Late Sunday afternoons and evenings can be run by the Sunday Scaries. Pushing back thoughts that are really building anxiety; a growing inbox, the ambiguous meeting on Tuesday, the project that was supposed to be done by now.
A few years ago I started dealing with it differently. I just started to work on Sunday. Sometimes it was 15 minutes and other times it was hours. I balanced this out by taking time for myself through the week.
I didn’t know it then, but today I would talk about this with the Backwards Law from Alan Watts. Where pursuing a positive experience ends up being a negative experience. Accepting a negative experience turns it into a positive experience.
If I’m trying not to think about work related problems on Sunday, that is still work. I’m salaried, which legally, means I’m working anyways and always. There shouldn’t be any internal conflict here.
People have misinterpreted this conversation and said it will lead to burnout. Part of being an experienced developer, is listening to your brain & body. That Sunday night work is a free ticket to an early afternoon, long lunch, or late start. Some of my most productive weeks were started on Sunday and followed by a half day later on in the week.