Discussion
In Thursday Is the New Friday I help you identify ways to make your 4-day workweek work best for you. I also talk about ‘Timed Work Sprints™’ to accomplish more in less time, so let’s discuss this.
Check out the different Sprints below and consider the following:
- Which one(s) are you?
- Do you see yourself setting aside time weekly and automating that?
- Or do you see yourself having a scheduled intensive every month or quarter?
All four of these Sprinter Types™ have pros and cons, but the biggest thing is to remember the original three principles:
1. Do your very best work first.
2. Be uncompromising about your boundaries.
3. Give yourself less time.
Here’s an example of how you can apply the Sprints to your life:
1. Pre-Sprint:
Set aside at least twenty minutes for this sprint. Put your phone on Airplane Mode to avoid any interruptions. Think for one minute about what you want to achieve in this sprint and what you need for this sprint (passwords, a cup of coffee, notepad, data, etc.). Maybe change the setting through music or lighting.
Decide: “During this sprint, I will achieve________”
2. Sprint:
Set a timer for at least twenty minutes and focus on completing the task at hand. Do not stop, do not edit, do not evaluate, just keep working. You can have an editing sprint later, but the focus of the sprint is to get three to four times more done than usual. When the timer goes off, stop immediately. You will want to work, you’ll feel in flow. But, when you first start doing this, it is important to stop. This builds the tension and excitement for the next sprint, so you get more done then too.
3. Post-Sprint:
Reflect on what worked during that sprint; what do you need for the next one? How could you work even faster?
Curiosity Killed the Cat – But It Was Worth It
Let’s face it, we’re quite happy in our cocoon of comfortability, accepting the world at face value and never questioning the way things are – you know what they say about ignorance being bliss right? Now, I’m not saying that you need to be the next Isaac Newton, or the apple that falls far from his genetic tree – but without curiosity, there’s no innovation, and where will that take society? More selfishly, where will it help me and you? It certainly is beneficial to have innovative people around us who can make our lives easier and more efficient.
Companies Are Testing a 4-Day Workweek – and Your Work Can Too.
The global pandemic has turned the “normal” upside down for many of us. It has led us to question all sorts of things that we just accepted at face value before – just like our toddlers and kids do with everything we say. One of these is the Monday to Friday forty-hour workweek. This set schedule followed by us, our parents, our parents’ parents – it dates all the way back to 1926 and was first established by Henry Ford in his factories. In my book, Thursday is the New Friday, I mention how: “it’s “the way it is” for almost no good reason. It is how it is because it is how it has been.” – Basically, “because I (society) said so.”
You’re Not a Machine. So stop Treating Yourself Like One.
I’m gonna say it, and some may not like it, but…while a lot of bad has come from the pandemic, there’s also been plenty of good, like the necessary and long overdue ‘ah-ha’ moments that needed to happen – for myself, corporates, and society as a whole. With offices closed and Zoom our new ‘hangouts,’ we’ve been forced to spend more time on our ‘machines’ than we have around actual people. Yet from these missed smoke breaks and coffee dates, many of us have realized what capitalism didn’t want us to know…that we have very little in common with our work’ machines.’ So it’s about time we stop thinking of – and treating – ourselves as these said machines. It’s time to leave behind the industrial mindset and try something new.
CURIOSITY
Develop more curiosity. Make it a habit.
Take action that fuels your personal curiosity machine (or should I say organism?). Think about it. How do you develop more curiosity? We’ve already seen that when we’re bored, seeking mastery, or experiencing incongruent beliefs, those feelings create a build-up of curious energy. Don’t let it get pent up, start putting it into action.
- Do I allow myself to get bored?
- When am I bored?
- What stress, life activities, or devices get in the way of me experiencing boredom?
- What daily, weekly, or monthly time can I set aside to build space to let my mind roam?
- What reaction do I have to the word “mastery”?
- What areas of my work/business do I want to master?
- What am I mastering in my personal life?
- What stands in the way of “me” time to explore?
- When can I let my guard down?
- What can I begin to master with my partner/friends/children?
- What experiences do I have that challenge my beliefs?
- When something is incongruent, what stops me from taking actions to resolve that incongruence?
- What beliefs feel true from my childhood that I want to challenge?
- Spend more time wondering, it will lead to being curious.
