Have you even thought much about why the standard work week is 40 hours? In all the years that I was punching a clock I found ways to fill those hours. A lot of that time was filled with chatting with co-workers, email, reading the newspaper or other online news. I also used to drink a ton of coffee and water just so I had a reason to get up and walk around.

What if workers were giving the opportunity to work less hours? I would wager good money that if a worker was asked to produce the same amount of productivity in 30 hours, they could do it. Wouldn’t a great way to entice talented people to work for your company be to pay a typical 40 hour salary for only 30 hours of work. The workers would become more efficient and finish the same or more work in less time. Not only would this make the company a desirable place for talented people to work but it could also save the company money by closing the office one day a week or just less energy bills with people in the building for only 5 or 6 hours at a time.

Not only would a shorter work week be desirable to the individuals (for obvious reasons), the company (for the reasons in the previous paragraph), but it would also be a major improvement for the community that the workers live in. It is well documented that people choose not to volunteer at their child’s school, get involved with charity work, or other community activities because they just don’t have the time. Would an extra 10 hours a week help? I think so.

I imagine a world filled with too many little league baseball coaches instead of such a hard time finding anyone to do it. I envision community gardens filled with people working with their neighbors to feed themselves healthy meals. I believe in lower crime rates, lower teen pregnancy rates, and higher high school graduation rates due to an increase in parent involvement in schools and other activities in their child’s life.

If you think about it, it really is simple. The complex problems in our world are at least partially due to the lack of time and commitment we all have available for ourselves, our families, and our community. I think that freeing up the time we all use slacking and watching the clock tick could be much better used. What could you do with an extra 500 hours each year?

“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”~Carl Sandburg

If that is true shouldn’t we be holding every moment sacred. If we have a fixed amount of time available to us shouldn’t we do everything we can to spend every minute doing the things we love to do. Holding our kids a little longer, spending time on adventures, traveling the world. How can we as human beings rationalize trading our time for money. Sure we need things like food, clothing, and shelter but do we need to continue working for that 3rd car, a speed boat, and the time share condo?

In the book Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle, author David Wann states that 1/3 of all Americans don’t take all of their vacation days. He quotes a study that says in 2006 574 million days of available vacation time were not taken by Americans. 

Is it really possible that we are so into our work that we are willing to give up a day doing something we love, anything at all, even doing nothing so we can get more work done. I think the world would be a better place if we would all just take a moment and relax.

Don’t be a statistic, take some time to yourself. Go for a walk, drive, or just sit and watch the birds. It could do you a world of good.

I enjoyed reading Who Moved My Cheese?, it is a really easy read and not very long. I think I finished it in one evening. But the symbolism in the story struck a chord with my current situation and I really got a chuckle out of how ridiculous it was that I was doing the same thing every day somehow expecting things to be different.

The book is basically about two guys who live in a maze and live off of eating cheese. They discover a large source of cheese and go to it every day. They enjoy the safety of knowing where the cheese is and they don’t have to take chances in the maze looking for other sources of cheese. Over time the cheese becomes moldy and really doesn’t taste as good as it did in the beginning but they continue to go to it everyday. One day the cheese is gone. Afraid to venture into the unknown they complain and fight between each other about where the cheese is. Day after day they continue with the routine of going to the same spot even though the cheese is not there. After some time one of the guys gets up the nerve to go out into the maze searching for more cheese. His friend refuses to go and even tries to talk him out of it telling him how hard it will be. The one who ventures off into the maze discovers that there is a lot of cheese elsewhere and venturing into the maze isn’t as scary or difficult as he thought. Actually he enjoys exploring in the maze and finding new and better sources of cheese.

The guy who ventured off in search of his own cheese stopped and wrote on the walls of the maze along the way. Three notable quotes are “If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct”, “When you move beyond your fear, you feel free”, and “What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?”.

How does your cheese taste? Is it stale or are you still enjoying it like when you first discovered it? What would you do if one day your cheese was gone? Would you complain and blame others or go out searching for your own new and better cheese?

I think this is a powerful story about change, how you foresee change, how you adapt to it, and how you can take life in your own hands. I highly recommend it for a fun short yet inspirational read.

The beauty of a free market system is that anyone can open their own business. They may succeed or they may fail but there is reward for the risk. Just like in Las Vegas, when you take a larger risk you receive a larger reward. That is the whole reason that entrepreneurs take the risk, because they anticipate a huge reward.

