Last week, I wrote about the layoffs at my firm.  As I said, two of my friends were laid off.  Just a few days ago, one of those friends (on his first day as an unemployed 20-something) sent me and a few other people the following e-mail:

“Hi all, I just wanted to let you know that I am in my PJs at home, reading a good book, and as happy as I have been in two years.”

Isn’t it funny how we (the employed) are the ones who find ourselves miserable, trudging to work day after day, for that all-important paycheck, and he (the unemployed) is the one who is “happy”?  Now, granted, he got a severance package, so he has a bit of a buffer before he needs a paycheck again.  Nevertheless, that money will run out, and he will need to find a source of income.  And, yet, he’s happy. 

Although that may seem surprising, I’m not surprised at all.  The reality of not having to work, no matter how short-lived, is a reality worth striving for because it liberates us from the monkey on all our backs . . . otherwise known as a J-O-B.  The day we don’t have to work is the day we can pursue interests and ventures that truly reflect who we are.

Take my friend, for instance.  Because he doesn’t have to work, he can wake up in the morning and choose whatever he wants to do.  It could have been anything.  And so he chooses to read a novel.  That activity (and not coming into the office to push paper) is what he would choose on any given day if presented the ability to choose an activity. 

With jobs, we don’t have that ability.  But he does, and he chose something that reflects who he is.  Moreover, that activity will help him dig down and realize his own potential.  Jobs often prohibit us from doing that. 

Which is why, if you want to achieve true wealth, you should be looking for ways to get rid of yours.   

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[I am just getting back from a two-week vacation.  I go back to work this coming Monday, and I can't help but think what kind of feedback I'm going to get from my boss.  The last time I took an extended vacation, I had an interesting experience with him.  The post below recounts what happened.  This is what working for "the man" is all about.]

My “about me” page makes clear that I work for a big firm.  I blog part-time, and my aim is to catalogue my investing ideas and strategies here, use this blog as a resource, and then apply these ideas and strategies in an effort to get off the paycheck. 

Some people think working for a big company and earning a high salary is a dream job.  That might be true in some rare circumstances, but it often is not.  I want to give you a snapshot of why a big company job–and being an employee in general–isn’t the way to go.  Working for “the man” has serious drawbacks, and the following short story illustrates one of them:

My boss called me into his office last Friday.  He asked me about my work load, and I listed for him the various projects on which I was currently working.  In short, I have been swamped with work, and I painted that picture loud and clear. 

After I finished my explanation, he quickly remarked, “Well good, so you’re not too busy.”

I gave him a quizzical look but said nothing.  He then looked down at a printout on his desk and said, “I was looking at your hours.”

“My hours?” I asked. 

“Yeah,” he responded.  “You’re at 80% of standard for the first two months.”

[Just some quick background information: In my profession, our clients get billed by the hour.  I have to bill a certain number of hours per year.  The partners at this firm track our hours and conveniently let us know if our hours are not up to snuff.  After all, the associates' salaries come from the profits we generate.  After paying our salaries and overhead, the partners keep what's left over.  So if our performance is not up to par, they certainly let us know.]

“What is ’standard’?”  I asked.

He glanced down at the printout and then looked back up at me.  “162,” he remarked.

[The number 162 refers to the number of hours we're required to bill per month.  It averages out to 40 hours per week, which is reasonable.]

“80%?”  I quickly thought about why my hours in January and February of this year were only at 80%.  I was swamped in January and at the beginning of February, and I worked the first three weekends in January.  There was no way I was billing at anything below standard.  If anything, I was overachieving.  I should have been at about 110% of standard.

Then, it hit me!  I was on vacation for a week and a half in February.  No wonder I was at 80% of standard for January and February combined.  I didn’t work for almost one quarter of that time!  By taking into account my absent time, my total hours for January and February were obviously going to be below standard. 

So I mentioned that to my boss.

“Well, I was out for a week and a half in February, so that certainly explains why I’m at 80%–”

“Talk to Stephen about the Colorado case,” he cut me off.  “He needs help on that.  I want you to stay busy.”  He rose from his chair, and he headed for the door. 

I had trouble finding words, and all I could muster was, “Sure . . . yeah . . . I want to . . . stay busy, too.”

He walked down the hallway and disappeared around the corner.

I stood in place.  Frozen.  Trying to make sense of what had just happened. 

He said I was at 80% of standard.  But that sub-standard statistic was directly tied, in part, to my absence for a portion of the time used to create that very statistic.  If anyone were to evaluate my operating level for January and the first two weeks of February–you know, when I was present and working–I would have been at 110% or 120% of standard.  Instead, they cast aside the plain and obvious fact that I was absent, average my total number of hours for the first two months, and then complain that I’m below standard.  Never mind that this calculation violates every law of third-grade mathematics.  Unbelievable.

