Written by: Derek N.H. Notman, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
There's a hidden benefit that will emerge from the 4-Day Work Week. An improvement in how we interact with our money.
How many days a week do you work? If you’re like most people you tend to work 5 days a week, but why? Well, it’s simply the way ‘work’ has been done for a long time. But think of the wasted time not only getting to and from an office but also spent doing non-essential things like gossiping at the water cooler and playing ping-pong instead of working.
Work is an integral part of our lives but in my opinion it shouldn’t dominate it. When it does, when work is all we think about, and we only get 2 days a week to cram the rest of our lives in, we simply will let things go.
Maybe you aren’t as healthy as you’d like to be, or don’t go to the gym as much, or keep putting off making smart financial decisions to get the most out of your money.
4 Day Work Week Study Results
In 2022 a groundbreaking 4 day work week study was conducted by Day Week. I’m excited about the results as they found that employees who worked 4 days a week had a direct and positive impact on their lives.
Some interesting results include:
Overall reduced work stress
Lower levels of burnout
More job satisfaction
Better mental health
Improved physical health
Increase exercise
Fatigue levels & sleep problems fell
In short, people felt better when they worked 4 days instead of 5. When people feel better they're more productive at work and at home. Sounds like a win-win-win for the 4 day work week!
Old Work Habits Die Hard
The 4 day work week has been an idea for quite some time but has struggled to gain momentum until more recently as people are rethinking what it means to be happy personally and professionally. Tim Ferris even took it to another level with his 4 Hour Work Week idea, which is a great book by the way, but the overall message is the same. Working less and smarter, has so many benefits that it’s hard to deny them.
As someone who's helped people with their money since 2006, so many times I've seen bad financial decisions (or completely ignoring making them) because people were too stressed out at work. Getting home at 6pm each night to having to feed the family, walk the dog, and prepare for the next day leaves very little bandwidth and desire to have to think about our money let alone meet with a financial advisor.
When there's less stress and anxiety and people overall feel good with their work-life balance one can argue that they can then dig into their finances and improve their relationship with money.
Working 4 days a week can improve your finances
So what happens when we put our finances on the back burner? We resort to quick Google searches on what to do with our money that can easily lead to bad or at least uninformed decisions. Or perhaps we ignore our money entirely or end up working with a financial advisor that is not the right fit for us. Any way you slice it we only end up perpetuating the problem of not mastering our money which can bleed into our homelife like making instant gratification purchases that give us quick hits of happiness followed by even more stress.
But do not fret, when we work 4 days a week we now have more time to catch up and give our money the attention it deserves. We can get organized, get educated, find the right advisor to help us, and stop being reactive with our finances. Not only do we feel better at work and at home but also feel like we’ve become the master of our money instead of it controlling us.
If people feel better, are less stressed, and are happier then they will be more open to using money to further support a healthy work-life balance instead of using it to cover up the pain they're feeling. Talk about improving one's money mindset!
By embracing the 4-day work week, we can improve work, life, and our relationship with money. Do you agree?
I’m on a mission to fix money so please follow me on LinkedIn to learn more and live your best life.
Derek N.H. Notman, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
I'm a REBL Dad on a mission to fix Money. Hi, I'm Derek! I dislike ties, love flip-flops and board shorts, and enjoy challenging the status quo. I was born in Ireland to a South African mother and German American father. I have a passion for world travel and adventure and believe it or not was actually compared to "The World's Most Interesting Man"! I'm a dadpreneur fintech CEO and love to challenge the status quo.
