Only Happy People Truly Want More Free Time

When you're outside of work and you're no longer earning money, getting ready for work or going back and forth to work, are you enjoying your life? Are you happy?

I ask that question not to stir things up, but to help you take a look at something that might or might not be limiting your desire, your ability or your motivation to create a 4-Day Work Week lifestyle.

Happy People = Fulfilled People = Productive People

One of the things I've learned over the years, while getting my master's degree in mental health counseling psychology and working with thousands of entrepreneurs, situations, team members, and employees, is that very often you'll find that people who are content with their life outside of work come into work, they focus, they get stuff done and they go home.

For them, going home, or whatever else they have going on outside of work, is a pleasant thing. They have this positive motivation to do their work so that they can fund their life outside work. But also when they’re at work, they're more present, so they usually do their work really well, or at least they focus on it to their ability. Then, when they leave work, they go outside and then they go focus on their life outside work.

On the other hand, people who are not very happy with their life outside work – and this can be anything from dissatisfied to bored to mildly unhappy to completely depressed – have less of a reason to leave work and to go home or to go and enjoy their lives. In turn, even though they spend longer in the office, they’re usually less motivated and working to a lower standard.

Do Your Fridays Excite You?

People often tell me, "Wade, you know, I'm a pretty happy person, but I don't seem to be creating the time. I don't seem to be really pushing myself to get to that 4-Day Work Week, even though I'm close."

In response, I tell them, especially if they’re entrepreneurs and have the ability to make the decision not to show up on Fridays, to consider this question. What is it that you're doing with your Friday when you’re at work?

Is it something that brings you joy? Or is it something that doesn’t really excite or motivate you?

If it’s the second option, that might not mean you're an unhappy person. You might be a happy person who's just bored with what you do outside of work. You haven't come up with something more creative to do than working. Unhappy, restless or bored can mean different things to different people.

But overall, if you're not really engaged to say "Friday's going to be awesome!" then there's really not a reason for you to get there. And until you work that out, you’re unlikely to progress towards a 4-Day Work Week, as you won’t be motivated.

Be Your Own Motivation

For that reason, in this podcast and in this video series, I focus primarily on strategies that are for people who are doing well: they're at least psychologically happy and motivated. I focus on helping them create more of that in their lives.

At the same time, I recognize that we can’t all be happy with everything in our lives all the time. We all have certain things that frustrate us. So I encourage you, if you find yourself in a situation where you're saying, "Wade, you know, maybe that's why I'm not moving towards a 4-Day Week," then consider what is that you need to make that shift.

If it's something that's more serious, definitely seek personal help. If it's something lighter, like you're in a rut, maybe pick up a self-help book, see what different things there are out there that could get you engaged. You could even try picking up a new hobby that you've always wanted to do or write your bucket list of all the things you've always want to consider. We have a great tool to help with this: What Would You Do With 50 Additional Fridays Off?

Sometimes the reasons people don't work a 4-Day Work Week or are simply unable to get more results in less time has nothing to do with their ability to perform. You can see this in the way that people’s performance at work can go up and down. When things are better outside of work, they’ll be performing well and exceeding expectations, then going home. Then if they don’t have so much going on outside work, they might be putting in extra hours, but they’re not really achieving anything.

There’s More to Life Than Work

In all of this, I hope you really just embrace the basic concept, as I’ve said before, that there's so much we can do outside work in our free time. This is the time when we can choose what we want to do, and it can allow us to be happy or content or at the very least to be doing what we want to do.

If you're in a situation where you have the freedom, a situation where you make enough money that you don’t need to be working an 80-hour week, then I encourage you to really look at what it is that makes you happy outside of work, and look for things that not just are going to make you happy, but things that are going to bring you joy, things that are really going to be amazing for you.

It doesn’t have to be an adrenaline rush like skydiving. It could be simple things, like being around certain people, going to certain events, going to concerts, whatever it might be. It’s all about having something in your life that makes it worth the time for you to get outside of your comfort zone, to get outside of your rut and to get outside of that standard 5-day, 50 hour work week.

If you have any questions on this, as always, shoot me an email.

If you need help creating your 4-Day Work Week Game Plan, head to 4dayworkweek.com/gameplan. We can help you create your Game Plan with a very short video and a tool that goes along with it to help you map out how you're going to start working towards your 4-Day Work Week and how you're going to make that happen.

Whether you're an employee right now, a freelancer, an entrepreneur or a business owner, whatever stage your at to be able to start making that happen.

As always, I look forward to helping you make more money in less time doing what you do best so you can create the life you most desire for you, your loved ones and your life.