Personally I like blurring the lines between work and private life. Do some personal stuff during work hours (no more messing around getting time off to go to the dentist or the bank - I just book a meeting in my calender and go). Answer a quick question while I'm on the subway. Spend an hour at night helping out a colleague in the US with an urgent problem when I have nothing better to do anyway. I'll just sleep in in the morning when things are quiet. I love this.
What matters also is that I really like my work. And it isn't forced on me or even expected in the slightest. It's nice when I can pop in when I'm off and help out. If not it's fine too. Flexibility.
For me this works. I understand it doesn't work for many others like yourself. But that doesn't mean it should be made impossible for me (like some countries do, e.g. in France forcing work email to stop after hours).
I'm happy to see this is not just me with this perspective. Especially with WFH, I routinely work out, do groceries, go for a walk, or just read during work time (I'm self employed but the pattern has not changed at all since I left my salaried job). I make up for it by working at other times that work for me, and if e.g. I'm reading a book, I'll keep Slack on the phone so I can be available for a discussion. Most of my team at my last job was similar, usually with some set of disconnected times, e.g. for family stuff. Some would sleep in and work late, some would have supper early and put kids to bed, then work some more... I like this approach so much better than being stuck somewhere for 8 hours forced to try to be productive.
I think this mixes up two things: (1) segmentor-integrator dichotomy and (2) flexible working patterns.
For example, I am an extreme segmentor (two laptops and two phones, both of which are either off or put away in silent mode when I'm not working; zero work-related stuff on any personal devices).
At the same, my working patterns are very flexible. I just look at my diary first thing in the morning to figure which meetings I need to attend, and plan the rest of the day however I see fit. Going to the gym, for a run, sitting outside to read, running errands or getting a massage in the middle of the day are all completely normal.
I encourage my reports to take a similarly flexible approach to working, regardless of where they are on the segmentor-integrator spectrum (most of them are integrators).
Same. I don't overwork. Except maybe when I travel but I like travel. If I'm "off the clock" whether vacation or after 5, I'm not going to (nor be expected to) suddenly spend the rest of the night dealing with something. But maybe I can write an email or two or take a quick look at a doc which helps someone. And, as you say, I don't feel guilty going to the store or the dentist during the day.
I like working like this too - I want to be able to work when inspiration strikes, or when my customers need me, and not be forced to busywork when it's not necessary. Of course, it helps that my work is really my hobby and, to some degree, what I do for fun.
I also want to be fairly compensated, though, and if I'm lying awake at 4am solving the hard problems because I'm so engrossed in my project that I'm dreaming about it, the only really fair compensation is a percentage of the profits. So for me, since nowhere I've worked is willing to contemplate a profit-share arrangement, this kind of work only really works if I own the company.
For some of us, we kind of make up off hours as we go. If it’s 2pm and I’m bored and I have no meetings, I might just take 3 hours off and go to the park or gym, and if a coworker has a question during that time, I don’t mind answering it.
I prefer to do things whenever I want to do them and not bother with “on” and “off” hours.
Exactly. It is nice for "flex-work"--go walk the dog or run some errands or something, but still be "semi-available" for questions, but not "at the computer".
What matters also is that I really like my work. And it isn't forced on me or even expected in the slightest. It's nice when I can pop in when I'm off and help out. If not it's fine too. Flexibility.
For me this works. I understand it doesn't work for many others like yourself. But that doesn't mean it should be made impossible for me (like some countries do, e.g. in France forcing work email to stop after hours).