The Lure of Self-Employment: Switching to a 3-Day Work Week

Starting November I'll be switching to a 3-day work week (which means 24 weekly hours instead of 40) and I'm not gonna lie: I'm an anxious mess. 😳

The reactions from my friends and colleagues at Adobe have been 50/50: One half gets the biggest smile, yelling "YEAH!" and giving me a high-five that I can still feel aching an hour later. The other half gets quiet and dead serious, asking whether there were reasons that were forcing me to take this step.

Can I do It?

For me, it's everything all at once. As much as you know me as the analytical and logical badass calmly solving any problem you throw at me - give me a "what if" and it will unlock a storm you had no idea I was capable of.

In 2016 it all started with a question: what if I tried making art? I had no experience, no training, not even a reason, really, but... well, anyway, what if, though? 😅 And so I did. (Check out my gallery if you haven't seen it yet.)

• What if I made prints? (I sold 1000 of them!)
• What if I made a music video? (Thank you, Alt-J!)
• What if I made an android theme? (4-figure earnings and still counting)

Here I am, 6 years later, full steam ahead on a journey I had no idea I was embarking on, hitting milestone after milestone, and I'm left with one more question: What if I did this for a living?

Goodbye Tech

For the past 18 years I've been diligently nurturing my career in tech. There was never a doubt - programming and data were my thing. Junior, Senior, boom. Sky is the limit. I'm well aware that switching to a 3-day work week will put me at the very end of each promotion or bonus list; I'll likely not be assigned the high-profile tasks I'd be so proud of acing with my team. It's a tough decision I've been putting aside for years but the lingering "what if" finally got to me.

So should you high-five or pity me? Honestly I have no idea!

Yet.

I'll be sharing my journey with all the ups and downs, the wins and disasters, the high-fives and the panic attacks. In the worst case it will be a cautious tale of flying too close to the Sun. In the best case? Well, I have some ideas...

So, folks, wish me luck on my quest. Next time you say "what if?", think of me and go for it. 💪Or anxiously collapse. Or both.