Largest ever 4-day work week experiment taking place in UK. Can indie hackers succeed with a 4-day week?
https://www.sciencealert.com/huge-4-day-work-week-experiment-begins-in-the-uk-the-largest-ever-conducted
If you're balancing full-time work and a side-project, this is good news.
But what I'm really curious to hear is this: Is it possible for full-time indie hackers succeed with 4-day work weeks?
Meanwhile, Musk is doubling down on 5-day, in-office work weeks. 😑
It is most definitely possible to succeed with less than 4 days of work per week as an indie hacker, e.g. if your product is in the passive income niche, which is the case for me. I have been working part time alongside my day job on this project for the past 4 years and the intriguing aspect has always been that I can spend as much or as little time on it as I like and I can tell you it fluctuates dramatically.
It also depends on how you define success. My project is generating significant passive income that is putting me on the edge of cancelling my day job. However, given that I do not absolutely need to spend significant hours on my project, I am not convinced it is a good idea. Anyway, for me it is quite clearly a success.
I moved from full-time to part-time (10-15 hours/wk) 5 years ago so I could build a business and I'm STILL struggling! So no, for many it will not be nearly enough.
I really do wish I had saved up enough to quit outright for a year or two. I would have been far more productive without any other work distractions.
It doesn't sound that good. It's still full-time hours. 4 days @ 8.75 hours a day?
I think one of the best things IndieHackers can do if they can't quit their job is move to part-time, 25 hours or fewer. Course, not everyone has that luxury, but some do! I had to sacrifice a lot of things to get there.
Yeah, moving to part-time is a really solid option.
And good point - 35 hours really a 4 day workweek? that's like a 4.5 day workweek.
From my own observation, I found that the more time I spend on recovery, the more productive I am.
So this makes sense, but it doesn't ask the right question. I think the right question to ask is:
How do you "optimize" recovery so it gives you more leeway into being more productive?
So how do you optimize recovery?
No. Indie hackers cannot. UNLESS they're experienced or have a stable, profitable product.
In general I'm for fewer work days for full-time employees.
I want to believe that it's possible. People keep telling me that success take 50-80 hours/wk. I reject that, and I think those people need to re-evaluate "success". But I don't know of anyone who's doing it on 32 hours, so you might be right.
I feel you. I think it is possible but not while trying to learn how to build and attract.
For me this is part of the end game. 2-4hr work days. Satisfied customers. Sick automated processes. Small and beautiful.
I think so, yeah. From what I've learned, whatever needs to get done will get done, whether you've got 4 days or 5 days. We're like gold fish.
And yeah, having a 4-day work week with my day job would be huge for my product — a whole extra day to work on it. Man, I hope this takes off.