thats kinda a muse in a way...just takes up some time and i have a few responsibilities to others.

I guess im looking to automate it and do it from wherever...but i need to get some technical problems/issues completed first.

Also i have many (20+) ideas for muses of all types, i have been writing them down and doin bits of work on each, so i guess i need to just narrow it down eh?
Maybe i will bring a notebook and some paper on my week long, all inclusive vacation in cuba (leaving friday) to narrow down some things.

Rereading what i wrote, im pretty far into my plans, good for me, thanks everyone for allowing me to bounce some ideas off you and get the 'ol noodle on track.

I'l definitely check out your blog maria

[dking]

One thing I did back when I was a systems administrator for a hosting company was to automate as much as I could using "Scheduled Tasks" or "Cron", depending on the operating system you are using. I automated my job and simple started "Working from home" more often. It sounds to me like you are already half way there.

My advice? Stay. The free time and relaxation you get in that environment is worth far more than the extra money of going into programming full time. Think of it as your first muse.

[badhank]

All my sys admin task are croned up, i do a decent amount of programming for a system that i developed as well, and that cant be automated...

[dking]

Ok so if I am reading the book correctly, now track for one entire day everything that annoys you by adding it to a list. The next day use that list to figure out the 20% of your day giving you 80% of your daily grief.

And please, post the results here in this thread so we can use your study.

[badhank]

Well the point is to measure what you normally do in a day and be a little more productive when you work from home, otherwise ppl will ask you to do more all the time, fine line my friend.

P.S. I used to live 30 minutes away from work (each way) and decided that 1 hour was too much of my precious time wasted/day, so i moved down the the street and its now a 10 minute walk door to door, also i drive so i can b here in 2 minutes, saving me about 5 hours a week for over a year and a half...

[kingfu]

Is it possible to renegotiate your contract so you're not paid hourly?

[froldt]

Is it possible to renegotiate your contract so you're not paid hourly?

I wonder if you might be able to get paid more hourly, and work less hours? Thus making the same amount of money for the same amount of work, just less time invested.

If you arranged it so that you could make the same money in less time, then you would have even more freedom to work on your personal muses. (As far as muses, I would recommend focusing on one until it's either automated or apparent that it's not going to work.)

Enjoy the vacation!

[badhank]

Is it possible to renegotiate your contract so you're not paid hourly?

eventually i guess, but i currently need that income
wow old thread resurrected eh?

[ConquerLife]

I have had some trouble getting the wheel rolling for 80/20 mentality, maybe you guys can beat me over the head with the blatantly obvious when i give you my specifics.

Im a programmer and server admin.
i get paid hourly, regardless of how much gets done (except for then theres an impending deadline, like once every 3-4 months).
i usually get a lot done, but am free to work as much or little as i want.
i do not receive a lot of email.

I am being paid while developing a "system" lets just say. Once the product becomes profitable i am in for a ground level share of the company.

Whats my first move to cutting this down. I am in the process of getting 2 days telecommute/week.



Well, if you're a server Admin, I would recommend you move into the "server monitoring" side of things, then spend all day working on your muse, and if the server crashes, have some remote people in India do all the work. ;-)

[JFrenzel]

Good suggestion. Try that idea out


Jose

[camdengirl]

I suppose as you're paid hourly a lot depends on your hourly rate and what else you could be earning in that time? If you get paid lots of money hourly then the temptation is to stay tied to your desk/internet connection/etc. for as long as possible. However if you can earn more doing other tasks, that's when you need to really start freeing up your time.

Could you maybe work longer hours each day and get a day off? My aunt does this - she crams her working week into 3 days by working longer hours and not taking full lunch breaks etc. in return for 2 days off per week. It seems to work out okay!

[badhank]

thanks all for the advice. This was actually one of my first few posts on this board some months ago. I have since this thread started negotiated a better working position that suits me very well. If its all the same, i request that this thread get locked as to not incriminate me in future...

Perhaps we can start another thread for people that are in a similar position, but that are not me.

[read]

I agree with a lot of the suggestions here. Seems like you're in a great position to make use of the relaxed environment --

If you're ambitious, you might apply the 80/20 principle not only to your time but what you're good at. What is the 20 percent you do that contributes 80 percent to your achievement? What is the 20 percent you can do better than anyone else or do in less time?

See what happens--