2 Day Workweek – Entrepreneurs Weekly Schedule (Summer 2020)

Summer (especially in Canada) is short! So how do I optimize my schedule to maximize summer family fun while pushing the business forward? 

For entrepreneurs who have the ability to modify their schedule how do you optimize summer while still pushing the business forward?

Assuming my kids will be less interested in hanging out with me by the time they are ~15 (optimistic) given my low level of coolness I am 50% done the summers I get with my oldest. 

Maximizing summer family fun is definitely a priority. 

This post looks at some past attempts and the structure I have for this unique COVID-19 summer. 

However, despite me wanting to maximize summer I also want to make sure the businesses get pushed forward!

Past Summer Schedule:

4 Day Work Week + 2 Weeks Off

This has been my attempt in the past couple of summers to maximize family time while still making sure everything needed gets done for the business. 

The Good:

• Predictable schedule – Allowed for a weekend quality outing planned for each nice day. With me getting home at 3:30sh we were able to go do a hike, paddle, beach afternoon etc. 
• Lots of Flexibility for My Activities (biking) – The dedicated Friday allowed me to go for a big bike ride and each day I could squeeze in a ride if I wanted.  

The Bad:

• Didn’t Push Things Forward – Because of the shorter days and short weeks I never felt like I was on top of things and able to make a meaningful push on any project. It was a lost couple months of me advancing anything just treading water. 
• Didn’t Build Grit – Generally, it was a very soft schedule that never really built entrepreneurship grit. 

This Summers Schedule:

This summer I am trying a more extreme schedule to try and deal with the major downsides of the last schedule specifically no growth time to push a new project forward and no grit building. While increasing the amount of time we can spend at the cottage.

2 Work all Day Days, 5 Stay on Top of Email Days

Now my schedule has 2 days where I work from 8am to 11pm at the office and then the other 5 days I work 1-2hrs just staying on top of email. 

Total hours is still near full time at 40hrs/wk but highly concentrated making every weekend a VERY LONG 5 day weekend.

The Good:

• Builds grit… 2 hard days where I set big goals for what needs to get accomplished and limited ability to recover if I have a down day pushes me to be productive. This should have me coming out of the summer more ready to tackle the biggest growth time for my businesses (fall). 
• Big Family Time… 5 day weekends provide the ability for lots of extended cottage time and canoe trips etc. 
• Growth Work, not Just Maintenance – From a work perspective, I can get a LOT of growth work done since it doesn’t take me long to catch up, and then I have a lot of hours for new work in those 2 days. 

The Bad – Not sure yet but could be…

• No recovery days – if I have an unproductive day 50% of my week would be shot. 
• Slow Cycle Time – If an opportunity comes up that I need to push along it may sit for too long, the cycle time on my communication or pushing of a project might be too slow. 
• Frequency of Adventures – I could miss a fun adventure… today the kids and my wife are body surfing a section of a river around here, last summer I would have gone with them, this year I am doing one of my work all day days so nothing but work for me.
• Fitness – Each day I had a window of time for me to get out and go for a bike ride or go to the gym. Now my work all day days are dedicated to work and the 5 days  

Visually what does this look like…

I am interested in hearing other peoples schedules… what do you do?