Exactly!
See http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/06/06/balance.slow.movement/index.html
Casey
Well, yeah, I could see where all of those pretty girls sitting around on the grass could be a bit distracting. 
Now get to work slacker!!! Don’t you know that you are of no value to society unless you put in your 80-hour workweek??? 
Just kidding, of course.
I read that article and I think they make a very good point. In my experience, one of the hardest parts of almost any modern IT job is learning to pace your work: as long as you are willing to work yourself to death, they will let you.
–James
Funny how many of us IT workers there are here! I’m with Edgar completely. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to balance that desire with the material needs (and expectations) of my family. Gotta go…blackberry calls!
By “IT” you mean “Irish Traditional” don’t you?
Casey
I think flute makers should ignore this article. 
This is the alternative:
I for one don’t mind a little less pressure. I do get lots of clients regularly checking in on me to find when their flutes are going to be done. Mostly this annoys me and sometimes discourages me to the point of wanting to do something else entirely besides flute making and I sometimes stop for a few days. Thus instead of hurrying things up this checking in has the opposite effect. I know of other instrument makers who have a zero tolerance policy for this and will cancel an order if people bother them too much in this fashion.
We are sensitive artists with thin skins and easily bruised egos!
Worst are ones calling me up on holidays and weekends and evenings as if I am a 24/7 shop and have no other life, such as a family I like to spend time with.
Almost always these are ones who have been told that their flute will be shipped in 2-3 months in the future and they start calling 2-3 months early. Being sick or having family emergencies is apparently not allowed.
Only good thing about this economy is that it is allowing me some time to catch up. In April everyone stopped ordering flutes but things are now picking up again and May was a “normal” month. My queue is headed upwards again. Amazingly this follows the types of charts that can be found at places like www.stockcharts.com
Aren’t we all? At least anyone who devotes their life’s blood (our time in this world) to a pursuit or craft.
Order a flute, make your case during the ordering process - then leave the craftsman to his art. Good things come to he who waits (assuming he or she has made an effort warranting good things in the first place).
My philosophies are quite different about ordering catalog stock, however (get off yer bum and ship it)!
Take a personal day — life is short!
An American friend who is working in France says that none of his friends there work for just 35 hours. His explanation is that the 35-hour system didn’t work because companies needed to get more output from their employees. RTT (Réduction du temps de travail) days (days off) and overtime payments compensate for hours worked over the 35-hour threshold. There are many businesses and job categories that are exempted from the 35-hour work week framework.
This article seems to give a good overview of work hours in France:
http://www.justlanded.com/english/France/Tools/Just-Landed-Guide/Jobs/Working
Having said the above, I agree that time is about all we have and managing it well is important to a satisfying life.
Well, my progress on flute should make me a paid-up member of the Slow Movement!
Sometimes, I am so slow in the morning that I don’t get to work until well after noon, but I’m usually at work by mid-morning. It takes me at least an hour to drink my coffee.
But there are many times, when I’ve got work in progress, and people coming to my shop, when I switch into an almost frenetic pace.
Michael