Dreary Work Hour

A few months ago my friend Amanda and I created a weekly dreary work hour.

I was two years behind on filing my income tax returns. She had tasks related to insurance claims (she’s a massage therapist who bills insurance for her services) that she had been avoiding for months. Having enjoyed having each others company for other work around the house and in the garden in the past, we thought that perhaps doing these odious tasks together would make them a little less odious. At the very least, we would get them done.

It works like this: At five minutes before our designated time, I clear and clean the dining table that doubles as a desk for me and my partner. I set up my computer on one side of the table. Amanda arrives and sets up her computer on the other side. (Dreary work often involves a computer!) I turn over my hourglass and we begin. When the last grains of sands have fallen we stop.

Just one hour once a week: a length of time short enough to commit to and long enough to get things done. And get things done we have. My 2020 tax returns have been mailed off and Amanda has taken care of multiple insurance-related tasks.

Who knows how much more we will be able to accomplish during all the dreary work hours to come! Or, how many more friends will join us. We were to have doubled our numbers to four the last time we met but a spring snow storm trapped them in the hills. There is a fifth person, a friend of a friend who is considering joining as well.

In time we may need to rename these sessions to dreary work PARTIES!