I walked back to my office with my fists clenched.  I closed the door, and I took a couple of deep breaths to let my anger subside. 

It obviously did not matter to my boss that, based on my track record of having above-standard numbers in January (and December), I would make up for any deficiency in February with above-standard billing in March, April, etc.  It didn’t matter that the only reason I was below standard in February was due to the time I took off.  No.  That wasn’t enough.  His message, instead, was something far different.  And I know, with almost absolute certainty, he was thinking the following two things:

1) You need to bill 162 hours per month whether or not you go on vacation.  Even if you miss a week or two weeks during one particular month, I expect you to hit that magical number of 162 (and, of course, exceed it).  Anything less is unacceptable.

2) Because of your selfish vacationing, I am going to make less money in February.  Instead of taking home over $100,000 in February, I only get to take home around $90,000 because of you and your sub-standard billing.  See, I lose money every minute you don’t work.  I don’t care if you take your precious vacations and average or exceed “standard” for the year.  In my mind, I am imagining what you could bill (and how much I could make) without you taking these unnecessary vacations.  So it’s no harm for me to pester you about making “standard” every month.  My goal is to line my fat pockets and stop your selfish vacationing.

That’s what it’s like working for “the man.”  It exists in many forms and degrees.  You work for money, and you work for someone else. 

That alone should motivate you to find ways to break away from this redundant and, often, miserable experience.  It’s what motivated me to pay off my debt, start this blog, and form an investing plan to develop streams of passive income that will enable me to break away from this world.  You don’t have to be an employee forever.  Don’t let anyone tell you differently. 

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The eight hour day is . . . just . . . awful.

Every day when I’m at work, I try to be as productive as possible.  When I get in early in the morning, I’m at my peak production level.  I zoom through my assignments and tasks, and I feel unstoppable. 

But then . . . the 11 o’clock hour hits, and I start to slow down.  I lose concentration.  The effects of the cup of coffee I had earlier have worn off.  I start surfing the Internet.  I get tired and yearn for the days when I used to sleep until noon. 

When I eat lunch, however, I regain some energy.  I take a 15-minute break to eat and relax.  Then, when I get back to work, I find myself more productive.  I rifle through more research and writing.  I read faster.  My thinking is sharper.  I’m a machine.

But then . . . around 3:30 p.m., I lose it again.  I break down.  My mind wanders.  I lose focus.  Heck, I start wishing I could take a nap. 

I think that, at best, I generate only about 3 to 4 hours of high productivity each day.

What is wrong with me??

The “Eight Hour Day” Impossible

Nothing is wrong with me.  And if this has happened to you, don’t be ashamed.  Seriously, how often have you spent eight consecutive hours working on a business project or side task that involves mental analysis and creativity?  I mean 8 consecutive hours without allowing your mind to drift off somewhere else. 

If your answer is “never,” then you’re not alone.  We humans lose the ability to concentrate or apply 100% focus on something within just a few hours. 

Different Cycles of Productivity

We do not maintain a constant level of productivity throughout the day.  It’s physically and mentally impossible.  Rather, we alternate between periods of high mental productivity and low mental productivity. 

Office-Related Jobs

These concepts probably do not apply to jobs involving manual labor because that type of work doesn’t involve or require significant mental analysis or creativity.  When I was a stock boy at the local grocery store, I never had a problem stocking grocery shelves for 8 straight hours because the work didn’t require much thinking.  (I am not saying these kinds of jobs are easy.  They simply require different skill sets.)

In jobs that don’t require physical labor and, instead, emphasize mental acuity, 8 consecutive hours of high productivity are impossible.

Why Employees Hate Their Jobs

This obvious, but rarely discussed, problem is the single greatest reason why the majority of office employees hate their jobs.  They are forced to be there from 9 to 5 every day regardless of their level of productivity. 

If employers allowed their employees to go home during their low productivity cycles or otherwise engage in alternative activities, people would be a lot happier.  Moreover, if employers allowed their employees to work from home, employees would be happier because they would be able to structure their day around their high productivity periods. 

For example, they would work from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m.  Then they can take a break.  Exercise.  Eat lunch.  Maybe they can resume work around 12:30 p.m. and continue until 2 p.m.  Nap time from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.  Then work from 4 p.m. until 6 or 7 p.m. 

If employees could structure and balance their days this way, there would be less complaints.