If we did not have businesses taking risk each day we would have no innovation. It is the innovation of businesses that has given us all of the technological advances that we enjoy each day. If nobody was willing to take risk then we would have no new products, no new businesses, and no advances in current business practices.

It seems to me that small business is the backbone of our economy. Small business creates jobs and creates innovation. If you consider all of the mass layoffs by major corporation, you could say that small businesses have created 100% of all job growth in the last two years. Small business is putting people to work and deserves more respect for what it has done to keep the economy rolling.

Now lets talk about those too big to fail. The companies that were declared too big to fail were huge banks and huge auto manufacturers. The banks caused the problem to begin with by taking on unnecessary risk in the form of bad loans. These banks are also guilty of making credit too easy which let some small businesses bite off more than they could chew which ultimately led to their failure. The auto manufacturers are in trouble because they haven’t been making a product that people want to buy. Foreign auto makers are making better quality cars with better gas mileage. The American auto makers would not have had a problem if they had been manufacturing a product that people wanted to buy.

If you declare a company “Too Big to Fail” then there is no reason for them to consider risks and make calculated decisions. The banks can continue making bad loans and over paying executives and the suto makers can make clunkers. They have nothing to lose.

So what does that say to you and me. We need to calculate the risk involved before we get into business and make wise business decisions (until we grow large enough where we can just do whatever we want).

I don’t know about you, but I have decided to be a part of the solution not the problem. Calculating risk and growing a small business is the most rewarding thing you will ever do.

For 7 years I shaved every weekday and kept my hair well groomed. I accepted that I was going to keep my appearance acceptable to the bank and my client’s standards. I climbed up in the bank quickly and I felt that as a 32 year old Vice President I should try and portray that I was mature and conservative to fit the mold.

Now of course I still had an IPod in my office where I listened to the Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, and even the Beastie Boys. I also was easy to find at chamber of commerce networking events because I was always near the bar. But I always felt strange telling my coworkers that I was going to music festivals on the weekend. Sometimes I just said I was camping because it was easier to explain.

Now that I have moved on to live my own life, I started growing my hair long and started growing a beard. It wasn’t really a conscious decision, it just feels right to me. I’m wearing comfortable clothes and having a shaggier appearance. I caught my reflection in a window today when I was running an errand and I thought to myself, “Dang, I look a lot younger than I used to”. This made me feel good. I was finally acting my age and being myself.

Then something horible happened while I was brushing my teeth. I looked closer in the mirror and noticed the hair growing on my face had many grey hairs in it. Seriously, grey hair after grey hair growing out of my chin. I didn’t look younger. Damn, I actually looked much older.

In all honesty it doesn’t really matter to me because I am very happy to be who I am and looking old or young is not important to me. But it is very symbolic about the time that I lost. While I was playing by somebody else’s rules, my life was passing by. That is time I will never get back. There is nothing I can do about the 7 years of my life that were spent living someone else’s dream.

My life wasn’t just on pause while I was doing what I thought I needed to do. My life was passing me by. All I can say is that I am very thankful that I woke up and took control of my life before any more time passed. I would hate to play by someone else’s rules my entire life then retire at 65 with arthritis, a sore back, and poor eye sight. How devistating to realize that the best years of your life were sold to the corporation with the hope that you would someday retire. Then when you do retire you are too old to do the things you truly enjoy.

Don’t let this happen to you. Start living your own life.

How do you know if you should continue climbing the ladder in your current industry?

• Do you enjoy the work you do on a day to day basis?
• Are you passionate about the work you do?
• Does the work you are striving to do provide the emotional and financial needs of you and your family?
• Can you see yourself doing this work in 15 or 20 years?

I recently left the banking industry because I did not enjoy the work I did, was not passionate about it, and could not see myself doing it for 15 more years. For me the big one was the long term committment. From day one I couldn’t believe I was a banker. I had a perception of what bankers are like and I did not fit that mold.

I played the game to get by and started climbing that ladder. I reached Vice President and looked around at the other Vice Presidents and higher. They weren’t like me. Don’t get me wrong, these men and women are very intelligent and good at what they do, but they weren’t who I wanted to be. I had no one to look up too because I couldn’t stand the thought that I was going to be like them.

Look around your workplace and see who you would like to be. I’m not talking specifics. Of course you would be different because you are you, but in general that person holds their position because they fit what the company was looking for. Can you or would you like to fit that mold?

