I Don't Work Fridays - An intentional decision to change my life balance

This posted in January 9, 2015. 

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” (American Proverb) I remember seeing this saying on a poster in college, profound for me as Never Trust Anyone Over Thirty. And today, I begin a new day, knowing that I didn’t know a lot back then about the future… like I might turn thirty some day… but at least today, I know that I don’t know what ten years from now looks like. I only know that I have more time in my weeks to use well. Today is my first free Friday in my four-day work week.

It sounds great, right? For now, and with intention, I no longer work a traditional five-day work week. I find it a bit daunting now that it finally arrived. 

I don’t remember seeing this T. S. Eliot saying on a poster, but it speaks to me: “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” (First, I like that the poet ends his sentence in a preposition. More importantly, I like the idea he ends up with.) Since my first meeting on Monday morning of this past week, when It took three reminders to my colleagues that I work a 4 day week, I created a mantra   to cement this new fact of my work life, “I don’t work Fridays.” It turns out that I needed to use the saying every single day when looking at calendars to schedule meetings and calls. Reactions were for the most part positive. They spanned from a smile and congratulations, to encouragement and reminders to protect it. There were challenges too. That same person who told me to protect it, told me I should attend a meeting because it was important. I don’t work Fridays, was all I said.  A while later another person who'd heard me say it asked me in an email, after I declined an e-invitation to a meeting for today. I am pretty sure she was yanking my chain. I responded with, I don’t work Fridays.

Reality set in as this week unfolded, by Wednesday afternoon, I realized that it would be difficult to get all my tasks checked off my list. In the olden days, (last week), I might finish projects in the evening or on the weekend. Now that I am intentionally working a four-day work week, I realize that my intention isn't about jamming in a five day work week into four. My objective now is to focus on exactly what I need to do to be considered successful in my work. Today, the first day of the rest of my life, I declare that I am no longer ambitious for growth in my career. I am leaving behind fears of being passed over, settling and complacency. I am embracing being relevant and highly valuable today in my job. This is hugely freeing. It may be the key to allowing me to be everything I have wanted all along.

The plan began August 2014 while developing strategy and budgets for 2015. I offered up 20% of my salary to make ends meet... though it may have sounded precipitous, it wasn't without thought. A catalyst for this decision began much earlier as I wanted more time to explore  what I am meant to do in life. I feel it… a flow… a moment of peace, maybe success, a full deep breath. I am driven to know that more. I like what the French painter/sculptor, Jean Dubuffet* said,  “Unless one says goodbye to what one loves, and unless one travels to completely new territories, one can expect merely a long wearing away of oneself and an eventual extinction.” So this morning, I have no intention of wearing away myself, though I do expect extinction. Instead, I’d like to wear myself… to fully express myself. On the first day of the rest of my life I am booking a trip to Spain… talking to a friend about an investment, breaking a loaf of bread, taking lunch to someone shut in after a work out, and working on a painting. Tomorrow is the weekend, when, ok, I’ll admit it, I might sneak a peek at my emails, because, I don’t work Fridays. 

It's a beginning.

*Sculpture at the State of Illinois building, Randolph and Dearborn, Chicago