Resistance From Employers

Nevertheless, employers are generally unwilling to acknowledge that the 8-hour work day is antiquated and inefficient.  They somehow think that it’s productive to trap tired, unfocused, and unproductive employees in office purgatory for 8 hours every day. 

(And they lose money by paying employees for 8 hours of work when, in reality, they only generate about 4 to 5 hours of good, quality work product.)

Motivation to Become an Entrepreneur

This problem is one of the main reasons for becoming an entrepreneur and starting a business.  Financial freedom is obviously a major incentive for starting your own business.  But the freedom to structure your day around your individual periods of high productivity is more valuable than you think.

As an entrepreneur, you don’t have the Man telling you that you have to work eight consecutive hours per day in some depressing office or cubicle.  Instead, you can build your own business and structure your day around the times when you work best.  You can get the most out of yourself when you’re most productive and focus on energy-recharging activities when you’re least productive.

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I stumbled across a short video of a guest lecture by Tim Ferriss at Princeton back in 2005. 

Ferriss, as you know, is the author of The 4-Hour Workweek, one of my favorite books.  (Indeed, I’ve read it twice now).

In this lecture, Tim is answering a question about output and e-mail distractions.  His answer is quite simple: limit e-mail and “input,” and focus on your output. 

At work, I’ve tried to limit my reading of and responding to e-mail, and I’ve noticed that, not only does it give me more time to focus on work, but it also gives me more time to focus on non-work related projects (like my BANS sites, this blog, and my other business ideas). 

If not for the fact that this job requires me to have a Blackberry, I don’t think I would ever have one of these things.  They are the WORST. 

So, in short, reduce (drastically) the role that e-mail plays in your life, and you will notice how quickly your productivity (both at work and in your entrepreneurial ventures) will increase.

 

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a mini-battle I had with Beaker (my boss) about a three-day weekend I had taken for a short vacation getaway.  I did not relent, and I took that Friday off despite Beaker’s resistance. 

Flimjo 1, Beaker 0.

Another Battle

Recently, however, Beaker tried teasing me about my attempt to take another, extended vacation.  See, my wife is pregnant with our second child.  He knows I would have probably aimed to take some time off for the holidays in December and head out of town to visit my wife’s family.  But with the pregnancy, we won’t be able to travel in December. 

Beaker knows that, and the following exchange took place the other day:

• Beaker: “So, no holiday break this year, huh?”
• Flimjo: “No, I guess not.  She’ll be 8 months pregnant then, and we won’t be able to take a flight anywhere.”
• Beaker: (smiling)

Remember that Beaker hates it when I take vacations because every day I am not here and billing hours is a day that he loses money.

Flimjo Takes The Lead

His little sarcastic teasing, of course, didn’t keep me down.  I’ve worked my butt off for him this year, and NOTHING was going to stop me from taking some extended time off later this year and before my second child is born. 

So, instead of taking a couple weeks off for the holidays, I decided to take my  ”holiday vacation” at another holiday-like time: September.  Specifically, I am taking two weeks off in the middle of the month.

I obviously had to inform Beaker about my plans.  Here is how the exchange went:

• Flimjo: “Did you take at that draft of that letter I left in your chair?”
• Beaker: “No.  But I’ll get to it.”
• Flimjo: “OK.”
• Beaker: “So what else is going on?”
• Flimjo: “Oh, before I forget, since I won’t be able to take any time off in December, I’m going to take a couple of weeks off in September.”
• Beaker: (silence, then a pause) “Where you going?”
• Flimjo: “Up north to visit my in-laws.”
• Beaker: (pause) “OK.”

The Calendar

Not to be outdone by myself, I decided to throw another wrinkle at Beaker.  Normally, I have to have his secretary make notes on his online calendar of when I’m not in the office.  For example, if I take a day off, she has to write: “Flimjo – Out of Office – Vacation.”

I asked his secretary to write the following for each day from September 15 through September 26: “Flimjo – Out of Office – Christmas Vacation.”

And boom goes the dynamite.

Flimjo 2, Beaker 0.

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When you’re an office-dwelling employee at a big firm, things can get a bit tricky when you want to take a day off and enjoy an extended weekend getaway with your family.  That is what I am trying to do this weekend (i.e., take tomorrow off and head over to the west coast of Florida with my wife and daughter for a three-day mini-vacation).  However, things that seem so easy sometimes become so difficult.

The Beaker Problem

The crux of the problem is Beaker (my boss).  If you read this blog regularly, you might already know that Beaker is, suffice to say, a piece of work.  For example, I was here all day last Sunday because of him.  I have also, in the past, been caught working all weekend due to Beaker’s obscene requests.  He even made me work on Christmas Eve! 

