I suggest looking at Anna’s post, it’s quite true in my opinion.

I’m also a web designer so maybe anna’s comment are recongnisable to me. I live in the netherlands by the way.

also don’t confuse work with art. Commercial design is not necessarily always about top notch personal creativity, profound inspiration and innovation. I know that some people really ARE top artists and strive to be the most creative. But i also know that my job and a lot of other commercial jobs, can be structured and planned.

Also sometimes, it helps to just get started. Make sketches, talk, do SOMETHING even though you haven’t got much inspiration at some points. Indeed it’s a bit like what writers do, when they sit down each day and just try stuff out.

And about free time: if you want more free time you simply have to work less. And probably make less money too. I’m not a freelancer, but i can’t imagine freelancers are any less busy, than designers working in companies. The job still has to get done, no matter at what time of day you do it.

Reading all these posts only heighten my excitement… Yippee!

Yippee for working when I want, be that until the wee wee hours or between 10am and 7pm.

Yippee for stopping when I want to take the dog for a quick walk.

Yippee for no more non-designer corporate middle managers thinking they can design.

Wooo, get me OUTTA HERE!

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/fourdayweek

Either way I think I need to take note of point 2. It could not be more true. When I worked 9 to 5 the evenings really were mine and were not plauged with my to-do list. I am going to try and set myself a set work time from now onwards (yeh right, here I sit at almost 10pm writing this comment!).

I’m speaking from present experience.

Creativity and innovation requires flexibility, and sometimes as we all know, you are just no on it. Creatives need to be able to break away and 9-5ers can’t.

Grass is always greener I suppose, but don’t under value freedom from monotony.

The blogging and writing I do to support and feed my practice bleeds all over the place though. I love what I do for a living and love the writing. And one of the results of loving what I do is that work and play begin to blend together. In many areas it is downright hard to tell the difference. Am I reading this because I’m curious about the light it sheds on human relationships or because I need to know if for my craft?

On the other hand there are days where I wish my work were more defined and contained. I think there will come a time later in life where the containment will be more important to me. For now I am enjoying riding the wave and seeing what I can accomplish and how many clients and families I can be helpful to.

1. personal affinity ( I wanna work 20 hours for you for free beacuse I love my work so much that I’m ready to bust my ass for it; or: I am a person who likes deadlines and planning my life precisely so I’ll work only 8 hours; … )

2. job conditions ( I am working 20 hours a day but I get twice as much money; or: I am working only 4 hours a day beacuse I can! )

3. global system ( USA: Oh yeah, I work 20 hours a day and have XXXX,XX$ salary; or: India: I work 10 hours a day and have 5XX,XX$ salary )

How come nobody considers the importance of place we live in and the influence of the whole system on our atitudes we express here? Do you really believe that this story wouldn’t take a different path if it’s written in e.g. Albania? Are our opinions perhaps influenced by a capitalistic system approach only? If you think not, tell me about China Web Design? Do/Can they really care like us? I don’t think so.

Yes a job has it’s own problems, but so does freelancing. I love having a job because I can clock off at 5pm and not even think about work until 9am the next morning. All those hours in between are mine to do my own thing, and I still get a paycheck every week whether there’s been clients or not.

I totally agree with Kyle’s comment (a few above mine) – don’t worry about getting ahead / climbing the corporate ladder. They’re just games your employer likes to make you play so that you’re a better little money-making machine for them. I never work for free (unpaid overtime, etc) – I value my after-hours time with friends and family and for my own projects far too much.

And yes it’s also possible to remain passionate and excellent at what you do working 9-5. Even after 10 years I still love my work (web design) and there is always something new to learn. Just don’t settle for less than you want – do your dues with the smaller companies for a few years (as we all have to do, it’s not fun but it seems to be necessary) – and then become the best damn designer you can be and name your terms.

I also believe 9-5 can definitely work for freelancing as well – deadlines are fantastic motivators, they separate the wheat from the chaff so you end up doing only what really needs to be done. I use deadlines every single day in my job, and life in general, to help me concentrate on what is important.

Just my two cents anyway, I hope it’s helpful :)