Which working pattern?

[WhichWorkingHours]

Option A:
Day 1: 9am-9pm
Day 2: 8am-5pm
Day 3: 9am-9pm

Option B:
Day 1: 9am-9pm
Day 2: 8am-1pm
Day 3: 12pm-9pm
Day 4: 8am -1pm

I'm self-employed, so I have some scope for choosing my own working hours. Within those hours I need to/want to do 2 late nights to meet client demand. Demand is highest in the evening and also around lunch time and in the early morning.

I don't know whether to do 3 longer days or four more spread out ones. Either works out OK for childcare.

Think I would go for the 3 long days as you are still working late on 2 days either way and then would get 2 full days off.

Depends a bit on the nature of the work (sorry!) - if it's something physically demanding or requiring intense concentration then those 12 hour days will be killers. Also from my limited experience of self-employed work it's really challenging to stick to part-time hours, there's always a client who's only available on Thursdays or a supplier that absolutely can't do Mondays or whatever so it tends to expand anyway however much you tell yourself you're going to be strict, with that in mind I think personally I'd go for the 4 day set up...

It's very demanding mentally, but very sedentary work, which can be stressful in it's own way because I have to be very intentional with fitness and movement and sitting for too long can be hard on my back.

On the longer days I build in a bigger (2-3 hour) gap somewhere in the middle of the day. I just have to. It's a way of trying to see clients at the high demand times without running myself into the ground.

ETA: but the long days are still depleting in a way that the shorter days are not.

I normally like longer days but 9am-9pm feels too much on a demanding job. I feel like it'd take me a while to recover and eat into my four non working days so on this basis option B for me.

This is my fear. I really like the idea of 2 days off but I worry I'd spend them exhausted and staring at a wall 😅.