Who Needs You to Work a 4-Day Work Week?

Who needs you to work a 4-Day Work Week?

Who needs more of your time, more of your energy, and more of your attention?

Is it your partner? Does that person need more of your love, more of your ability to connect with them, and more of your presence?

Is it your children? Do they need you to be more present when they come home from school, so you can listen to them, and hear what's actually going on in their day? When kids come home from school, there's a 15 to 30 minute window where they'll actually tell you what's going on, and then after that, if you ask them, they'll just say, "Oh I'm fine, everything's good." Not because they've shut down, just because they've moved on to something else.

Is it maybe a friend who could use your help? A friend who just needs a little support? Who could use your encouragement and your ear, to be able to listen to them, and to hear what's going on with them?

Is it another family member somewhere who’s struggling with something, and who simply needs the time and the validation to know that they're important enough to be listened to?

Is it your community? Are there people who need you to be more present, and to share some of your gifts that are valuable in the work world, but are even more valuable to the non-profits or to the people you help?

The Opportunity Cost of Your Time

Whether it’s a 4-Day Work Week specifically, or just making more time for life in general, I encourage you to think about this concept of the opportunity cost of your time. People so often say “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone”, but so many of us still end up looking back and wishing we’d spent our time differently.

One thing almost no one wishes is that they’d spent more time working. This fact is validated in an amazing book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware. Bronnie worked for some time as a hospice carer, and people would often share with her their regrets or things they wished they’d done differently. The number 2 most common regret was that people wished they’d spent less time at work.

I’m not knocking work here. I love my work, but at the same time there are other things in the world that I enjoy and that I contribute to.

If you’re thinking of cutting down how many hours you work, don’t just think about the financial opportunity costs. It's easy to think, “If I work a 4-Day Work Week, logically I might be leaving some money on the table.” Of course, if your 5th work day is unproductive, you might not be losing any money, but if your 5th work day is productive then you might.

But there’s a flip side to the financial opportunity cost. When you're working 5 days or 6 days a week, there's an emotional cost, or a relational cost, or a psychological cost, or a life experience cost. These are the opportunity costs that I want you to think about. What are you missing out on?

Who’s Missing Out When You Work Too Much?

Somewhere there's a person or an organization in your life that might be in a better position, that might be happier, that might enjoy life more, and that might in fact, even impact you in some way, if you had more time for it.

If you're not sure, ask the people around you, "Hey, why don't we do this on Friday?” "Why don't we go do this, do you have time to do this?" Just start making more time for them, and see what difference it makes on your life.

You might find that if you’re an entrepreneur and your friends aren’t, then they aren’t free on Fridays, and they can only hang out on the weekend. In that case, fill your weekend up with seeing friends, family, or anyone else who needs your time, and take Fridays to do your own personal chores or catch up on whatever you need to get done.

With that being said, in today's market, with people working from home or having more flexible working hours or being on all sorts of schedules, there's almost always something going on socially, or in terms of volunteering.

The Benefits of Making More Time for Others

Once again, this is not a knock on work. Work can be awesome; it can be extremely fulfilling and enjoyable, but there’s more to life.

I encourage you to think about not just what you’re missing out on, but also to consider the fact that somewhere there's somebody whose life would be better for having you in it. It could even be mentoring other people who are younger than you or further down the ladder in the same profession. You’re taking your professional skills and helping other people with them.

Who's missing out on something when you work too much? Whose opportunity cost is tied to you not being available on that 5th work day?

And what you can do to create that extra space? Maybe once a month start consciously making more time and you'll find that there's so much more in the world going on than just work, and it’s all so amazing.

Interestingly enough, it often ends up coming right back around and improving your work in some way.

• Firstly, it makes you a happier, more rounded person who’s more able to build connections.

• Secondly, volunteering or even just socializing more can often lead to business opportunities: after all, people who are volunteering are often the people with their finances in order enough to have more time.

Whatever your lifestyle is, think about whose life would be better if you didn’t have to work as much. Who's missing out when you work too many hours and aren’t as present in life?

I hope this serves you. I listen to these things as I say them. There's a concept that when you're a coach or a teacher, that so many of the things that you bring up are the lessons you’ve learned or you need to learn yourself. I continue to apply what we’ve spoken about here to my own life, and I continue to benefit from it.

The 4-Day Work Week Entrepreneur Academy

As entrepreneurs, we sometimes need to be locked in a room to get something done.

We’ve created a workshop called the 4-Day Work Week at Entrepreneur Academy. Over 2 days, we help you put together your own Game Plan to create a 4-Day Work Week lifestyle.

You'll be in the room with other entrepreneurs, who are networking with each other, creating a support network to implement throughout and after the program, and understanding and learning the fundamentals of how to best do this.

We also follow the event up with an online program and weekly calls to help people make sure they're able to implement the content of the program moving forward.

If you’re looking to commit to working towards a 4-Day Work Week, and if you need to lock yourself in a room and make sure you get it done, go to 4dayworkshop.com, where you can learn more about the program and find upcoming events near you.

I’ve helped many entrepreneurs with this before, and I look forward to helping you and seeing you at one of our workshops.

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