Why Most People Don't Want to Work a 4-Day Work Week

Have you ever had one of those vacations that just went way too long?

Knowing What You Want to Do with Your Time Off

We’ve all been there, I’m sure. You were excited to go on vacation when you started, and to be off work. But then at some point, things shifted. You got kind of bored, or you didn't like where you were, or you just weren't enjoying yourself. And at some point, you found yourself practically cringing at the thought that you knew you'd rather be back in your normal routine, and back at work.

One of the main reasons more people don't work a 4-Day Work Week is that they haven’t figured out what they want to do outside of their normal schedule. They haven’t found something that's really going to excite them.

I don’t mean this as an insult, or as a way to put people down. Most of us have experienced boredom. In fact, boredom might be the biggest challenge of this era in human history. We have the majority of our basic needs met in many parts of the world, though certainly not everywhere. But for those of us who have everything we need, there's this sense of not knowing what to do next, because everything important is taken care of.

Similarly, if you’re an entrepreneur, and you’re already able to take Fridays off, but you don't know what you're going to do with your Friday other than working, then when Friday comes around, the inertia and the habits of your normal schedule are going to creep in, and pretty soon you might find yourself back at your desk.

And yet, when we have awesome vacations to look forward to, or great things coming up, very often we can be hyper-productive right before we leave to do that exciting thing. Then while we’re away, we have a lot of fun, we enjoy it, and we let our minds rest and recuperate. We come back well rested, well prepared, and engaged in what we’re doing, ready to be productive again.

What this requires is for you to come up with something that you’re going to do that will be so exciting on a Friday that you won’t want to be at work.

Of course, I’m not saying that work is bad. Work can be awesome, but there are 7 days in a week, and you don’t need to fill all of them with work. There are so many other things you could do too.

Planning Your Free Time

If you’re struggling to plan your time off, I would suggest you head over to  4DayWorkWeek.com/tools, where we have a free tool to help you plan what you would do if you had 50 Fridays off. If you took every Friday off for a year, this adds up to roughly 50 extra days – what would you do with that time?

Until you start planning your time outside of work, you're probably not going to be motivated to take more time off. Don’t be intimidated – it doesn't have to be 50 unique things. I happen to like playing beach volleyball. I'm there every Friday I can, if the weather's good. I live in a part of the world where that's possible.

But if you're not sure what you're going to do, or you haven't come up with anything better than working, you're going to go back to your default. If work is the most engaging and exciting thing going on in your world, that's what you're going end up doing.

Some people might say, "But wait, I'm a hustler. I hustle late. I like to work a lot, to strive further.” I’d say, “That’s fine, everybody's got their own journey.” I've got a wife and kids, so I have certain responsibilities, and life pulls me back to my home, and that’s how I want it to be.

But even if you're keen on hustling, I would encourage you to consider this question. What if you had $100 million in the bank? What would your schedule look like then?” This can give you an idea of your ideal lifestyle, if work didn’t factor into it.

If your response is something like, "If I had that much money in the bank, I'd go travelling” or “I'd go and volunteer", or whatever else, then why not start doing that here and now, in a smaller way? You could take a month or 2 off, or even just a couple of days, and experience a taste of that lifestyle. In my case, I like Fridays off, to give me time to do what I love, outside of work.

Once again, go to 4DayWorkWeek.com/tools, and check out the 50 Fridays Off tool to start planning your free time.

I hope you’ve found this lesson helpful. If you have any questions, let me know – you can email me or leave a comment.

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