Thinking of Time ...

Last week I wrote about how the July 4th weekend could serve as a good motivator for some business owners to start looking at how they may want to work in ways that have an aim of having more time off. And then this week, I came across an article speaking about how more businesses are embracing a four-day work week.

Granted, this is not something that is possible for everyone, and the article itself even acknowledges that. I do think, however, it gives good ideas to continue this conversation of exactly how much one needs to work. The idea of a 40-hour work week, after all, is just that, an idea. There is nothing inherently magical in that number.

And of course, there are people who can fruitfully work that much. If you are in manufacturing, spending all your time turning out a product, and then selling all those products, that can be a good use of your time.  I am sure that most reading these words, however, have had time at work (and quite possibly a lot of it) where you sit around without much to do, wondering why the clock demands you must remain at your station.

This then is a push for business owners to think about not only when you can take time off (and what is necessary to make that happen) but to also think about how you work during the week. Are you forcing yourself to do stuff when you are no longer productive? Are you forcing yourself to work in hours when you don’t work best?  Are you stuck in what you have been told are the ways you should work when you now have the freedom to give different answers?

The nature of these questions speaks to how there is not one answer for everyone. What works best for you is your own, personal answer. But are you someone with employees where you could help them to find their best answers, too? I am not going to pretend to be able to give definite answers here, but I think many can agree that we could accomplish about the same amount in a preferred, self-chosen six-hour window as we will in an eight-hour window proclaimed by someone else. And if you do have ways to give a worker a little more freedom with their time, then there is goodwill earned through that which also comes with value.

So when it comes to time, keep being unafraid to not think outside those proclaimed boxes. 

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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