I've been working a four day week for over a decade, so can share some personal experiences.
I'm basically outputting the same amount of work at the same quality as before. As the article hints at, the consequence of working one day less is that it forces you to more aggressively reject distractions. Which not only was much easier than I expected, it's in fact enjoyable.
The deal is simple. We have sprints where it's clear what needs to be delivered every two weeks. Output-based work, not presence-based work. I generously reject or ignore anything else.
The way to do this is to dismiss meetings that do not contribute to your core tasks. Meetings are the true productivity killer. They cut up your day into useless snippets where you can't get anything done.
The trick to get rid of them is stupidly simple: flip the script. Right now, it's common culture that people can start as many meetings as they want and it's common courtesy for the invitees to attend, and if not, explain why.
I simply stopped complying with the expectation. I may not at all respond to the invite or give it a decline without reason. The default is no, and it's on you to convince me how the meeting is needed for me to deliver. Because my job is to deliver, not to sit in meetings. My time belongs to me and my manager, and nobody else. If you want a piece of it, have a good story.
I'm serious when I say this: not once in my decade of making this change have I ever been frowned upon, got into issues, had negative feedback or reviews due to clearing crap from my agenda. In fact, it earns respect. That is the key lesson: don't be afraid to defend your time and do not forget what you're at work for. I'm effectively only helping my employer by being more productive in the time that I work, how can anybody complain about that?
Same for overtime culture and managers sending emails at night or in the weekend. Their problem. Send a million, I won't read any of them.
Has this ever gotten me into trouble? No. Have they ever asked why I don't respond to weekend emails? No. But if they would, I'd tell them I couldn't read them because I was fucking my wife, and recommend they do the same.
Get this: work is making your manager look good, and never bad. That's the job. When you do this, you're already a top performer, as the standard is really very low. You can do all of this by rejecting nonsense, which is in your interest as well as your manager's interest.
I'm basically outputting the same amount of work at the same quality as before. As the article hints at, the consequence of working one day less is that it forces you to more aggressively reject distractions. Which not only was much easier than I expected, it's in fact enjoyable.
The deal is simple. We have sprints where it's clear what needs to be delivered every two weeks. Output-based work, not presence-based work. I generously reject or ignore anything else.
The way to do this is to dismiss meetings that do not contribute to your core tasks. Meetings are the true productivity killer. They cut up your day into useless snippets where you can't get anything done.
The trick to get rid of them is stupidly simple: flip the script. Right now, it's common culture that people can start as many meetings as they want and it's common courtesy for the invitees to attend, and if not, explain why.
I simply stopped complying with the expectation. I may not at all respond to the invite or give it a decline without reason. The default is no, and it's on you to convince me how the meeting is needed for me to deliver. Because my job is to deliver, not to sit in meetings. My time belongs to me and my manager, and nobody else. If you want a piece of it, have a good story.
I'm serious when I say this: not once in my decade of making this change have I ever been frowned upon, got into issues, had negative feedback or reviews due to clearing crap from my agenda. In fact, it earns respect. That is the key lesson: don't be afraid to defend your time and do not forget what you're at work for. I'm effectively only helping my employer by being more productive in the time that I work, how can anybody complain about that?
Same for overtime culture and managers sending emails at night or in the weekend. Their problem. Send a million, I won't read any of them.
Has this ever gotten me into trouble? No. Have they ever asked why I don't respond to weekend emails? No. But if they would, I'd tell them I couldn't read them because I was fucking my wife, and recommend they do the same.
Get this: work is making your manager look good, and never bad. That's the job. When you do this, you're already a top performer, as the standard is really very low. You can do all of this by rejecting nonsense, which is in your interest as well as your manager's interest.