Have you ever known something to be true, but then you haven’t acted in a way that aligns with that thinking?

Maybe you know deep down that something is true, but you really haven't gotten it in your heart or really put it into play?

Today I want to talk about something that you probably already understand on a certain level, but it's something that took me a long time to implement in my life and admittedly I'm still implementing it today and learning how to do it better.

It's a very basic concept and the concept is that bigger wealth comes from managing smaller wealth well.

There’s More to Wealth Than Money

As we’ve discussed on the blog and the podcast before, there are many dimensions to wealth. There might be wealth of relationships, wealth of experience, wealth of knowledge… Of course, there’s also wealth of money, which is most people usually mean when they talk about wealth.

In each of those cases we know that to build our wealth, we need to invest. For example, if you want to develop a great wealth of basketball ability, then it's going to require you making investments over time to become a better basketball player.

We know if you want to develop financial wealth, it's going to take a while of you investing money over time and that's usually going to grow, if you manage it well.

Whatever it is, we understand that wealth is not just going to show up there one day: but we don’t always act that way.

Looking for a Quick Fix? Think Again!

As entrepreneurs, we can be guilty of looking for a quick fix. Even though most of us would tell ourselves we’re too mature or experienced for that, to a certain degree we often find ourselves hoping something will change magically.

I know I learned this concept years ago when it came to relationships. I would be looking around and wondering where I was going to find this magical person who was going to complete me. And I finally heard it from enough people and learned that rather than looking for the girl you want in your life, be the guy that that girl would be attracted to and then you'll find that girl.

Similarly, if we want to create a certain level of wealth of money, we need to be a person who takes care of the small bits of money. We need to take care of paying off our credit card bills, if we even have any, or avoiding credit cards altogether. We need to pay our bills and we need to earn a certain amount of money. We need to manage our expenses, save some money, have an emergency fund, and so on.

If we don't do that, even though we might wish or hope that we'd have a lot of money, we know on a certain fundamental level that we're not going to get there in our current state.

The 4-Day Work Week Math

The same concept is true if you’re looking to work a 4-Day Work Week.

Let’s say you work 50 hours a week. When you add on your commute, and the time it takes you to get ready for work, that’s probably closer to 60 hours that are dedicated to your work.

Then if you’re getting a good amount of sleep, say 8 or 9 hours a night, then that’s another 60 hours a week gone: 120 in total between work and sleep. So you’ve got 48 hours left, during your weekends and evenings. And we all have chores we need to do, like cooking or getting groceries or cleaning.

Probably, you’re going to have about 30 hours of free time a week.

The real question is, what are you doing with those 30 hours?

The reason I ask that is if you're taking those 30 hours and you're investing them in something that's not interesting or engaging or exciting or productive – by your standards, not mine or anyone else’s – why would you want to put in the extra hours or the creativity or take the risks to get more free time?

If you're working 50 hours a week, and in your 30 hours of free time all you’re doing is either watching bad TV or sitting around or complaining, do you really want to free up more time to do that? No, you don't.

Finding Your 4-Day Work Week Motivation

So before you start working to get more free time, you have to start out by first making great investments in your time and your personal life. You need to spend your free time doing things that you really want to do so that as you do those things, you're going to say, “Wow, I really want more of this. I need more of this!”

The easiest way to do this is to look at the time you have available and to decide that you’re going to make the most of that time. You might like to list out some of the things you’d like to do, and we have some great free tools to help with that.

You can then apply to the same concept to all of your time: the relationship you have, the activities you do, the people you’re friends with, and so on. It’s all about making sure you’re investing your time in something you enjoy, not wasting it.

Notice I didn’t say you need to be investing all your free time in something that makes you money. I'm not saying take your time outside of work and then go try to learn all these strategies and how to grow. That's still work.

You might choose to do that, and that certainly can be good, but you might equally do something different. Maybe you want to try volunteering, or dancing, or playing music, or any other hobby. It could even be watching TV or relaxing, if that’s what you enjoy doing.

Whatever it is that you choose to do with your free time, it’s all about adding things to your life to the point that you know your 30 hours of free time are already filled with good stuff.

That way, you want more, so there’s something at stake. There’s something to make you want to get out and figure out how to get more free time, whether it’s talking to your boss, looking for a new job, or starting your own business.

Because if all there is at stake is just resignedly letting life happen, then there’s no exciting reason for you to shift. You're not going to get to a 4-Day Work Week because it doesn't matter.

I know this is true for so many entrepreneurs because I've done this before too. They'll work a good 4 days, Monday through Thursday, and then Friday will come around and they don't have anything exciting to do.

And even though they had said they’re going to work less, they get to Friday and there's nothing really going on. So they say, “I guess I'll just go into work and do whatever.” They’re stuck on this ongoing treadmill, but it’s really just self-imposed.

The Next Steps

So again, if you want to create more wealth, you have to manage what you have and then you'll put yourself in a position to get more, for two reasons:

1. In learning how to develop the wealth – that small wealth – you'll get better at understanding how to develop bigger wealth, whether it’s time or money.

2. You'll have the motivation. You'll realize, “Wow, it's worth it for me to get more free time because I love what I have already!”

I hope you find this helpful. If you have any questions on this, please let me know: you can shoot me an email at [email protected].  

If you have any questions on how you create your own 4-Day Work Week Game Plan, you can go to 4daygameplan.com. There's a free training series with a download that takes you through creating your own step-by-step guide to a 4-Day Work Week.

As always, I look forward to helping you make more money in less time doing what you do best, so you can create the lifestyle you most desire.