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.
You Need More Than a 2-Day Break.
Think about it. Just like the IT guy always asks if you’ve “tried switching it on and off again,” the same logic applies to your workweek – except your boss is the IT guy. Just before things get tense and your mind glitches or your ‘page’ freezes, you get switched off for two days and then back on again for Monday. Feeling like your mind and body is buffering whenever you try to load? Simply hit the ‘refresh’ button with a day’s sick leave and then come back without any ‘bugs.’ It’s tempting to carry on as there are just so many parallels, but I’m pretty sure that you get the point.
Leave The Industrial Mindset Behind
It’s time to stop treating yourself and others as a ‘machine’ in a factory. Leave behind the industrial mindset. Instead, it’s time to view yourself as an organism – a breathing, living person who has so much more to offer society than working 5 days a week from 8 to 5. It’s time to fully embrace ‘YOLO’ (You only live once). Now I’m not saying that you should resign immediately, sell everything and live out of your car boot (not judging you either if that’s what you want to do). All I’m saying is that you need to work on a schedule that enhances your productivity over a shorter period. It needs to allow you more time to explore other passions and interests through a four-day workweek.
Industrial Mindset – What Is It?
The Industrial Revolution changed our economies forever, as well as our minds and the way we function. Think about it, we suddenly had access to products and markets we never knew existed, but with that came more competition, more demanding jobs and more stress. We became consumed (and still are) by this working like a machine, and putting in more hours means more output, that we slowly applied the same logic to that of our careers and lives. I can tell you now that logging more hours does not always mean more productivity and better work. On the contrary, it means more procrastination, rushed work, and uninspired mindsets.
How I Can Help
In my book, Thursday is the New Friday, I show you how productivity isn’t reliant on time – and I’m living proof of that. I’ve cut my work week down to 3-days – now I know that that is a bit extreme for some and impossible for others, but all I’m asking is for you to reimagine the conventional work schedule. If you’re reimagining your conventional work schedule, you’re also, by default, reinventing your time. A 4-day work week gives you more freedom, more ideas, more happiness, and more of your mind to help the world.
By doing less, you’re doing more – way more! In my book, I argue that reinventing your time goes further than the individual, as it ultimately helps the world as a whole. We’ll have more time to develop innovative solutions, more energy to throw into doing good and being ‘involved’ citizens, and more space to develop our curiosity and fix problems we never had time for. Are you ready to leave behind the industrial mindset and expand your curiosity? Because I am, and I’m here to help you on your journey.