Lots of headlines already this week!
The Wall Street Journal’s “The Juggle” blog featured 168 Hours yesterday — particularly my question of where we hit the point of diminishing returns with work hours. A recent Juggle post had claimed that the 40-hour workweek was the new part-time, which may be the case in some organizations, but many of us hit a point of diminishing returns not long after that (Wandering Scientist wrote of her point — always at less than 50 hours per week — last month, complete with charts!)
I’m over at Fortune today, writing about a trend story: “Companies head back downtown.” Starting with the tale of Quicken Loans heading into downtown Detroit, I ask whether location matters for a business. It does, somewhat, for recruiting. If you want young, hip employees, it helps to be in a downtown where people can live and walk to work. If you want people who care about school systems and space, that points a different direction. Then there is always the question of whether you’re producing something that requires access to roads, rails, etc. And of course, in the modern world where many of us work virtually, location may not matter at all. Or we can switch location, chameleon-like, as the need arises (see the tale of a small business called Buzz Revolution at the end of the story).
I was minding my own business on Twitter the other day (actually, cleaning up the mess from the phishing scam fall-out) when I noticed that two folks I admire, Meagan Francis (The Happiest Mom) and Amy Wilson (When Did I Get Like This) were chatting about me on Blog Talk Radio’s MommyBites show. 168 Hours was mentioned in the middle some where, but the radio show is good to listen to in general if you’ve thought about writing a book and are wondering how you are going to find the time.
Meanwhile, over at BNET, I’m blogging about this question: “Can You Become a Morning Person?” I used to think I was more of a night owl, though I was probably more in the middle. But life has conspired to make me more of a morning person. It really is a good time to get things done, and with little kids, the whole day seems to shift earlier. I’ve been getting up before 6:30AM to run most mornings for the past month, and I really have seen upsides — having this to-do done by 7:20AM feels great, and since it’s not so hot then, I’m able to run farther and faster and take advantage of the great nature trails around my new home. This is requiring some coordination now that my mother-in-law has gone back home (I couldn’t go yesterday because my husband was traveling), but is worth it.
Other posts at BNET: One on ATUS numbers finding that “Working Parents Have Plenty of Free Time.” I always enjoy two kinds of comments on these pieces. One is that I must be single and childless. The other I like is people claiming they have no free time at all… as if reading blogs and posting a comment on BNET is required for anyone’s job. Today’s post is on “How to Leave the Office at 5PM (Really).” It involves leaving even if not 100% of everything is done, splitting your shifts, and doing a 4PM triage of anything that absolutely has to be done in the next hour.