Four-day or four-hour work week? Rethinking what we really want from our jobs

It’s been 15 years since the publication of Tim Ferriss’ multi-million New York Times bestseller, The 4-Hour Work Week. The book both delighted and left us confused. We fantasised about the possibility but wondered how we could possibly transition our existing work week into only four hours.

But despite the title, Ferriss commented that it was never about working only four hours a week. Instead, the book shone a light on a work existence that leaves so many despairing. Rather than waiting till retirement to do the things we wanted, Ferriss showed that it was possible to make changes now so we could both live and work. It was an enticing but unrelatable idea for many at the time.

Even if it seemed impossible, the concept hit a nerve. We imagined what life might look like if it didn’t primarily involve commuting to an office, commuting home again, madly trying to fit in life chores, cooking dinner, and then spending just a few minutes with loved ones before going to bed only to start all over again the next day.

Now, after a global pandemic and the seismic shift around work, the enticing alternative Ferriss proposed is a reality. We can go to Brazil for six months to learn the tango as he once did. But unlike in 2007, we can now do so while keeping our jobs and living in that Instagram-perfect villa near the beach.

Amidst the global war for talent, the ability to choose where you live and work is central to the employee value proposition being offered by corporates. Companies like AirBnb and Atlassian have set remote work policies that only require staff to come to the office quarterly, or even in some cases not at all. Staff are encouraged to move to locations that suit their needs and interests, whether for a few months or for good.

And with more than 49 countries offering digital nomad visas, you are spoilt for choice about where you could go.

But not everyone wants to learn the tango or martial arts in a far-flung locale. And, for a whole host of reasons, not everyone can, even if they want to.

While the idea of starting the workday with fresh coconut juice perched alongside our laptops as we gaze over the ocean sounds lovely, the workday reality for a lot of us is far less glamorous.

For too many people, work sits somewhere along an unhappy continuum — bored to death or stressed to death. Quite literally. A study of more than 143,000 participants found those who worked ten or more hours a day for at least 50 days per year had a 29% greater risk of stroke.

So whether it is a four-day or four-hour work week, where do we actually start? It’s all well and good wanting to make a change to the job we have or where we do it, but what if we aren’t sure what we want to do next?

One way to make a start is to look outside our usual frame of reference. The majority of working adults are so busy working and managing other life responsibilities, we rarely if ever have an opportunity to think about what something different actually looks like. An exercise I suggest as a start is to map out how your ideal work day would differ from the one you have now. Right from when you wake up, until when you go to bed.

Many of the things we do, we assume we have to do, and we don’t often take a step back to think how we might do them differently. Map out what your actual day looks like over the course of a week or two.

Research shows that how we intend to spend our time, and how we think we do spend our time, often don’t match up. While the realisation that we don’t eat what we think we should, exercise, spend undistracted, quality time with our loved ones, or invest in other things that are important to us can be confronting, it is an essential place to start.

Comparing this against your ideal workday usually offers some interesting insights into where you might start to make changes. It’s important to acknowledge if we are in a job that doesn’t align with our values, aspirations, priorities, needs, or preferred ways of working. No amount of productivity hacks or positive affirmations each morning will make much of a difference if that is the case.

But what if you don’t know what interests you, or what kind of environments you enjoy working in? Surprisingly, this is not unusual. Locked into tight schedules, drop-offs, commutes, and other commitments, there often isn’t even time to think about these things. This is one of the reasons why the pandemic has created such an impetus for change.

While the lockdown was far from ideal and created a range of issues, one benefit of working from home was the opportunity to clearly see the reality of our jobs and lives once the everyday scaffolding was removed.

Some people reported just how much more energy they had not having to commute. Many loved (and continue to value) the ability to arrange their lives, interests, and responsibilities in a much more effective way. But some other interesting and less anticipated realisations occurred.

Some people found that they really loved their work, but just didn’t enjoy the setting or the people they were working with. For others, the reality that they really didn’t like their job and only enjoyed the social environment of their colleagues was brought into full focus when the people they worked with were suddenly removed from the equation.

As we grapple with what changes we might like to make in our careers and lives, the ideal versus current workday is a good place to start. Another is to take a day off and go on an urban safari. Our physical environments have an enormous influence on us, literally shifting our thinking, mood, how we feel physically, and our performance. I spend a lot of my time researching these effects in various ways and in various settings all over the world.

It might sound strange, but many of us have never really thought too much about the type of spaces and the routines that suit us best. Sure, there has been a lot of discussion on biohacking and things like the ideal morning routine. One of the challenges with this movement is that it can leave us feeling inadequate or even exhausted.

What if I don’t want to get up at 4am, run five kilometres, and then drink coffee with butter in it? Is all hope for a productive and satisfying day lost? 

Have you stopped to think about what times of the day you work best, what motivates you, and what makes a difference to how your feel?

Taking a day to work from different spaces can give us insights into the environments that best suit who we are and the type of work we like to do. For some of us working from the couch might work well, at least for some of our day. It’s a preferred location for another New York Times bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell, who hates desks.

In my research, others report working from their favourite cafe, a museum, or even outdoors helps them feel calmer, more inspired, or more productive. For most of us, our jobs require different things over the course of a day. These different tasks as well as differences in our personalities can be enhanced by finding environments and routines that support these differences.

In doing these activities we can explore aspects of ourselves and our work to uncover preferences and interests that can spur change. We don’t have to move to Costa Rica (but go ahead by all means if you feel so inclined). Making small changes to our current work day and our work environment can be a great place to start.