The 4 day work week

Give yourself permission

Narrowing Productivity

This month marks my 1 year anniversary of working 4 days a week. I prevented this from happening for years because I plainly thought there was no possible way to make it work financially as an artist. It was a dream of mine and had assumed that because I made things slowly and with my hands, I wouldn’t be able to make ends meet if I worked 52 days less than the previous year. I found many reasons to perpetuate the overworking and kept convincing myself there was no feasible approach.

Why did I need a change? After the first year of the pandemic, my schedule had somehow morphed into working all the time and barely working at all. It felt like I was working 10 half days in a row. My brain couldn’t shut off from work and my habits turned into extreme inefficiency. I had no new ideas and creativity was distant.

I was also about to turn 40 and was thinking of taking the month of August off as a celebration and life reset, but realized that it was actually less time away then the 4 day work schedule and I would likely go into the holidays feeling behind. After many months of the inability to focus, I finally gave myself permission to test the experiment out for a couple months and see what would happen. At that point it felt like I had nothing to lose. After a year, the trial continues and I’ve found that working less does not equate to making less money. Turns out it is possible to make a living as an artist and I’m happily doing it 4 days a week! My productivity is compressed and that leaves more room for free time.

So, you might be wondering how did I turn this dream into reality? It’s quite simple actually. I have one guideline. Every week, I aim to make $2,000 worth of product to sell. It doesn’t matter how I get to that goal or what the work is, I just need to accomplish that in 4 days. (Some weeks I achieve that in three, and other times I’m working late into the evening on that fourth day to get it done.) For me and my business, this is a very attainable target and the majority of weeks I hit this number. It’s important that I give myself a reachable goal so that I don’t feel like I’m constantly swimming up stream. Now, I don’t have to sell that much each week, I rarely do, I just need that inventory in the bank to feel secure. Those four days are reserved for anything related to pottery (throwing, trimming, glazing, kiln loading, bookkeeping, packing & shipping, photoshoots, website updates, etc). This strict but also flexible schedule has allowed me the consistent time away from ceramics I need in order to show up fresh and with energy to be in the studio week after week. It’s also way better for my body, working with clay is physical!

What do I do with the extra time? Sometimes a lot, and sometimes little. My non-clay days may have some type of other “work” included but it’s never ceramic related—like teaching, painting or writing. Often times, it’s reading fiction or reading about art, working in the veggie garden and tending to the fruit trees, and/or dabbling in a fun side project. These activities may seem like work to some, but to me they are not. It’s creative fullness that gets me excited to go back in the studio. A lot of percolating seems to happen when I’m away from the potter’s wheel. Ideally, the 3 days off would be in a row, but that doesn’t happen every week since clay has its own schedule and I always put that as a priority.

Time-based ceramic sculpture of days worked // 2023

Now, I know this is a super privileged place to be. Not everyone has this option, most people work for others, get paid hourly and many have more than one job. But as a self-employed person the only thing holding me back was myself. And to my surprise, I actually made more money, $3,900 more! Of course, there were many contributing factors to this, but narrowing my work days forced me to make better decisions, both for my business and personal life. I don’t make a staggering amount as an artist, but it’s enough to live comfortably.

After being self-employed for 7 years, I gave myself the time to try it out and I’m so thankful I did. It has honestly changed my life and I hope that if anyone has been considering it, to take the plunge! If you’re a manager or boss, review this work option as a possibility for your team. Set up some guidelines for yourself or others and do a trial. I’m sharing here to let you know that it’s doable!

To be fully transparent, I did not succeed every month. During the run up to the holidays, I was unable to keep the pressures at bay. For the month of November and December, I worked closer to 6 days a week. But I’m ok with that. Sometimes you have to roll with it. While working most of the year at lesser capacity, I had the reserved energy to put towards that final push of the year.

Time is my most precious asset and as I get older I’ve come to realize just how important it is to my wellbeing. Time is THE work perk. Self-employment benefits can be hard to describe, let alone monetize. There’s many things we don’t have; no employer paid healthcare, no access to matching 401k plans, no PTO or sick pay. But I know not having a commute is worth a lot to me. Same goes for waking up without an alarm! It’s easy to lean towards what we lack, but I need the reminder of what I do have so I’ve started a list. Would love to know what some of your work perks are! Write them in the comments below. Here are some of mine:

Waking up without an alarm

Control of when my days off are

Delicious home cooked meals for lunch

10 minute gardening breaks throughout the day

Cat cuddles whenever I need them

No commute

Having a doctors appt and not stressing about telling your boss you have to leave early

Having no one to report to

Taking a long walk mid work day when I need it

Every day is different

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Exercise: Look closely, really really closely

A bumble bee defrosting. Wiggling worms. A rotting seed pod that is home for new growth. These are just a few little gems I’ve recently found that bring awe and joy to my day. After the epic rainfall we received last month, my garden is a mud pit and needs some love but I’m letting the plants do their thing. For now, I’m mostly observing perennial decomposition and slow winter changes. I encourage you to stop and look at the really tiny nature surrounding us, I always stumble upon a treasure. Sit near the ground and just be. Get your hands dirty wether that be in soil, sand or snow.