#35: The 1-Work Week Per Month Lifestyle

I don't have the Try Life On thought process cornered.

There's others out there executing designed lives, picking intentional employment, and building businesses that support their versions of success and life they want, not the status quo default they were told to follow.

The Try Life On Podcast has lots of examples. I interview people about their lives so you can figure out your own. Dig in!!

Sometimes we need people to emulate. One of my favorite Try Life On principles is "Find a 'Who' vs. Thinking about 'What' forever". It's easy to execute when you have a model and case study.

There's other 'Try Life On' stories out there - Find Them!

Not everyone resonates with my story, so find others with approaches more aligned with who you are. I introduce many different styles via the Podcast. Dr. Nona Djavid's approach and story is one that caught my attention.

After 3 years as a full-time Doctor, she realized that 'grind' was not what she wanted out of life. She felt it, motivated, made her move.

1.  Moved from 60+ hours a week to 1 week a month
2. Designed mobility in her life to live between California and Italy
3. Built part-time businesses to support that lifestyle
4. De-emphasized money, re-emphasized time with kids & family
5. Paying it forward teaching others how to design for self

Her story and approach resonates with me so much that we decided to work together to help people. I'll be co-hosting her eLIVate Retreat in New Orleans, Nov 1-3, helping people design life, real time.

I've keyed in on her intention and approach to design life around working one week a month. I love this alternative approach. I asked her to break it down for this newsletter. Her answer is below.

This will help create more ideas for your journey. Listen to Try Life On Podcast Episode 78 for my whole conversation with Dr. Nona. Take time to invest in yourself.

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Key to Unlocking the 1-Week Per Month Lifestyle

The average person spends 71% of their year working. That’s 260 days of clocking in to perform tasks that you may or may not actually want to do. Then there are a select few who decide this much of their life is far too valuable to spend on a job (even if it’s one they love).

The idea that you can create a life that’s filled with more freedom—of time, energy and money—is one that many only fantasize about. But it may just be the rigid expectations of a traditional work calendar (and the thoughts we develop along the way) that keep us clinging to work that overwhelms and burns us out.

That is, until of course, you learn how to manage your newly-found freedom.

The One Week/Month Lifestyle Explained

What I call the "One Week/Month" lifestyle is the ability to build more freedom into your life by working one week a month without decreasing your income. The beauty of this method is that you can customize it to fit your needs.

Business owners and entrepreneurs often fall into the trap of believing they must do it all. Even with the right systems, communication and processes in place, they become stuck working in the business rather than working on it.

Assuming the mechanics of your business operate well, what’s the path to go from overwhelming 40-hour (or more) work weeks to working one week a month? Two actions: Envisioning your next-level lifestyle and regulating your nervous system.

Envision Your Next-Level

It’s impossible to experience all the freedom you want as you currently are. Most business owners and entrepreneurs (my past self included) are chained to certain beliefs around work ethic. We mentally tie ourselves to the belief that someone with a "strong" work ethic is constantly hustling, committing to 60 hours a week and answering emails at 1 a.m.

Your mind will not allow you to experience freedom of time until you de-commit from the belief that the more you work, the more you deserve. The first step toward customizing your One Week/Month lifestyle is getting a clear, detailed vision of what that life looks like in your mind’s eye.

• What days do you want to work?

• What will you do with up to three weeks off each month?

• How will the change in lifestyle impact your family?

Envision your next-level life and write down the intricate details of how it will feel to embody that much freedom. What are the emotions you feel as you take more time to travel, learn a new skill or spend more time with people you love?

Without preparing your mind for the new lifestyle, you will likely default to your hustler mentality. You’ll begin to refill your time with work tasks and obligations.

Similar to how one-third of all lottery winners end up bankrupt within five years because they were not mentally prepared, you’ll fall right back into a 40-plus hour work week.

But when you mentally prepare for the freedom of time, energy and money that comes with the new lifestyle, you’re learning to regulate your nervous system.

Regulate Your Nervous System

Your nervous system is currently wired to remain calm as you slug through 40-hour work weeks. In fact, even a brief moment of not being productive or "busy" can release bouts of anxiety throughout your body.

When you envision leaving the office or closing your laptop at noon and not returning for five, seven or even 10 days, how does your body react? I suspect, much like mine, your body resists the idea of having that much freedom. But the more you sit with the vision of working a couple of days a week and enjoying more time for other passions, the more I find your nervous system accepts the idea.

Then, when you turn that envisioned lifestyle into reality, your body can accept having extended periods of time without working. Both your mind and nervous system are prepared to enjoy working much less without feeling like your worth is depleting.

Concrete Ways to Create it

No matter the industry, this lifestyle can give entrepreneurs a path toward more freedom. That said, your industry may influence how you create your desired lifestyle.

For example, I’ve worked with a number of wellness providers (chiropractors, therapists, dieticians, etc.) who are able to shift their client appointment to Monday or Tuesday each week, creating a 2-day workweek. For those in the service industry, like business consulting or legal work, all client-facing meetings can be scheduled for one week each month.

The key to making this type of lifestyle work for you is answering three questions aimed at reducing work time:

1. What work can be delegated? If you’re showing up to the office (in-person or virtually) to tend to the minute details of the day, determine the best person to take your place. Hand those to-do items off to a trusted team member better fit for the work.

2. What work can be removed? Be honest with yourself. Identify the systems and processes in your work that need to be overhauled. If a more efficient method is available, be willing to step into the discomfort of learning something new to eliminate time from your workweek.

3. What work can be repurposed? For recurring tasks, consider the work—intake forms, client-facing communication, or inventory management—for which you can create scripts or automated systems to reduce time spent per task.

How you answer these questions will be the foundation for customizing your One Week/Month Lifestyle to your personal and business needs.

Rinse and Repeat

Shifting your energetics is the key to creating a One Week/Month lifestyle you want. Continue to envision yourself living the one-week lifestyle.

Detail what you will do with the time and how the change will affect you and your family. The process allows you to evolve into the type of person that’s a match for the lifestyle you want.

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Like I said, I don't have the market cornered. There's other ways of executing lifestyle design that may work better for you. This is just one example.

Hope this helps.

Maurice