[At the Assicurazioni Generali, Kafka despaired of his 12-hour shifts that left no time for writing; two years later, promoted to the position of chief clerk at the Workers’ Accident Insurance Institute, he was now on the one-shift system, 8.30 am until 2.30 pm. And then what? Lunch until 3.30, then a sleep until 7.30, then exercises, then a family dinner. After which he started work around 11pm (as Begley points out, the letter- and diary- writing took up at least an hour a day, and more usually two), and then “depending on my strength, inclination, and luck, until one, two or three o’clock, once even till six in the morning”. Then, finding it an “unimaginable effort to go to sleep”, he fitfully rested before leaving to go to the office once more. This routine left him permanently on the verge of collapse.] (via)
Sometimes you really do have to work this hard (…pours self more coffee).
