The Five Hour Workday - Stephan Aarstol
Live Differently, Unlock Productivity, and Find Happiness
We’re now living in the “new economy”, where the goal is not to maximise overall income, but income per hour worked. It’s “a game of efficiency”.
During great recession, from Dec 2007 to Jan 2009, people lost their jobs, but overall productivity actually increased! Fewer people had to do more work! And even as economy recovered, this just turned into the new standard.
But thanks to the new economy, we can now reverse that if we’re clever.
[bq] “A five-hour workday is about being more productive, receiving the same or better pay, and getting your life back.”
I. The Fascinating History of Work
1. The Agricultural Age: Before and After
Our forager ancestors didn’t really know the concept of work, only “providing”. Did what was necessary to provide them with food and shelter, on average 3 hours a day, and had the rest of the time for leisure.
Ancient Greeks and Romans would today be considered lazy bums. They aspired to not having to work at all. If you had to work, you were not successful.
As a result of such a leisure focused life, culture flourished. Philosophy, literature, games, and art were all assigned much higher value than work.
Only in sixteenth century Europe with the influence of religion, work started being rebranded.
[bq] “Work kept your hands from being idle, and idle hands, they insisted, would lead to doing the work of the devil.”
Max Weber coined this the “Protestant Work Ethic”.
American settlers set out on their voyage because they didn’t believe in this protestant work ethic.
2. The Industrial Age
Early industrial revolution saw factory workers work crazy hours. But Henry Ford’s introduction of assembly line, and his subsequent move to reduce working days to eight hours (from common 10 to 16 hours), and only 5 days a week (from usual 6) changed everything. Explained his reasoning in an interview with Samuel Crowther (p. 60).
Ford recognised that with the new technology, humans work better on “only” 8 hours a day, resting in the remainder. Now we are again at a similar turning point where those who recognise the value of more time off can actually get more done.
[q] “We can get at least as great production in five days as we can in six, and we shall probably get a greater, for the pressure will bring better methods”
- Henry Ford
[q] “There is a profound difference between leisure and idleness. We must not confound leisure with shiftlessness.”
- Henry Ford
[q] “The result of more leisure will be the exact opposite of what most people might suppose it to be.”
- Henry Ford
Ford recognised the same thing that happened in ancient Greece: More leisure will lead to more culture. Although he put it in slightly different terms, arguing that more leisure will cultivate in workers more refined needs, which in turn convinces them to buy more things and lead to overall prosperity and boost in economy.
Prediction for the future:
[q] “The five day week is not the ultimate, and neither is the eight hour day […] Probably the next move will be in the direction of shortening the day.”
- Henry Ford
[bq] “If you were done with work by 1 pm ever day, it’s easy to see how you, depending on your interests could become a different type of productive. Productive in exercise, learning, parenting, social causes, community and more. Productivity that advances society, and creates a better world around you, goes far beyond merely being productive at your job.”
3. The Information Age
[bq] “An eight-hour workday, for a knowledge worker, is like a 16-hour day for the industrial labourer.”
Argues that just as then people were overworked beyond healthy sustainable physical capabilities, we are now experiencing something similar with our mental abilities.
Over the past 40 years, productivity of the average worker increased 80%, but wages only 11% (less than inflation). And the average time worked has increased, too.
Gallup poll from 2014 on work hours (p. 87): 60% of people work more than 40 hours. Average is a 49 hour week.
CNN money post from 2013 about average hours worked in a country vs. average wages. Netherlands only 29h average at $47,000 compared to 49h and $50,000 in US.
II. Information Age Work and Lifestyle
4. How we’re working today
[bq] “The eight-hour workday was set up for the body, not the mind."
Mental energy, if really used fully, is exhausted much quicker than physical energy.
And given all the productivity tools available now, using this time, and not more, is still plenty to get bigger results than we ever could before.
[bq] “If you think about if from an employer’s perspective, you’re not buying physical labor from knowledge workers, you're buying their outputs. And how long it takes to make that product is irrelevant.”
