4 hour work week? How about 4 hour work day?

21Dec2008 Filed under: 4 Hour Work Day, Have a better day Author: John

Tim Ferriss wrote the wonderful book The 4-Hour Work Week about how to automate your work so you can go live anywhere in the world and do whatever you want to do.

The snag for me right off the bat is that I’m not sure I want a 4 hour work week. I reckon the ideal for me would be a 4 hour work day (at least for a start). Because if the work I am doing is fun and creative I want to do more of it than 4 hours a week. (Tim comes from the assumption that your work and your play are separate.)

There is no doubt though that a full working week does not suit me. No matter what my work is and how enjoyable it is, I want lots of space around it. I want to live an endomorphic life - one with plenty of space for relaxation and mulling things over, interspersed with short bursts of brilliance (hopefully). I know this works for me: if I decide to spend the whole day lying on the sofa watching TV, it isn’t long before I am gripped by some new creative idea (which without the space to relax, I may never have had).

“It’s necessary to be slightly underemployed if you are to do something significant.”

- James D. Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA

Aside from this, my capacity for focussed work and particularly convergent thinking (making decisions, attending to detail) is limited. So after an hour or two of very focussed concentration such as coaching or a sales meeting I know I don’t really want to do anything else for several hours if not the rest of the day!

Back when I had a job as a consultant, I would finish a big client meeting and want at least 2 hours off but I was expected to go back straight back to my desk and do productive work.

So a working day with much more breathing space is now my aim. There will be times of course that extra effort is required - in the start up stages of a project - but as a long term pattern, a full working week doesn’t suit me. How about you?

So this is part of the Creative Maverick one year experiment. Create a working structure that fits you like a glove. For me it’s how to live a 4 hour workday. For you, it might be something different - the 4 hour workweek, working only at night, total flexibility of when you work, total mobility of where you work. What is it? Leave a comment and let me know.

Read on for a post on my approach to creating a 4 hour work day.

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6 Responses to “4 hour work week? How about 4 hour work day?”

Tess
December 27th, 2008 at 2:13 PM

I’m enjoying your new blog! For me, I have about the right balance of time right now, but the wrong balance of activities.
I work three days a week at a paid job and the remaining time I spend on a mix of activities and interests, some paid, most not.
Trouble is, the paid day job (what I had in mind was what Barbara Sher calls the “good enough job”) holds no enjoyment or interest for me - it ain’t good enough after all.
So that’s one of the areas I’m focusing attention on in the coming couple of months - how to remix not the time but what I do with it.
Matt Payne
December 31st, 2008 at 9:16 PM

I like the new blog John. I find it thought provoking and certainly helps to take a step back from the busyness of the working day.

Being a school teacher, these 2 weeks off over Christmas have been great to think creatively and mull over creative possibilities for my work situation. As you know, I’m looking to create more space in my working week and get engaged with things I actually enjoy doing! Which for me will probably mean a change of work!

While I’m in teaching I want to apply your principle of a 4 hour day (if only!!) by trying to get all my planning, marking etc done before I go home at 5.30pm each night. Invariably something won’t get done which should, but it will help me focus on what really needs to be done by the end of that day. The rest will have to wait, or never get done!
Life Organizer Blog | Kate
December 31st, 2008 at 11:24 PM

A four hour work week would be a dream come true for me! Perfect! With work I love!
Sue
January 1st, 2009 at 6:10 PM

Your idea of being a Creative Maverick is great! I’m certainly one of those too! 4hours on and the rest of the day off sounds a reasonable way to start, but I know from experience that it would not work well for me. Working 4 days a week would be better for me in terms of earning some necessary money at the outset. However, like you, my dream is to be doing work I love [i.e. doing creative and fun things] all of the time. I really want to test out this theory that being and doing what you love brings what you need, including money, into your life so that work feels like play most of the time.
Lynne Smith
January 1st, 2009 at 11:10 PM

Enjoyed reading the blog, John. And I’m amazed at the similarity in working patterns you talk about to my own needs/habits (like needing a couple of hours off after a really focused/convergent activity, or finding that a day of lounging on the sofa can produce some ideas). I thought there was something wrong with me that I seemed to have so little ability to focus for 8 hours a day solid! (Having said that, I do have to report here that I’m a bloomin’ good worker, enjoy doing my best at whatever job I’m doing and have the testimonials from previous employers to ratify that fact.

I’ll be interested to read more blogs and comments as the months go on.
Elizabeth Ducie
January 5th, 2009 at 11:52 PM

Hi John

Really enjoying the blog and will be with you throughout the year off. Great to hear that I’m not the only one who thinks 4h per day is more than enough and that I don’t have to feel guilty about taking time out for me in the middle of the day. I guess I will know that the level of playing is right when I don’t want to take the time off any more.

about this blog

This is the personal blog of John Williams, author of "Screw work, let's play: How to do what you love & get paid for it" to be published by Pearson in June 2010.

Join my mission to play all day and get paid - to do whatever creative, fun stuff we feel like doing and make a good living out of it.