At this time of year, holidays for some people are about religious tradition. For others, it’s a whirlwind of parties, yummy food, and gifts. And for still others, it may be a bit of a tough time – what with all the demands of family and friends and sometimes even the feeling you’re supposed to be having a better time than you are. But for me…it’s always been about NOT WORKING!
Even when I was a kid in school, knowing that a holiday was coming was the greatest feeling in the world. A day off to do whatever I want? No one expecting me to get up early or do any homework? Wuhoo! Into my adult years, I always felt that same special joy of holidays. And I spent many years trying to figure out how to get a lot more of that great joyful feeling.
One day, as I was in the middle of one of those projects from hell where we seemed to spend each and every day putting out fires and handling impossible people with bottomless wells of neediness, I got an idea. I knew I couldn’t continue to give my all at that pace and still do a good job, so I went to my boss and told him something like this “You know, Joe, this project turned out to be a lot tougher than we ever imagined and I am not getting paid enough for all that I’m doing. But, I have a way that you can give me a raise and it won’t cost you a dime. I want Fridays off and will put in the same hours as before on the other days.” In other words, I wanted to work only 4 days a week and get paid the same as I was for 5. And I didn’t want to squeeze extra hours into the other days because they were full enough already. After assuring my boss I could really do the job in 4 days and still get the project in on time, to his credit my boss agreed.
For me, a whole new way of working was born. I loved having a 4-day week! I loved having all these extra holidays. And so I decided to find a way to continue this type of work schedule by becoming a consultant. In fact, at times I only worked 3 days a week and still made more than I’d been paid for that full-time job.
Now I know not everyone can do what I did. At least not right this minute. And I know some jobs absolutely require you to be there 5 days a week. But it never hurts to put the idea of a 4-day week into your head as something you might like to create for yourself for the future. And it also helps to think about jobs where you can work some days from home or where you can at least take some control by negotiating extra days off and/or a work schedule that better matches your own life. I am so proud of a friend of mine who recently negotiated a full-time job that allows him to work from home some of the time and also use flex-time for those days he’s at the office. You can’t do this with every job – but it certainly opens up possibilities if you know these kinds of arrangements are possible – if not now, at least some day.
Of course, for those of you who adore your jobs and would work every day if you could and even wish there were more days in a week so you could work even more – well, that’s a blog for another day. Clearly, we’re all different and no one point of view on the world of work fits all. As Tiny Tim so aptly put it “God bless us, every one!”
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New Work Coach Cafe Policy:
Although I had to stop answering individual questions (to preserve my sanity), as always your thoughts and stories are VERY welcome here.
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