The 2,156 Day Problem

If I told you there was a way you could add 6 more years to your life, would that interest you?

6 Extra Years

Six years is about a little under 2,156 Fridays. When I talk to people about working a 4-Day Work Week and how important that is and what a big difference it can make in their lives, they often agree it would be nice, but lack a sense of urgency.

In this post, we’re going to go over something that I hope will get you moving towards a 4-Day Work Week, or a similar lifestyle, with a sense of urgency and purpose. Without that, it's not going to happen, so this is a really critical point to understand.

I call this the 2,156-Day Problem, but it could just as easily be the 2,156-Day Opportunity, depending on how you look at it. It’s based on average numbers for the United States. The average U.S. worker works 49 work weeks per year, with 15 paid vacation and/or sick days making up the other 3 weeks.

Starting at the age of 18, which is the average age to begin work in the United States, and retiring at age 62 –the average retirement age – that leaves us with 44 years that the average American works in their life. And 49 Fridays multiplied by 44 years gives us 2,156 Fridays, which is equivalent to 6 years, give or take. In other words, if you never worked a Friday throughout your entire career, you would have 6 extra years free to do whatever you wanted with.

Who Says We Have to Work Every Single Day?

I should say at this point: I like my work. I think work is noble, I think work is awesome, I think work is necessary. I don't even think people should ever fully retire because it isn't really natural. The average male in the United States who retires dies within just 2 years. In short, I’m all for working!

And yet, in all of the 44 or more years that we're going to work, who says we have to be working every single day? Think about it: once, a 60-hour week was the norm; then that became 40 hours. And in some countries, especially Scandinavian countries, it’s normal to work 32 or 34 hours – and these countries have some of the highest average incomes in the world! It’s not about the quantity of the work, but about the quality of the work.

Think about it: What would you do with 49 more Fridays every year? With another 6 years of your life? This isn’t some miracle cure or new exercise routine, it’s just simple math. What’s more, these 6 years aren’t added to the end of your life, when you have less energy to enjoy them: you can start enjoying this time right away!  

Your Next Steps

If you can have more Fridays off, you can have more free time. With more free time, there’s more you can be doing, more you can be enjoying.

However, if you can't conceive of what you could be doing on those Fridays, then you're not going to try, and if you're not going to try to get to a 4-Day Work Week, it's not going to just happen. With that in mind, I want you to consider what you could be doing if you had so much more free time. Until you get excited about, and until you get charged about it, it's not going to happen.

But once you get charged about it and you're ready to take action, go to 4daygameplan.com, where we have a free training video series and accompanying tools to teach you how to create your 4-Day Work Week Game Plan.

You've got to have some strategy to make this change happen. Unless you're very fortunate, it’s not going to happen automatically. You're going to have to intentionally choose to do this. You're going to have to make it happen.

Here's the good news though: You chose to get a job. You chose to, perhaps, make more money. You chose to study, you chose to finish school, whatever it might be, so this is just something else to add to the list of choices you made and pursued.

If you have any questions on this, please let me know. I’m here to help.

As always, I look forward to helping you make more money in less time, doing what you do best.