In case you missed the announcement, I picked up a part-time job so I can blog part-time.
Based on availability, it’s likely that I’ll be working 3 days per week now. Of course, I’ll work more if the hours are available, because I need more money to invest.
But working 3 days per week will be a better situation overall. A schedule like that would allow for a better rested, more efficient, harder working, happier employee. At least in my case.
And let’s be honest—nobody works as hard on a Monday or a Friday anyways.
The problem with working 40 hours per week
My main problem with working 40 hours per week is that it is not really just 40 hours per week. It takes over your entire life.
Between commuting, resting, and preparation for work, you are actually being paid to give up your entire life.
Everything in your life starts to revolve around the job: food, clothes, sleeping schedule, friends, home location, and transportation. It’s literally everything.
And that’s fucking it. It’s just that with slight tweaks along the way for the next 10, 20, 30, or 40 years. That’s it! I’m not even going to edit this out… Do you get that I’m tryna emphasize that it controls your entire life for 40 years?! Because I want that to be understood.
Besides having 4 days off per week, here are specific reasons why working 3 days per week is optimal.
3 days – Work revolves around your life.
I worked part-time for Rogers Wireless after finishing school. It was actually a pretty dope job, to tell you the truth.
Still to this day, it was probably one of my favourite groups of staff to work with, and there was opportunity to earn more from commission.
Anyways, the part-time aspect of the job provided me with random days off to get work done during the week. I understand it’s not a lifestyle for everyone. But it allowed me to feel like I was fitting work around my schedule instead of the other way around.
I would blog in the morning, on a previous blog, before heading into work for a 5 – 9 shift. I bet that sounds awful to some. However, it provided time to work on my own work, before fitting in a quick shift to earn money.
In short, working 3 days per week is optimal because it switches work from controlling your life to work revolving around your life.
1 Day to do nothing (or something fun)
Although 3 days is a lot less working hours than 5 days, I think there’s a chance 4 days off would lead to higher productivity and more work being completed overall. Or, at the very least, a much higher quality level of work would become the new standard. Of course, I’m only philosophizing and have no case study to present to you.
But I do know that having one day off per week helps me. Every once in a while I need a day to do nothing but play video games, eat, and stream online content.
If I deserved the day of doing nothing and I was truly in need of rest and relaxation, I will feel refreshed and ready for work the following day.
1 Day for Errands
As soon as you start living on your own and you are responsible for everything in your life, there is always constant work to do.
Cleaning, laundry, groceries, cooking, budgeting, or whatever. This stuff takes time.
As such, I think one day per week should be allotted for nothing but errands. This is why working 3 days is optimal.
Perhaps errands could even be made more enjoyable because of the work pace. Maybe not.
Working 3 days allows for 4 days per week of natural sleep
I keep thinking I’m a morning person even though I’m not.
I mean, I wake up early in the morning, and I enjoy the morning a lot. But the morning is not the most optimal time for me to work.
I am actually better off working in the evening. It’s as if the pressure of the late night forces the work out of me. Because in the morning, I’m liable to just want to enjoy the beautiful day. I’ll end up going for a walk and taking photos or some shit like that.
The problem with working late is that lack of sleep catches up to ya’.
Just imagine, though—if you had a 3 day schedule, that would mean more than half your days per week would be your own sleeping schedule.
1 – 2 Days to Work On Your Own Projects
If you are a creative person, you likely have personal projects you want to work on. Unfortunately, though, you may lack the time and energy.
But if a creative person was allowed to work just 3 days per week, they would have 1 to 2 days per week to paint, draw, write, sculpt, film, photograph.. etc. If more of an intellectual, the individual would be able to take courses or go back to school.
If a situation like this was to occur, my guess is that the employee would become a better contributor overall on those 3 days per week. Simply put, it would create happier, more fulfilled, more energized employees… Or maybe this is just me lol.
Why Working 3 Days Per Week Is An Optimal FI Solution – Concluding Thoughts
Before closing, I should mention that I want to work more than 3 days per week.
I am not condoning laziness. I truly believe that work is the most important part of our lives.
I’m just talking about the kind of work you do just to earn a living. If you love what you do, you’re already winning.
In summary, these are just a few reasons why working 3 days per week may be the optimal solution to reaching FI. There are even some added benefits such as maintaining benefits and friendships through work.
But in the long term, the ultimate achievement is still financial independence through dividend investing.
Although working 3 days per week offers many benefits, it’s not complete independence.
Questions: Would a 3 day schedule work for you? Would it be optimal if it paid enough? Did I miss any reasons why it’s better?
I am not a licensed investment or tax adviser. All opinions are my own. This post contains advertisements by Google Adsense. This post also contains internal links and links to RTC social media accounts.
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