My Random Manifesto

I’m going to get called on it so I may as well admit that sleep is not overrated. I’ve tried my best to improve in that department, and I’m getting there. Despite the shadows under the eyes, I’ve made a conscious effort to improve in 2015, and I’ll keep that going in 2016 too. Heck, even my fav German told me the very same last time we hung out and I never thought I’d hear that!

So I’ll compromise with you. Yes you! In return for me getting earlier nights, how about we add an extra day in the week? Or how would you feel if there were 26 hours in the day rather than 24? The logic sounds genius…….it would take a little longer between birthdays at the very least. But fundamentally, you’d feel the same, and age the same.

Well let’s be a little more creative and switch the working week up if we only have 7 days and 24 hours to play with. If I was Prime Minister, President or King (God help you us all), I’d be advocating a 4 and 3 formation. For once, I ain’t rambling about NFL defensive formations, I’m promoting the 3-day weekend. We work an extra 2 hours Monday to Thursday, and then that Friday feeling ramps up a notch knowing the weekend has actually started the evening before and not at 5pm on Friday.

An alternative to my logic is almost the exact opposite in fact. That Mon-Fri remains but the working day is cut to 6 hours. This is being applied in Sweden (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34677949) and I can see the logic behind it. Think about it – you go to school for around 13, 16 or 17 years in my case, and you have regular breaks during the day. Milk at 10.45am, Lunch at 12.30pm and then afternoon break at 2.15pm. It actually gets worse when you go to university and have 15-20 hours of lectures per week and numerous breaks during each day. Then, all of sudden, you step into the world of work, and they expect you to have an hour at lunch, but work solidly without a pause for four hours non-stop. I’ll argue there’s not a human around that was built to concentrate 100% for four hours non-stop. How unreasonable! Sounds like a good reason to start smoking to me. Alternatively, cut the hours and lunch down, and I’ll say productivity would increase massively (although as with every rule, it probably depends on the person).

So there you have it, my manifesto. The manifesto is all about just loving and enjoying life. If you’re reading this, you’re vaguely communicated to the outside world (and granted, slightly strange, related to me, or stalking me) so you’ll have heard all about Paris on Friday night. Sleep may not be overrated, but if you’re wasting time or being inefficient on some trivial matter, or not fully making the most of life, that’s as stark a reminder as there ever is, to just bloody go for it. Refining the way you work or spend some of your hours is a start!