3 Steps to Quit Your 120-Hour Workweek
The American standard is a 40-hour workweek.
Then, thanks to Tim Ferris, there’s the bold 4-hour workweek.
But what about the 120-hour workweek?
(No, not the 120-hour workweek claimed by Elon Musk.)
Something a little different…
The 120-Hour Workweek
There are 5 days in the typical workweek.
That’s 120 hours.
When you let work creep outside of your standard 9-5 schedule, you may inadvertently be working a 120-hour week.
These hours may not look like answering emails, creating PowerPoints, or attending yet another meeting.
These “working” hours are the anxiety-filled hours that follow you to dinner.
The hours you spend laying in bed convincing yourself that you didn’t do enough that day.
The hours spent waking up in a cold sweat, dreading whatever the day might hold.
This 120-hour workweek is a Monday through Friday spent constantly thinking and stressing about your workload. And this is just if you’re one of the lucky ones not letting the week expand further into your weekends.
If you’re ready to get control of your work life, so you can start having a life, here are 3 steps to slash your 120-hours.
Step 1: Believe Less is More
So you have an overworking problem.
You feel unbalanced.
Your work life is creeping into most of your waking moments more than you would like.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
When the workload is piling high, it can often feel like the only solution is to work more hours to get more done. It can feel like “getting more done” is the only path to career success.
However, a Stanford University study found that productivity per hour declines drastically when a person works more than 50 hours per week. After 55 hours, productivity drops so much that throwing more hours at the week is pointless. The study claims those who work up to 70 hours a week are getting the same amount of work done as those who put in 55 hours or less.
Less is more.
The first step to take control of your workweek is to let this belief sink in.
Allow yourself to truly believe that all of the extra hours of overtime may not be necessary. They may, in fact, be sloppy efforts that aren’t contributing to any level of increased output.
This step is the most difficult.
You’ve had a constant soundtrack disguised as stress and overwhelm following you around for years, convincing you these extra hours are necessary. Convincing you there is no alternative.
You can start to shift your brain to this new belief by asking yourself better questions. For example:
If I had to get this all done in 40 hours this week, how could I make it happen?
What am I spending my time on that might not be necessary?
How are other people who don’t have an overworking problem managing to get everything done?
Are there tasks I do regularly that I could make more efficient?
What types of activities throw me off of my plans and how can I approach them differently?
Start to question your old beliefs of what your workweek has to look like and you’ll start to find a new way to view the week.
Step 2: Apply Fixed-Schedule Productivity
The boundaries between work and home have blurred.
New technology made it easier to do your work from anywhere, allowing for constant connection via email and smartphones. Some countries have even gone so far as to put laws in place to help protect employees from overworking due to this increased connectivity.
In 2017, France enacted the “right to disconnect” law that grants employees the freedom to ignore work-related communications outside of designated working hours. The goal of the law is to promote a healthier work-life balance, reduce stress, and prevent burnout by ensuring employees have uninterrupted leisure time.
The work-from-home after-effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have blurred the boundaries even further.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I think there is real value in being able to perform work from the comfort of your home as part of your journey to “balance”. Reduced commuting time. Switching a load of laundry between meetings to reduce chore time from your evenings and weekends. Not having to put on real pants (maybe not a time saver, but I’ll argue comfort has some positive effects on productivity….)
But the ease of jumping between work and personal life can cause major guilt when you strive to not have your face buried in your laptop at all times.
The trick is to set clear boundaries on how many hours of your life you are willing to devote to your workweek.
Enter Fixed-Schedule Productivity.
I read about this concept in Cal Newport’s book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.
Newport explains Fixed-Schedule Productivity as setting a fixed schedule for the hours you will spend working. This approach helps you maximize your productivity by creating a higher level of focused concentration and output. In other words, you’ll be less sloppy when you give yourself a clear time limit to meet your goals.
The system works like this:
Choose the number of hours you are willing to give to your work that you think provides the ideal balance of effort and relaxation.
Do whatever it takes to avoid violating this schedule.
Your working hours may still feel a little more chaotic than you would like. But with this step, they are contained.
With this approach, you will start to understand that the answer to your heavy workload is not more hours. The answer is better hours.
Step 3: Organize Your Day
Containing your working hours can feel scary at first.
You worry you’ll drop the ball, let someone down, or miss something important that will lead to your inevitable firing.
So the contained hours may be filled with your default busy habits. Answering emails as soon as they come in. Jumping between IMs like an expert trapeze artist. Attending every meeting that lands on your calendar without questioning if your attendance is imperative.
You may not even recognize this as chaos at first. Instead, it may seem like evidence that you’re doing your job well. Everyone can clearly see that. Just look at how busy you are!
But the final step to freeing yourself from the 120-hour workweek is to organize those working hours.
Replace the busyness and the chaos with less distraction and an intentional plan.
Your renewed plan for your workday should follow these rules.
#1 Don’t schedule 100% of your time
Our brains need a break. And it’s impossible to predict every little thing that might land on your plate as the day progresses.
Allow for white space and margins throughout the day for a quick brain recharge and to address these unexpected projects. This could look like space between meetings to get up from your desk before going heads down on your next task. Or unscheduled space on your calendar to fit in the last-minute request you just received. All within the boundaries of your chosen fixed schedule.
#2 Set times to be inaccessible
Stop jumping to emails and IMs immediately. Strategically set times throughout the day when you will be inaccessible so you can do the work.
“People will respect your right to become inaccessible if these periods of time are well defined and well advertised. And outside these stretches, you’re once again easy to find.”
- Cal Newport, Deep Work
#3 Stop overcommitting
It may be very common these days for departments to be understaffed. This is a reality many of us have to face and work around. But the solution to that company problem is not for you to work more hours.
Don’t overcommit to do more than you can reasonably complete within your fixed schedule. Save your “yesses” for the important projects that will provide the most value. Then communicate a deadline that you can achieve.
#4 Create a plan for your workload
A chaotic workday is often caused by telling yourself you’ll get something done but with no idea of when or how. You wing it. So when any other project or priority comes across your radar, you jump to it and easily lose track of whatever else you were hoping to accomplish for the week.
Instead, decide on a system for planning your weeks and implement it. This will help you get aligned on your priorities, be realistic about what you can, and want to, accomplish, and create the organized day that results in the peace you crave.
Conclusion
A full life is a balance.
It is a mixture of a fulfilling career, loving relationships, and miscellaneous adventures found in your chosen hobbies and activities.
So often we find ourselves out of sync with this balance. Consumed by the chaos of one area of life that throws off the rest.
We can slip into a 120-hour workweek that feels beyond our control – a heavy weight we must bear.
But with a little belief, some fixed-schedule planning, and a bit of organization, you can be well on your way to a schedule and life by your own design.
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About Me
Hi, I’m Kara. I’m a former workaholic turned time-management expert. I help women stressed out in their 9-5 get more done, in less time, so they can get back in the driver’s seat and start living a life they love.
