The DO Lectures - Can a 4-day week work?

Hi There,

Are we working a 5-day week because, well, everyone does, and we always have done so?

Hmmm.

Think I know the answer to that one…

There is already lots of science to say a 4-day week makes us more productive and is better for our wellbeing.

And more science is coming.

The biggest pilot scheme to take place anywhere in the world is just about to start in the UK.

More than 3,000 workers in 60 companies will trial a four-day week for 6 months.

It will be interesting to see the results.

A quick history of working hours:

(Excerpt from the Practical Magic of the 5-Hour Workday by Trevor Blake)

‘Before capitalism, most people didn’t work very long hours at all.

The pace of life was slow, the pace of work relaxed, life was balanced between work, church, and family.

Our ancestors may not have been rich, but they had an abundance of leisure time.

Most people worked right where they lived.

They sold their wares from the kitchen window or barrows and baskets on the green.

There was no concept of commuting or rush hour.

Consider a typical working day in medieval times. It stretched from dawn to dusk (16 hours in the summer and 8 in the winter), but was intermittent - called to a halt for breakfast, lunch, the customary afternoon nap, and dinner. Depending on time and place, there were also midmorning and mid-afternoon refreshment breaks.

These rest periods were the traditional rights of laborers, which they enjoyed even during peak harvest times. During slack periods, which accounted for a large part of the year, adherence to regular working hours was not usual. According to Oxford Professor James E. Thorold Rogers, the medieval workday was not more than 6 hours.’

All of this relaxed, balanced nature-driven lifestyle changed in the industrial age.’

I encourage everyone to read Trevor's free PDF online, he shares his system of working, all backed up by science.

In short, holiday leisure time in medieval England took up probably about one-third of the year.

The ancient regime in France is reported to have guaranteed 52 Sundays, 90 rest days, and 38 holidays. In Spain, travellers noted that holidays totalled 5 months per year.

The industrial revolution disrupted hamlet life.

People gravitated to the towns and cities with the machines, mills and mines. People began commuting and living in worker’s housing.

The machines only made money if they were kept working. Hours of work increased to accommodate this.

How about today?

A 2014 national Gallup poll put the average number at 47 hours per week, or 9.4 hours per day, with many saying they work 50 hours per week.

But.

Today's technology allows us to work anywhere, so we can return to the hamlet.

But the downside is there is no cap on the number of hours we can do.

Burnout, not being able to switch off, and bluescreen fatigue are almost rites of passage.

The 8-Hour Myth.

This study goes a long way to explain why the 4-day week could well be the answer.

Studies show that over the course of an 8-hour workday, the average employee works just 2 hours and 53 minutes.

The 2016 survey of 2000 business offices revealed the rest of the time, people spend it on a combination of:

Reading the news.
Browsing social media.
Eating food.
Socialising about non-work topics.
Taking smoking breaks.
Searching for new jobs.

Of those 3 hours of ‘productive time,’ a lot of this time is spent in meetings.

In big companies, meetings can be a meeting for meeting’s sake and, for a large part, be unproductive.

This is why you can work less AND STILL WIN.

Therefore, as a company of one, as a small company, if you are disciplined, if you are focused, if you learn how to switch off your phone, if you can learn how to work for hyper-focused short periods, and you learn how to finish on time and LEAVE WORK FULLY, you can work less, get more done, and be more successful.

The 4-day week is all about a more balanced total life.

It is made possible by doing DEEP WORK, which has nothing to do with working longer.

It is just having the discipline to be focused, and not distracted.

THAT IS THE KEY TO UNLOCKING YOUR TIME.

Here’s to that.