Studio hours

What it’s for

A side business beside a full-time job is built in the hours the job leaves. This draws those hours as one week, so you can see how many you can keep, where they clash with the job, and whether job and side work together stay under the line.

How it works

• Job hours. Mark them as you actually work them, with the evening calls and the weekend fixes, not as your contract states them.
• Studio hours. The fixed slots you keep for your own work. A few fixed slots carry further than many loose ones.
• The weekly review. One framed hour each week, to look back and plan the next; the Sunday Review Card is free.
• The 55-hour line. Job and side work together stay under 55 hours a week. A study by the WHO and the ILO, published on 17 May 2021, found that working 55 hours or more a week is associated with a higher risk of stroke and of dying from heart disease than working 35 to 40 hours (source 1).

The counterfoil beside the week adds up your studio hours, the longest stretch, any hours that clash with the job, and the week’s total against the line. On paper it is the same sum: add each day’s job hours and studio hours, then the week, and keep the total under 55.

What it doesn’t do

• It doesn’t read your employment contract. Whether you may work on something of your own, and when, is set by your contract and your employer’s policies; Read Your Contract shows how to read those clauses.
• It doesn’t keep your week. Close the page and it is gone; print the week card to keep it.
• It isn’t medical, legal or tax advice.

What happens to what you mark

Nothing leaves this page: nothing is stored or sent, and there is no account and no sign-up.

Sources

1. World Health Organization. Long working hours increasing deaths from heart disease and stroke: WHO, ILO, news release, 17 May 2021. Primary source. Read on 12 October 2026.