A haunting statistic

Typically that feeling doesn’t finish while you graduate. For a lot of, life post-college means the standard 9-to-5 grind, the place all many people stay up for is the weekend. 

And for a lot of, even a weekend is a privilege. In 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics discovered that 27% of single job holders and 58% of a number of job holders labored on the weekends. 

Whereas lots of that may be attributed to the kind of job (meals service, retail, and many others.), further reporting from the Nationwide Bureau of Financial Analysis discovered that People are likely to work longer weeks and extra weekends basically than different developed nations.

Take into consideration that. Many U.S. job holders don’t even take a full weekend. 

This isn’t to tut-tut at anybody who works like this. Taking break day is a privilege. All of us have our personal monetary conditions, and generally it’s essential to do it in an effort to get by. Typically you simply like doing it. 

However at IWT, we needed to deconstruct the thought of “working for the weekend” and see if we might design a distinct type of workweek, one that provides us extra focus after we are at work and extra relaxation exterior of it.

How IWT spends its time without work

At IWT, we’ve been speaking about freedom for over 15 years, like beginning a enterprise that means that you can set your personal schedule, touchdown a dream job that provides you autonomy and suppleness, and getting your funds so as with the intention to reside life precisely that means you need.

In some ways, the 4DWW is an extension of those values. 

All through the Problem, the group has been asking ourselves, “What’s our Wealthy Life? What do we would like our best day or week to seem like? And might a 4DWW assist us get there?” 

In different phrases, we’ve been embracing intentionality. That’s what the 4DWW Problem is about. We wish to see how we will be intentional about the best way we work—and the best way we relaxation.

That’s why I wish to share a number of the ways in which a number of IWT workers have been spending their time on their days off. 

One factor you’ll discover: We’re as intentional with our time without work as we’re with how we work. IWT workers are extremely pushed, in any case. We all know that after we wish to get one thing carried out, we have to really contemplate the perfect methods to go about it earlier than we even take the primary steps.

Even the methods we spend our weekends.

“The additional time to hang around collectively has been superb” 

“If you happen to’re acquainted with Chicago site visitors, you understand what a nightmare it’s to go anyplace on a weekend. I exploit my further weekend day to run errands whereas most individuals are working. It makes getting across the metropolis simpler and it often means the grocery shops, and many others., are a lot much less crowded. 

“Coincidentally, my sister can be off on Fridays now and we’ve been doing issues collectively, which has been lots of enjoyable. Purchasing, pedicures, lunch. The additional time to hang around collectively has been superb. 

“I’m additionally at present recovering from surgical procedure and was in a position to schedule my physician appointments on Fridays. That’s been extraordinarily useful as a result of I don’t have to fret about juggling my schedule to suit appointments in throughout work hours (that all the time stresses me out).”–Jessica Rossetti, Pupil Success Specialist

“My son and I’ve turn out to be nearer than we ever have been”

“The 4DWW that we’ve been testing out this summer time has been priceless to me.

“Since being identified with most cancers earlier this 12 months, and going via surgical procedure to have it eliminated, I’ve a wholly new outlook on life. I notice that each minute counts and I attempt to spend as a lot of them as I can with my household.

“I exploit the additional time without work every week to spend with my son, one-on-one, simply the 2 of us. Because it is sort of a ‘bonus day,’ I by no means really feel responsible as if I’m utilizing up my PTO or shedding pay to spend the day on actions that to some appear frivolous. 

“The truth that I can spend a whole day with my son doing every thing from swimming, going to the flicks, procuring, or having considered one of our random ‘Left, Proper, Heart’ days has been one thing that I wouldn’t commerce for the world.  

“My son and I’ve turn out to be nearer than we ever have been and discovered a lot extra about one another than we ever would have with out nowadays spent collectively.

“My further day is spent making reminiscences!”

–Rosanna Armbrust, Senior Pupil Success Specialist