Why Fridays off?
Wait, wait, it doesn’t mean what you think it means. It doesn’t mean you’re going to do nothing and lie around on the couch. It means “not dealing with the usual work stuff” and focusing on yourself.
I’ve been practicing the principle of free Fridays for several years now. I’ve taught it to many friends, and they can’t praise it enough. I also call it the mini-retirement principle. A mini retirement is taking your retirement (i.e., time off) from a young age. I didn’t start until I was 40, but better late than never. You see the benefits immediately. Friday is a day just for me. I plan everything that falls into the category of “investing in myself” for that day.
What Is Mini-Retirement and the Free Friday Principle?
What is all this? Education, such as my video courses or reading professional literature. It is definitely not reading posts on social media. These are at least hour-long blocks when I train myself to immerse myself deeply in something that helps and develops me.
For years, I went to my friend’s house on Friday mornings for German lessons. Then I went to practice golf or continued with a video course. I often included reading a book, always a professional one. I also regularly go for a massage on Friday afternoons. After the massage, I have a block of two hours when I work on the company (note: NOT at the company!).
What does this mean for me? I don’t deal with operational tasks, but I think about where we will take our business and what we will be doing in a few years. It’s quite time-consuming, I have to study new areas and estimate how much time I can devote to studying so that I can stop in time and discard it if I don’t see the potential I had previously dreamed of.
Mini-Retirement as a Productivity Strategy
The most valuable thing outside of family and health is time, which I value greatly and cannot waste. I thought I would miss Fridays in my tasks, at work. I don’t miss them; I push myself to get everything done in four days a week. No one else will do the work for me, so I push myself to be more efficient. I minimize downtime and don’t procrastinate. Mini retirement is also about increasing my own efficiency. btw ChatGPT, with whom I often brainstorm, said that I am too performance-oriented and too pragmatic. Well, yes, when I discuss pragmatic areas with him.
The Psychological and Social Benefits of Mini-Retirement
Mini retirement also has a social effect. I’m sure you’ll agree that when you start talking to someone about what you’ve discovered, what you’ve read and studied, you always have something to discuss. People want to talk to people who bring up new topics. People don’t want to hear about how tired you are, how you don’t have time for anything. They know that already. People want inspiration, new thoughts, new ideas. Something that will pull them out of their gray and tiresome lives and transport them into a dream world.
I truly enjoy talking to people about their dreams. Their ambitions genuinely interest me, and I encourage them to dream bigger. Watching them light up when they allow themselves to be carried away by imagination is powerful. That spark of energy feels contagious.
Mini-retirement is not just about dreaming, but about realizing your dreams. I don’t wait “until someday,” until everything is done or until the perfect moment comes. It will never be done, because we still have a lot ahead of us.
Inspired by Tim Ferriss
I was inspired to create mini-retirement by Tim Ferriss and his book “The 4-Hour Workweek.” You will find many other principles there that will help you.
What is the result of mini retirement? I am advancing professionally, I am rested for the weekend, when I want to devote myself to my family, friends, and hobbies. At the same time, I feel good that I am not running the rat race and that life is not slipping through my fingers. I am simply living life to the fullest.