[NFW: Probably one reason why we see more and more talented people shifting to freelancing jobs and the gig economy. In the world of freelancing this is totally understood, both by the freelancer as well as the client. Only the output matters. Somehow many traditional employers seem to fiercely resist this insight. As a result, many of the talented people who realise that they can not only get the same amount done, but working on their own schedule, but even do more in less time, leave their jobs and become freelancers.]
One huge issue in our current culture, which is still a remnant of the protestant work ethic: Most of us feel guilty for not working!
Often we are incentivised with more money. But the problem is what really makes people happy is time and experience. And more money, without the extra time, can’t buy experiences.
5. The Golden Age of Entrepreneurship
Traditionally to be rich and “successful” one had to sacrifice relationships and exercise etc. Becoming a “fat cat”. Wearing suits and buying expensive stuff. Today’s ultra-successful entrepreneurs are more like “lean lions”. Focused on experience over possession and balancing health and relationships with work.
[bq] “Artificial time constraints are another powerful method that I see being implemented by hyper-productive people.”
[NFW: Parkinson’s Law]
[q] “I believe I would have been more effective: a better leader, a more focused employee… In short I would have had more energy and spent it in smarter ways… AND I would have been happier. That’s why this is a true regret for me. I don’t feel like I chose between two worthy outcomes. No, I made a foolish sacrifice on both sides.”
- Dustin Moskovitz
III. Why the Five-Hour Workday Works
6. Why Employees will Thrive
Entrepreneurship flourishes in a culture of 5-hour workdays. And that’s actually good for employees and employers. The most talented people will work on their own stuff anyway. If it is actively encouraged, everyone wins. Leads to less financial pressure, more motivation, creativity and lifelong learning, and if actively encouraged by employer, counterintuitively also higher retention.
The sheer experience/skill gained from it is also a huge benefit.
Time off huge boost for entrepreneurship.
7. Why Companies will Thrive
[bq] “Even though we’re working part-time hours, this is not a part-time business. You’re getting the same or higher output in fewer hours. There is no loss to productivity, there are only gains.”
By creating artificial time constraints you actually help unlock/find productivity enhancements because it forces your to reevaluate the way in which you do things.
Tower Paddle Boards, with only seven people, working on 5 hour workdays, had over 10M in revenue in 2016.
[bq] “The big win is using the best of the human touch, massively leveraged by the power of technology.”
Better rested employees are happier, and this is transmitted to clients.
IV. The Tower Paddle Boards Experiment
8. The Final Influences Toward My Leap of Faith
In the industrial revolution/factory time, there was very little difference in productivity between workers. Even 2x very unlikely. But in our current time of knowledge work, the differences can be huge, 100x, 1000x, or like Bill Gates said even 10,000x. So getting and retaining the right people is crucial.
9. Implementing the Five Hour Workday at Our Company
Need to be tough and actually show people that they have to get rid of their old habits. Less hours does not mean less output, rather the opposite, and have to be tough with firing employees who don’t see that, because there will be also more and more talented people lining up to join you if you implement this.
You have to teach a mindset of productivity and set clear expectation, and then follow through.
We have to give up our old habits. So many of us have been trained to be lazy without even realising because we were expected to stick around the office for 8+ hours. Need to break these habits, ruthlessly focusing on productivity when it matters and actually switching off when it doesn’t.
V. The Future of Work
10. How We Might Live and Work Soon
We have become lazy and because we are still expected to work the same 8+ hour workdays.
Lack of time is a big reason why many people live such unsustainable and unhealthy lives. Giving them time back can increase health on a personal level, but also lift a huge burden from the whole society in terms of health care cost, unsustainable behaviour, etc.
Volunteerism and community engagement will increase dramatically with more time off.
Entrepreneurship will flourish.
11. The Renaissance Economy
[bq] “It’s time that will be valued most in the future, and there will be a tipping point. And that is when our Renaissance begins.”
[bq] “In today’s hurried, frantic world, […] we often substitute money for time.”
While the majority is increasingly trying to make more and more money at the expense of time, smart people will simply treat money as a tool to buy more time (and experiences).
Conclusion
[bq] “We do not have to accept what we’ve done in the past. We should not accept it."