Can shorter workweeks improve your mental health?
The Weekly Review: Vol VIII Issue 11
Hey friends,
As I’ve been focused on building People-First Jobs over the past 18 months or so, the topic of work and work cultures is always at the front of my mind. Issue 10 of this newsletter touched on that, and this one goes a little further.
After a year that saw so many roles shift to remote work, things are going to be different moving forward. On top of that, plenty of women left the workforce, people saved money at a far higher rate than normal, and wages increased due to a lack of supply in many disciplines. Astute readers (which is to say, all of you) will note that some of these things are good, some bad.
All of it points to one thing: the rest of 2021 and 2022 will feel the impacts of these trends. Whether these trends lead to good outcomes or bad will depend on the leadership at each company. My work has been almost solely focused on defining what a healthy company looks like and shining the light on good examples I learn about.
My hope is that the next year will see a lot of company leaders recognize their company’s value is made of up one thing: its people.
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Do shorter workweeks help your mental health?
This topic is getting a lot of attention as the world looks to get back to a sense of normalcy. Back to the office is a phrase that evokes a strong response, whether it’s of excitement or dread. Anne Helen Petersen has been writing about this quite a bit and she summarizes the current situation:
Right now, most organizations are focused on the hours, days, and location of work— which makes sense, because that’s the first layer of questions that employees have about an eventual return. Smart organizations are actually listening to what their employees are telling them about what flexibility should look like, what matters and what’s lacking, what they’ve struggled with working from home and what they miss. Unsmart companies are returning to the status quo because they don’t trust their workers, they have weird fantasy scenarios about spontaneous hallway collaboration, they’re resistant to learning how to manage in ways that don’t involve direct sight lines, or they’re just straight up assholes who want to control their employees’ lives.
Working one less day a week is one way — a really great way — to give employees more of the flexibility she alludes to here.
At Wildbit, we’ve been working 4 days per week since 2017 and I’m more than happy to attest to the fact that this has greatly healed my mental health (and my physical health as well). Now that there’s a growing movement on the idea of a shorter workweek, we decided to put some resources together to share more on the idea and highlight the companies that have taken the step.
If you’re interested in these topics, here are a few other pieces along the same lines:
- Another positive of a shorter workweek is the environmental impact
- Why We Don’t Care Where You Work From on Wednesdays (or Any Other Day)
- As a CEO, I worry about the erosion of office culture with more remote work
- The hybrid workplace probably won’t last
- How to Quit Your Job in the Great Post-Pandemic Resignation Boom
- It’s Time For A Summer Slowdown
I disagree with some of the opinions expressed here, but it’s fascinating to see the variety of ideas about what work should look like and how the past year has changed how some of us think about it.
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Items of note
Tiego Forte shares some ideas about time and how our current tools make information accessible like never before. I appreciate this illustration in the light of personal knowledge management.
Every time you use a digital notetaking or knowledge management tool (which I call a Second Brain), you are pushing and pulling bits of information through Artificial Time. Instead of drawing from only the immediately available lessons of the recent past, you are harnessing the intellectual output of years. You are not only smarter, but experientially wiser.
I’m not sure it’s all positive that I can look up any fact that catches my curiosity — perhaps struggling to remember something on occasion is good for me. But overall, I think I prefer being able to know facts over the alternative.
7 Real-Life Todoist Setups to Steal
I’ve been using Todoist as my main task management tool this past year (due in large part to how Sunsama integrates with it). It’s not the nicest looking tool out there, but the ease-of-use and integration with other services make it enough for me.
This post from the Doist team is a nice look at the different ways you can use Todoist. I don’t often look at these kinds of articles anymore (I’m pretty settled into my habits at this point), but the person using the weekly layout for managing tasks caught my eye.
If you use Sunsama, you’ll recognize this look and feel. It’s a very similar type of use case.
The RoamHacker twitter account shared this thread that walks through some of the aspects of the Obsidian communuity. The thread touches on what PKM and tools of thought are all about, but the focus is primarily on why community is vital to this:
Communities are more important for “knowledge management travelers”, because its a multi-year journey with exciting destinations, but filled with unknown terrains. Tapping into experience & wisdom of other travelers makes our journey easier & more effective. (also more fun!)
When I was first getting into Roam, there were some aspects of the community there that were similar. But there was also a lot of … mysticism and cult-ish aspects. Of course, you can choose to take what helps you and ignore the rest from any community based around a product or service, so my decision to use Obsidian over Roam was not solely predicated on the community.
Anyway, this thread reaffirmed a part of why I was drawn to using Obsidian as the main piece of software in my life.
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Quote of the week
It’s utterly important to learn the right theological truths about God and neighbor, but it’s equally necessary to put that theology into practice via a rule of life. You can’t believe truth without practicing truth, and vice versa. You can’t have a good education without good formation, and vice versa. You can’t know who Jesus is without following Jesus, and vice versa. To live with only one or the other of these things is to live as a half-human being.
Justin Whitmel Earley, The Common Rule
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Currently
Reading: The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose in an Age of Distraction. I just started this book by Justin Whitmel Earley and so far, so good. It’s similar to other books on the topic (at least, the opening feels familiar to me), but with a focus on re-establishing rhythms that have long been a part of the Christian life.
I’m also on to The Dragon Reborn, the third entry in the Wheel of Time series.
Watching: A couple of new series started this past week that have been had members of our house excited. One is Loki. I found Wandavision a refreshing change from the usual Marvel offering — until the last couple of series. Loki was also an enjoyable start one episode in. It’s quirky.
The other series is season 2 of Home Before Dark.
(Not) Drinking: The current trend in the BC craft beer scene leans heavily to sours and Gose’s. The last time I stopped at a local store, it felt like 50% of the beer choices were sours. It’s not my favorite trend, but thankfully there are still plenty of other options.
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Until next time, be well 🤘