I definitely do "soft-afternoons". Even though I work for myself, I find I need to schedule time to get these little things done before they pile up and impact the "hard-days". I'm curious how others handle it.
I don't think this is a new phenomenon, even when we were in the office every day people varied the intensity of their work. The science tells us we have a limited cognitive capacity for intense work, probably no more than 3 hours a day, and we're pretty much done by Thursday, so Friday was always a more relaxed day. We used for having conversations and doing admin, and it was often when a bit of silliness would burst out (which may or may not have been related to going the pub at lunchtime).
What I think has changed since my day is the 'hustle culture' and the greater workloads imposed on people has made it more difficult to 'ease off' - or to be seen to be doing that. Hence higher levels of burnout. Now WfH has given people a bit more autonomy and less oversight and they can regulate themselves more effectively through 'soft-off' and 'soft-on' days.
"Soft-Off Day" is new to me but the behavior isn't. What strikes me is the word "guilt" in the definition — workers feeling guilty while doing this. That's the tell. The relationship between people and their work has changed, but the internal contract hasn't caught up yet.
I definitely do "soft-afternoons". Even though I work for myself, I find I need to schedule time to get these little things done before they pile up and impact the "hard-days". I'm curious how others handle it.
I don't think this is a new phenomenon, even when we were in the office every day people varied the intensity of their work. The science tells us we have a limited cognitive capacity for intense work, probably no more than 3 hours a day, and we're pretty much done by Thursday, so Friday was always a more relaxed day. We used for having conversations and doing admin, and it was often when a bit of silliness would burst out (which may or may not have been related to going the pub at lunchtime).
What I think has changed since my day is the 'hustle culture' and the greater workloads imposed on people has made it more difficult to 'ease off' - or to be seen to be doing that. Hence higher levels of burnout. Now WfH has given people a bit more autonomy and less oversight and they can regulate themselves more effectively through 'soft-off' and 'soft-on' days.
"Soft-Off Day" is new to me but the behavior isn't. What strikes me is the word "guilt" in the definition — workers feeling guilty while doing this. That's the tell. The relationship between people and their work has changed, but the internal contract hasn't caught up yet.