How I transitioned to a 4-day work week and what came of it

At first, the four-day work week seemed like a fantasy to me. I just had no idea how I would finish everything. But then I noticed that on Friday I still have tasks that, with proper self-discipline, can be completed in advance. I decided to conduct an experiment: on Thursday to finish all current affairs, and to devote Friday to in-depth work on long-term goals.

First week. Making up and prioritizing

The day before returning to the office after vacation, I sat down to plan my work week. Here I ran into the first obstacle - few working days. I had to cut my goals in half. I wrote down three must-do tasks for the day in my diary instead of the usual six. To be on the safe side, I've added three additional items if I have time for them. Of course, he was not found.

The second obstacle was bad weather. I had to work from home. I got through the urgent tasks until Friday, but I gave up email altogether. Anyway, 99% of my mail only takes time and does not bring any benefit.

On Friday, I tried to do some serious work: edit the article, find new ideas and think about how to improve our newsletter. But productivity was at 50%. I just don't work very well from home.

Second week. Sick

I wanted to start this week energetically, but on Monday night I felt flu symptoms. For two days I could not do anything at all, on Thursday I worked sluggishly from home and only got to the office on Friday.

Again I had to make up for lost time. Surprisingly, I coped with all the current affairs. Although I postponed some long-term projects for later, it was not possible to parse all the mail again.

Third week. I'm trying to do everything in two days

Another shortened week. We didn't work Monday because it was Martin Luther King Day. On Thursday and Friday I took time off to celebrate our wedding anniversary. There were two days left to get the job done, which usually takes five days.

By this time, I had already identified which things take up the most time. I performed them first. I sorted out the mail whenever possible and tried to delete as many letters as possible. As a result, I completed all current affairs and did not even miss the deadline.

Fourth week. Finally a success

This was the last week of my experiment. On Sunday night, I began to wonder if it was worth continuing at all. It wasn't going so badly, but I didn't achieve my goal of doing more in-depth work. I decided not to stop.

I've done more in the last week than in the last three. Although I suddenly had additional responsibilities, I did everything in time. On Friday morning I finished the current affairs, and then I was engaged in my serious projects. I noticed that my habits had changed. I started making to-do lists based on the importance of tasks, not urgency. Introduced short idle breaks during which I read Twitter.

I was stressed more often, but found better ways to work.

My findings

I have conflicting impressions. On the one hand, I experienced more stress. Often there were unforeseen tasks, scheduled tasks had to be rescheduled. As a result, I worked longer to get everything done. There were days when I was very tired and angry that I needed to cancel my plans for the evening.

On the other hand, it made me think about my habits. I became stricter about planning. Now on Sunday night I am reflecting on the progress of the past week and making plans for the next. I also never leave work without making a to-do list for tomorrow. This helps to honestly evaluate your work for today.

Perhaps my opinion would have been different if I hadn't gotten sick and there would have been less workload at work. In the summer, we worked on Fridays until two o'clock in the afternoon, and I did not experience any difficulties. I think I will continue to schedule so that on Friday I will only deal with long-term projects. But I won't be upset if I don't have time to finish the main work on Thursday.