But such extreme scenarios don’t illustrate the heart and soul of Beaker.  He truly is a unique individual, and a short conversation I had with him yesterday will give you a deep insight into what this man is all about. 

The conversation, of course, was about my desire to take off tomorrow and enjoy that much-desired three-day getaway with my family. 

The Conversation

(This took place in a conference room before a meeting.  We were preparing for a mock trial, which is tomorrow and which is a practice run of how we will present our case at the real trial next month.  I had mentioned to Beaker 2 months ago that I would be gone tomorrow, and I had his secretary make a note of it on his calendar.)

Flimjo: “Hey, remember that I can’t be at the mock trial on Friday.  I’m going to be out of town.”

Beaker: “What?  Why?  Where you goin’, bud?”

Flimjo: “We’re going to Marco Island for the weekend.” 

Beaker:  “Oh.  OK.”

Beaker gets up and leaves the room to tend to another matter.  He quickly returns and takes his seat.

Beaker: “So . . . you really have to go this weekend?”

Flimjo: “Yes, I do.”

Beaker: [pauses]  “You can’t go a day late?”

Flimjo: “No.  It’s already paid for.”

Beaker: “Alright, buddy.  [sarcastic tone]  You go ahead and do that.”

Flimjo’s Analysis

I know Beaker’s comments and questions above don’t appear to be that egregious.  But think for a moment of how any other normal person would respond . . . even a boss in a more traditional 9 to 5 workplace.  You say, “I’m going away this weekend.”  They usually respond with “Oh, nice.  Where you going?”

But not Beaker.  The conversation above is CLASSIC Beaker. 

He felt let down about me leaving.  In fact, he not only felt let down, he was COMPLETELY PERPLEXED about me going on this so-called “mini-vacation.”  He had no capability to understand my answer (i.e., “We’re going to Marco Island for the weekend.”).  It didn’t compute in his head.  I mean, he had NO CLUE what “going away for the weekend” even meant!  To him, I was speaking some sort of ancient dialect. 

Then, when he thought all was lost, he attempted to compromise with me (i.e., “You can’t go a day late?”).  But even that failed!  It truly was a sight to behold.  It’s as if he thought I was of his mold, the workaholic type, slaving away with him . . . and then . . . WHAM! . . . I throw this curve ball at him (i.e., going away for the weekend), and I don’t even meet him halfway (i.e., going a day late).  The whole experience turned his world upside down.

Heh, wait until I tell him I’m taking two weeks off in September to go on a real vacation.  He’ll probably ask me if I can go “a week late.” 

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I could not post on Saturday or Sunday because the Man struck again.  I got called into the office yesterday and worked almost 10 hours.  It was, indeed, an un-glorious day marked with mismanagement, duplicative work, and dueling supervisors (but Beaker eventually won out).  Just another day at the office, I guess. 

I will post a belated Flimjo Recap later today.  I just have to take care of a few things here at work before I can get to that.

Oh yeah.  Working for the Man sucks.

I felt like Donnie Brasco yesterday.  The trial I had worked on for the past month settled on the eve of closing arguments.  I worked like a dog for the past week and a half preparing for trial and performing various tasks throughout the trial. 

(For the record, I’m the one at the bottom of the totem pole, so I did all the research and work in the office while the partner I worked for did the trial.) 

After the parties settled their dispute yesterday, I had an experience that made me feel like Johnny Depp’s character in Donnie Brasco. 

For purposes of this post and this blog, I’ll refer to the partner on this particular case as “The Senator.”  It’s an appropriate name for him given that he spends a lot of time in the bathroom.  (More on that in a future post, haha.)

My Insane Work Schedule

I walked into my office yesterday morning, and I was exhausted.  My work schedule for the past week and a half was insane: 

• Friday, June 13: 10 a.m. to Midnight.
• Saturday, June 14: 7 a.m. to Noon, 4:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
• Sunday, June 15: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Monday, June 16: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Tuesday, June 17: 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Wednesday, June 18: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Thursday, June 19: 9:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Friday, June 20: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Saturday: Spared!
• Sunday: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Thank You E-mail

So after all that time, effort, frustration, lack of sleep, etc., I hear through someone else yesterday morning that the case settled.  The Senator came to see me some time after that and explained, in all of 60 seconds, the terms of the settlement.  (We forced our hand with the settlement thanks to directed verdicts we obtained–based on work that I did–on several of the claims).  He briefly thanked me for my hard work. 

