The Shape of Work

Over the years, the way I work has shifted. Some of it came from experience, and some from finally getting tired of patterns that didn’t hold up. I’ve worked remotely for almost my entire career, which means the boundaries between work and everything else have always been blurred. Early on, I would lean into that blur, thinking flexibility meant freedom but really it mostly meant longer days, shorter attention, and more stress.

I used to equate these long hours with progress, but now I mostly see them as debt just waiting to be paid down. The idea that a good day means pushing through to exhaustion doesn’t hold anymore and I find that it’s better to stop while you still know what’s next.

I’ve started working in shorter stints. The context stays tighter, and I’m less likely to find myself walking into dead ends or end up on wild goose chases. Through maturity I’ve learned to pause when I lose focus and I now find the gaps in between have become useful. A walk, a few notes, small resets do more for clarity than I find another hour at the keyboard ever did.

Planning, reorganizing folders, sketching next steps before touching code. None of it looks productive in the moment, but it makes the rest of the work go smoother. Most of the chaos comes from skipping this part and I’m finding my new found patience pays dividends on the backend.

Messages and meetings still happen, but they don’t set the pace anymore. I answer things in batches and let the rest wait. Most of what feels urgent rarely is. It reminds me of that moment in Halt and Catch Fire when Joe MacMillan wipes the whiteboard clean and Ryan gets upset. Joe tells him it doesn’t matter — whatever was important, they’ll remember.

The shape of work now is slower but steadier. Mornings carry the heavy lifting, afternoons taper off, nights are mostly for everything else (posts like these!) enough structure to keep moving forward without burning through it all at once.

— Lauren