The other night I was flipping through TV channels looking for something my kids could watch before bed. We try not to watch a lot of television but occasionally we will watch a show before bed for something special. I came across Hanna Barbera’s The Jetson’s. This is a show I watched as a child and I enjoyed sharing it with my kids.

The Jetson's

The Jetson’s was created in the early 1960’s and is about a family in the future. The technology that the shows creators imagined was truly amazing. The flat screen TVs and video phones are things we can do today while the technology of flying cars is still a ways out. But what I got the most kick out of was the view of George Jetson’s workplace. George just sits in front of a huge computer and pushes 2 or 3 buttons continually much like his recent counterpart, Homer Simpson.

The creators of the show expected people of the future to be running computers the size of a room with very mundane tasks. Instead, computers are quite small but very powerful and well connected. There would be no need for George to commute to work when he could just log in at home. This is obviously a change that was not expected.

My point is that the workplace has change drastically over the years. The opportunity to work in a way more suitable to you is available. Don’t continue a path that is making you unhappy. If you can do your job from home, ask your boss for a change. If you can’t, consider other options that may give you the flexibility that you desire.

The corporate world should be about adaption and innovation. If you are in a rut innovate. Don’t just follow a work plan established many years ago, take charge of your work life.

For over 7 years I worked a steady 40 hour per week job. I worked 8 to 5 with a one hour lunch 5 days a week. Have you ever stopped to think about why you are working such hours?

Before the industrial revolution most work was seasonal based on agriculture. People worked very long days when there was work to do but did very little work in the off season. This allowed them to fill their time with hobbies and activities that they enjoyed.

The industrial revolution gave workers the ability to work steady hours year round. Luckily unions and collective bargaining lowered the work week to 8 hours from a typical work day of 12 to 16 hours. One of the most successful business men of all time, Henry Ford, actual was a proponent for shorter days. Ford knew that the workers were also consumers so he wanted his employees to have free time in which they could discover the need for consumer products.

Typical work weeks around the world vary from country to country. In the last decade or so France lowered its work week to 35 hours. Australians also average only 36 hours per week.

I am not promoting less work. I actually enjoying working and typically work more than 40 hours per week. However, I do think each person should think about how they work best. Some people are morning people and others night owls. Maybe we shouldn’t all try to work the same hours.

Since I left the corporate world I have been spliting my hours throughout the day when it seems to make sense. Most mornings I wake up and work a couple hours then stop and take a hike, go for a run, or take my daughter to the park. Then I work for another couple hours. Then I spend time with the family, eat dinner, and put the kids to beds. Sometimes I work a little more late at night, just before bed.

Some would say it sounds like I am working all day. But actually, I am enjoying myself, have plenty of time for exercise and personal activities, and can run errands whenever I choose. The freedom to set my day as I choose brings me a great deal of happiness and like the agricultural workers from before the industrial revolution, I can make the time to work when there is work to do.

It just seems to me that we would all be better off if we worked at times that made the most sense to us individually. Like Mark Twain says, we should question what we are doing whenever we are doing what everyone else is doing. I know my life is better since I took control of my own time.

I walked out of the bank, hopped into my car and drove straight to J.C Penny’s to buy another collared shirt.

The next day I filled out all of my paperwork and was told I could start on Monday. I said “Thank you”, walked out the door and drove straight to J.C. Penny to buy enough shirts to get me through the first week.

It wasn’t until many years later that i read Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden and read the quote “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes”, I now know exactly what he meant.

Over the next seven years my closet has become full of these ‘nice’ clothes. I have tons of short sleeve and long sleeve dress shirts, dress pants, a suit coat, and a handful of ties. I can’t picture myself wearing any of it. It just isn’t me, but somehow I’ve been wearing these clothes for years five days a week with a smile on my face. I might as well of had a wig and a clown nose because for me this costume was such an odd requirement for what I was required to do.

Many banks allow their employees to dress down on Fridays and wear jeans. As a 33 year old Vice President this is actually quite a dilemma. The jeans that I would wear on a Saturday night are faded and baggy. They don’t scream professional. I do have a pair of jeans that my wife makes fun of. She calls them my ’banker jeans’. She teases me when I wear them and I know she is right. They just aren’t me. They are part of the act.

Thoreau makes a great point. If you have to disguise who you really are to take part in an activity or a job, you are not going to be happy. Life is short. We need to enjoy it and to be who each one of us is as an individual. Follow your dreams and let your freak flag fly.