The Four-Hour Workday Experiment

A bit more context

AI image generated with Dall E

After my long and brutally honest review from last week, I want to keep this article short. Plus, we I need to adjust to the new publishing schedule.

That's why I will expand on the four-hour workday experiment, explaining its origins, what I hope to achieve, and how to keep it fun.

Where does this come from?

As ridiculous as it may sound, I've always told my inner circle that I could finish the required tasks at work in less time than the classic 8-hour workday. For most of my working life, I’ve been bored, filling my time with useless tasks just to appear busy.

The truth? I’ve never actually worked a full eight-hour day. But I always felt obliged to be present—whether in an office or online—during the traditional 9-to-5.

This has been an extremely frustrating and uncomfortable position to be in.

The rigid schedule of being behind the desk at nine and staying until five (or later, in many cases) doesn't work. We are all wired differently. For some, the focus time is late in the evening; for others, it's early in the morning. But I bet it is for 90% of the people, not the eight hours from 9 to 5.

Nonetheless, productivity is still required.

I never had the guts to challenge my managers on this. I always followed the mass and did as expected of me. This led to depression and feeling very unhappy, unfulfilled, and useless. Also don't forget shame! I was ashamed for being different.

Trust me, those are horrible feelings.

But everyone has experienced those feelings, so you know what I mean.

Finally putting it into practice

I've wanted to work my way for a long time. And now that I finally have full agency over my schedule, I’m making it happen.

My best focus hours are in the morning, but I’m not part of the 5 a.m. club—that’s too early. I work best from around 7:30 to 11:30. In the afternoon, I'm useless. In the evening, I often find some focus time again.

So, I will use my best hours to my advantage. Leverage my focus.

BUT! In the name of softness, I'm not enforcing rigid rules. It's okay if, on some days, I work more than four hours, or on other days, I do nothing all day.

As long as the work gets done, I’m all good with it.

What do I hope to achieve?

First of all, I want peace and calmness for myself.

I need some structure, and I hope the morning working sessions will help me.

I also want to find more moments of flow—those times when you’re so immersed in what you’re doing that you lose track of time. But I won’t beat myself up if that doesn’t happen.

And then, there’s the bigger picture.

I want to show (by example) that different ways of working are possible. We’re conditioned to believe that the standard work structure is the only way, but it never worked for me.

For years, I felt like an outsider for not fitting in and kept quiet about it.

But now? I want to challenge that norm. I want to show alternative ways of working in the hope that it inspires others to carve their own path.

That said, I’ll stay honest and open. This experiment might fail. Maybe four hours a day won’t be enough. But we’ll see—the proof will be in the pudding.

The unexpected challenge

The unexpected challenge/question here is:

How will I purposefully fill my ‘free’ time?

It’s one thing to work less; it’s another thing to use my time meaningfully.

What would I gain if I spent my spare time on social media or binge-watching? Again, not to become rigid here or pull up a list of rules of things I must do in my free time. I’m sure there will be days of binge-watching. And that’s okay. Just not too much.

This is my chance to live intentionally and actually live my life. The perfect opportunity to find joy. I want to laugh more. So, I want to do more fun things.

Also on this I’ll keep you updated.

Keeping it fun

I don't want this to become a boring overview every week or month, with a list of what I did and how I did it. If it becomes boring, I'll stop—I know myself by now.

I'm going with the flow. I won't commit to a specific template; no topics will be limited.

Also, the original premise of the bored millennial still counts:

Follow a journey of growth, failure, and realness to what it takes to build an online business as an average, down-to-earth millennial woman. I figure out life while writing ✍️

Now we just add the element 'all while working just 4 hours a day'.

The primary and overarching goal of The Bored Millennial is to serve as a source of inspiration. I won't tell you the how-tos, but I will share the how-I's.

And then you can do what you want with it.

Et voila.

I'm excited! I hope you are too.

Thanks for tagging along.

Big hug,

Marie

xxxx