Over the past couple of months, I have seen a similar thread popping up in conversations with clients and peers alike.

The pressure to get more done.

Most people I work with are in control of their own hours as freelancers, business owners, or a remote team. And most work from home, or in a hybrid situation. What has been popping up is the need to be productive for 8 hours or 40+ hours a week.

There are plenty of examples of companies that have shorter work weeks, and countries conducting studies with the same intention, that are maintaining or increasing productivity.

My point?

You likely already are more productive than you think, and you most likely need to work less and rest more. I have been personally working on this, with a focus on being intentional with my time. I knew as a freelancer I couldn’t really run my business with 3 hours of productive time a day. I also need time to not be productive. What I mean by this is, I often require time to play with ideas, practice, make mistakes, learn, and take walks to think. So freeing up space for this is important. I cannot realistically test out a new idea on a client. But I don’t get paid to practice. I get paid to deliver.

As a society, we tend to value action over contemplation and rarely reward our colleagues for taking more time to consider something. As a freelancer, I often feel pressure to work quickly and deliver without giving some thoughts the luxury to fully develop and mature to their best potential.

Working Towards Less Work: The 4 Day Work Week

So I started to imagine, what would it take to move from 5 days of work to 4 days? And eventually from 8 hours of work to 6 hours of work a day?

The first step I took was to track my hours and compare them to what I thought I was working.

What I quickly learned was that I was saying yes to too many small things, not leaving enough room for the larger projects. I found meetings were interrupting my days and often could derail my work. Lots of little things with few days of uninterrupted space to focus.

Next, I blocked Friday off from client work. Friday mornings are for my personal work and time to pursue non-client projects (yes, this blog is one).

Around the time I started this experiment, I read Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle. It made me realize the importance of managing stress, rather than just the stressor itself. This idea resonated with me, as I tend to work continuously until a project is complete or a problem is solved, and as a result, I sometimes miss diminishing returns.

It explained my feeling of “never enough” when I was feeling stuck at my desk. I now understand that sometimes it's healthier to step away and take a break. By forcing action, I was essentially torturing myself, when it was better to take time to think. I'll admit that I'm far from perfect at this, as I have built a habit over the years that I don't love. It's a daily practice.

I'm working on this myself. I'm shifting my work week and work day to acknowledge that I'm human and need breaks. Sitting for eight hours does not mean I am productive for eight hours.

I have been working on this for a while now and can report after three months I finally managed a month straight of not doing client work on Fridays. This has been a huge win. And yes, it was awkward sometimes to tell my clients I would not take a meeting that day, or would not be replying to emails.

I am still not 100% able to work 4 days because clearly, on day 5 I am working on my personal projects. But this shift alone has helped open time for creativity and practice. But I am happy with my progress and the feeling of being non-reactive and in control of my own personal time. I feel more in control of my time and energy and come to my client projects better prepared and inspired.

Bibliography:

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Vouchercloud. (n.d.). Office worker productivity: How many hours of work are actually productive? Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.vouchercloud.com/resources/office-worker-productivity

Buchanan, L. (2017, July 5). Why this company thrives on a 5-hour workday. Inc. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.inc.com/leigh-buchanan/stephan-aarstol-why-this-company-thrives-on-5-hour-workday.html

Power, R. (2019, April 26). Improve your concentration and focus in 5 easy steps. Inc. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.inc.com/rhett-power/improve-your-concentration-and-focus-in-5-easy-steps.html

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Wallace, B. (2017, January 18). Here's how many hours the average person works per day. Time. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://time.com/4621185/worker-productivity-countries/

Pang, A. S. K. (2017, January 22). Why you get more done when you work less. The Guardian. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jan/22/alex-soojung-kim-pang-interview-rest-why-you-get-more-done-when-you-work-less

Kuhn, M., & Prettner, K. (2014). The declining labor share of income. IZA Discussion Papers, 8129. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://docs.iza.org/dp8129.pdf

Euronews Next. (2023, February 23). The four-day week: Which countries have embraced it and how's it going so far? Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/02/23/the-four-day-week-which-countries-have-embraced-it-and-how-s-it-going-so-far