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Make an introvert happy

Peonies and the prospect of a 21 hour work week

That’s what’s a pleasure for me at the moment, my introvert self is particularly keen on this prospect.

The New Economics Foundation are proposing a 21 hour work week. Maybe working towards it over a decade

They aim for ‘economics as if people and the planet mattered’

What do you think?

How many hours would you like to work per week?

I’d like to see how that could work. In reality.

And sooner than ten years would be good for me.

I’m currently contemplating the amount of time I need to spend marketing; tweeting, facebooking, Linked Ining etc etc etc that will be necessary for my work, to spread the word sufficiently.

My introverted self, for whom I have the greatest respect and empathy, is already whimpering and quivering in a corner at just the prospect of it.

And then I got wind of the 21 hour work week proposition. That prospect makes her eyes wide with anticipated pleasure.

She looks at me in earnest, imploring me to make it happen. To take it seriously, to not stop till we get there.

I haven’t promised anything yet.

But oh how I want to.

It’s not just me I’m thinking of, but all those who are massively overworked and making themselves ill.

And all those unemployed, underworked, depressed and dispirited.

This could provide the mechanics to make David Whyte’s tantalising suggestion work. The suggestion he makes in his book, The Three Marriages, that work life balance is not what we should be aiming for.

That we shouldn’t try to balance, but to to integrate our 3 marriages; to work, to a partner/home and to our self.

Putting aside the money for now, how many hours a week would you like to work?

Four hours a day, five days a week would work well for me.

Writing for a couple of hours, coaching for another couple, then reading, painting, cooking, domestics and seeing friends in a relaxed way for the rest of the day.

I can almost feel the ease. No rushing. No more a sense of being behind and needing to catch up with the list of what needs to be done.

My introverted self breathes a huge sigh of relief and begs me to make it happen.

I’d love to hear what you think.

What your ideal number of hours would be. How you’d configure them.

How it could work for you.

And if you get that far, what would need to happen for it to work economically for you.