Years ago, my father, a physician, made it an absolute priority NOT to accept calls from patients when he wasn’t offcially “on call.” (Patients or hospital staff who did call our home were referred to the clinic’s answering service, the physician who was on call, etc.) He always said “no one is indispensable” meaning the world is not going to come to a crashing halt if you “unplug” for a while, also because no matter how hard you work, there is always someone else who can do what you do. So why kill yourself trying to impress others at your own expense?

It’s a lesson that has resonated more and more with me as technology has allowed us to become acessible 24/7. I was even “fired” from a 9 to 5 job once, in part because I refused to accept phone calls when I was away on a five-day vacation. (The office promised to call only in an “emergency,” but I still said no.) Another time, a freelance client demanded to know how to reach me when I was on vacation. I told them they couldn’t, which they found unacceptable. After much haggling, I told them how to reach me, but warned if they called they would have to pay a PREMUIM price for the contact. (For the record, these did not involve critical, sensitive assignments. If they did, I probably would not be taking vacation. But even then, I would have to think long and hard about allowing them to contact me.)

Two points.

1) Part of the process of taking a vacation or “going home for the day” is to not just physically, but mentally disconnect from work. If you’re worried about people calling you, or constantly checking your phone for messages, you’re not really on vacation.

2) Technology has made organizations very lazy. In the past when employees took vacation, someone else on staff was briefed about the employee’s projects and prepped to handle any calls or problems while the person was away. This actually strengthened the organization since it made employees “interchangable,” which is how a well-functioning organization should be. Today, employees jealously protect their fiefdoms and would rather take calls on vacation, at home for the evening, etc. than risk other people knowing what they’re doing and honing in on their turf, or risk the boss’s displeasure by “logging out” completely at the end of day or while on vacation.

No one is indispensable. So why sweat it? I strive to provide the best service I can for my clients when actively at work for them. But I refuse to worry about access. If the strength of my work and our relationship is not sufficent on its own merit, I doubt 24-hour access will make much difference to them. But it makes a huge difference to me and my well-being. So I am stonehard about the distinction between work and leisure hours. And if that costs me, so be it. It’s necessary for my sanity and I trust that reasonable people, my preferred client base, will understand this.

I think making sure to take this time, makes everyone happier and more complete, and therefore also more effective while at work.

(Have you seen the movie “Family Man”?) : )

Thanks for the post.

I discovered the first couple of years as I was launching the business that I wasn’t really “present” when I left work. The problem was compounded by the fact that I worked in a home office so I didn’t really have that commute from work to home to disengage.

I discovered that I had to be disciplined and simply make my office for work and walk away at the “end of the day” so to speak. I don’t answer voice mail or email over weekends or after hours. I don’t have a Blackberry and I can say that my business has grown fine over the last few years. I have not lost business nor has the world collapsed because of my choices, but what has happened is my quality of life and personal life have improved dramatically.

People that have the sad condition of being an employee (did I say that out loud) get to walk away at the end of the day, why shouldn’t freelancers? In the infamous words of Nike… “Just do it”.