Winter Mondays
A new idea to the fix the work week
Good morning, dear reader. I hope this post finds you curled up with a cup of coffee and slowly easing into your day on the first Monday morning after daylight saving has ended.
I used my extra daylight saving time to write this. You can call me Jen Franklin.
Except I just learned that Ben Franklin didn't actually invent daylight saving time. He wrote a satirical essay in 1784 about how to inspire productivity by convincing people to wake up with the sun and then taxing things like shutters and candles to motivate them to use daylight more efficiently. Daylight saving didn’t happen for another 100 years.
Why? Ben Franklin was obsessed with efficiency. How else do you become a politician, entrepreneur, inventor, philosopher and writer? He was the original productivity bro. RIP Benjamin Franklin, you would have loved podcasting.
I have to admit I’m a little bit of a productivity bro. (A productivity ho?)
I like to do stuff. I like to accomplish things. I have a lot of interests. It’s fun, like a game, to fit as many things as possible into a day. Having a baby meant I graduated to a harder level and I still try to keep pace. I sometimes get judged for this or told that I’m buying into some capitalist lie about needing to be productive in order to matter. But you know, guys, I think I just like to make the very most of things and I want to accomplish as much as I possibly can.
Benjamin Franklin woke up in the morning and asked himself, “What good shall I do this day?” and I really try to ask myself the same.
I'm a huge advocate for the four day workweek. It just makes sense for productivity. In the research I’ve done on the topic, as we’ve moved away from manufacturing jobs which our current 9-5/ 5 day workweek was built to support, it actually doesn’t make sense for everybody to work hours that were meant to support recovery from physical labor. We need work weeks and work days that support mental labor.
Here’s one way to ease into it.
Some industries already have Summer Fridays, which make Friday afternoons a non-requirement and allow employees to take advantage of the nice weather. Typically, Fridays are less productive anyway, and instead of having a pizza party, it gives employees a slice of dignity and the ability to enjoy a bit of self determination and fresh air.
So, here’s my pitch.
Winter Mondays. Each year, when Daylight Saving time ends, we acknowledge the changeover from Summer Fridays to Winter Mondays.
In my dreams, Winter Mondays could look like this:
Offices agree not to start meetings until after noon on Mondays, which allows their employees to do youtube yoga videos from home and finally figure out how to properly dispose of the rotting Jack-o’-lantern on their front step. As a result we all have better balance and finally start composting. Eventually this reduces greenhouse gasses and removes carbon from the atmosphere.
Employees aren’t required to ‘check in’ or appear active on Monday mornings, instead they’re encouraged to use that time to ‘check in’ with a neighbor or a loved one who might be lonely. 1 in 2 adults in America report feeling lonely and loneliness increases your risk of developing dementia by 50%. Think about it, do you really need somebody in a Monday ‘stand up’ at 9am, or do they actually need to be an upstanding member of their community? Boom. The loneliness epidemic ends.
Employees are given the option to work remotely on Mondays, since Monday is the day of the week with the most workplace accidents. Statistically, accidents happen within the first 2-4 hours of a shift so also the best way to combat this is to lose those hours completely. This leads to a significant decrease in legal fees, compensation claims, band aid budgets, and higher returns for investors.
75% of US workers report experiencing “Sunday Scaries”. This is a form of anticipatory anxiety that affects their sleep and their performance the rest of the week. Winter Mondays decrease Sunday Scaries by kicking off the week with better sleep hygiene habits. Sleep hygiene has been proven to be just as important to a person’s health as diet and exercise. If your company incentivizes employees to join gyms and other wellness programs to increase retention and productivity, why wouldn’t you also explore the benefits of incentivizing good sleep? Plus, when people sleep more they dream more. And maybe they’ll dream of all the ways they can increase your revenue when they show up bright eyed on Monday at 1pm for a solid afternoon of deep work.
So there it is. Happy first Winter Monday to you and yours. Please share this with your favorite decision maker or somebody who can tell me what to do with this rotting Jack-o’-lantern.