After that, I receive the following e-mail from the Senator, which he sent to everyone who worked on the case:

“We settled this morning.  On behalf of everyone, I want to thank all of you for the extra hard work you put in over the last few weeks for the trial.  We could not have done it without you.  The client is very happy with the result.  We wouldn’t have achieved this without your hard work.  We appreciate it.”

And that was it.  Here’s your pat on the back.  On with the day.  Proceed to the next order of business. 

Donnie Brasco And Me

In Donnie Brasco,  Johnny Depp played an undercover FBI agent named Joseph Pistone who infiltrated the mob.  Throughout the movie, he finds himself identifying more with the mob and his life within it than he did with his life outside of it (i.e., his life in the FBI and with his family).  He lost himself in his undercover role as Donnie Brasco, and this merging exhausted him emotionally and psychologically, and it almost destroyed his marriage and his family. 

Nevertheless, Pistone’s efforts resulted in hundreds of arrests and convictions.  He single-handedly brought down an entire segment of the mafia. 

In return for his efforts, the FBI gives Pistone a small medal at the end of the movie in a small, anti-climactic ceremony.  The scene could not have been more perfect in illustrating the FBI’s lack of appreciation and concern for Pistone’s efforts and the emotional and psychological toll those efforts had on him.

Not that my job is the same as that of an FBI agent, but the effort and work that I put in over the past week and half for this trial felt like a marathon.  The insane requests and duplicative work were mind-boggling, and I had to keep myself from losing my cool several times.  It was a constant grind that affected me physically and emotionally.  I barely saw my wife and daughter, and I spent more time in my office at work than I ever imagined.  It was downright brutal, and yesterday morning, I was just burned out.

So what do I get in return for my efforts?  What do I get for the work that helped make this case go away? 

A three-line e-mail saying thank you.  That’s it. 

At least Donnie Brasco got a medal.   

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I posted a list of 10 reasons to quit your job not too long ago.  After this past weekend, I decided to come up with list of 10 more reasons to quit your job.

This list is based on the concept that every job has absurd and ridiculous demands.  Those demands often become ”normal” for us.  They become part of our daily routine.  They become so repetitive that we forget they are actually occurring.  When these demands become so normal, they become signs.  They transform into beacons that say, “Hey, you should be doing something else.”

Here are more reasons to quit your job (most of which are taken from my very own personal experience):

1) Someone you work with has so much work that he tells you he is on a “seven day work week” and “buried, swamped, and under water,” despite the fact that nothing he is working on would qualify as an “emergency.”

2) The person in item # 11 waits until he is on a “seven day work week” before declaring that he is “buried,” “swamped,” “under water,” (and every other synonymous method of suffocation imaginable) before asking you to help him out.  (Personally, I would have reached that “buried, swamped, and under water” breaking point much sooner.)

3) A nonchalant e-mail from a superior asking you to take on several MASSIVE tasks that must be completed in a very short period of time.

4) There is no “thank you” in the e-mail from item # 12.

5) The amount of work you have prohibits you from checking any website or doing any Internet surfing at all during the day.

6) You go to sleep at midnight and check your Blackberry to make sure there are no e-mails to worry about.  You wake up at 7 a.m. to find an e-mail from a boss sent at 1:15 a.m. asking for copies of various documents, underlined and highlighted documents (including two highlighted copies, two underlined copies, and two blank copies . . . what am I, a monkey?), handwritten notes on some of the documents, and other miscellaneous tasks.  He requests to have all of this done before 8 a.m., which is when he has to leave to go to the courthouse.

7) You have to work on Christmas Eve.

8) You have to work on Mothers Day.

9) You have to work on Fathers Day.

10) You have to work from 7 a.m. to Noon and 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on a Saturday in order to spare some time to make an appearance at your daughter’s first birthday party from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

If you have similar reasons to quit your job or other interesting signs or experiences, I’d love to hear them!

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Should I call myself a hard working man?  Is that something of which I should be proud? 

Well, no.  I refuse to be that, and I’m working feverishly on the side to escape that label. 

I had some great ideas for posts for yesterday, but I worked until late on Friday night and practically all day yesterday (except for the few hours I was able to escape away for my daughter’s first birthday party) in preparation for a trial that begins tomorrow. 

(I, of course, will not be the attorney in the courtroom.  Since I’m pretty low on the totem pole, I do all the work behind the scenes, and the bosses use my work and research to look brilliant.)

So it’s about noon right now, and I’m here in my office at work.  The events that transpired over the past couple of days that led to me working all weekend will become a series of posts on their own.  There is just too much material there for me to bypass.

I have the Flimjo Recap for today about half done.  I will try to post it later.  Until then, I’ll try my best to look like a hard working man but work diligently behind the scenes to escape that black hole.

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