The 10/20/30 Plan

One of the long term impacts of the Coronapocalype will be a reassessment of how committed doctors and other sick care professionals will be to their profession. Some will double down. Others will abbreviate their careers, cut short by economic, social, and professional realities.

Senator Bernie Sanders unveiled legislation to reduce the standard workweek in the United States from 40 hours to 32, without a reduction in pay, saying Americans are working longer hours for less pay despite advances in technology and productivity.

American workers have cut the number of hours they spend in their jobs since 2019, but no group has dialed back its time on the clock more than young, high-earning men whose jobs typically demand long hours.

The law firm?Davis Polk & Wardwell?LLP, whose clients include some of Wall Street’s biggest banks and other companies, has told staffers that those who don’t adhere to the firm’s policy to spend at least their bonuses reduced. The shift reflects a desire among the firm’s leaders to see associates in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, as is currently required.?

Do you want to take a 3 day weekend that isn’t attached to a federal holiday? Take Monday off instead of Friday, suggests Jim Burch, a 38-year-old software engineer in Phoenix and an avid hiker. Taking Fridays off often results in cramming five days of work into four, he points out. The shift reflects a desire among the firm’s leaders to see associates in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, as is currently required.?

Researchers have noted a trend in recent years that physicians in the United States are actually working fewer hours and seeing fewer patients overall. The trend may have some benefits for physicians but could have serious implications for the physician workforce in the future—and the ability of patients to get access to a physician for care.

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A growing body of evidence suggests that reduced-hour work schedules for the same level of pay are not only feasible when it comes to maintaining outcomes but also potentially advantageous when it comes to employee wellbeing and retention. These initiatives only work if companies undertake substantial work redesign to reduce hours while maintaining business outcomes. This means streamlining operations, removing administrative burdens, and prioritizing high-impact work. Another major challenge is ensuring employees accept that you’re asking them to produce the same amount in fewer hours

What's more, the old 9-5 thing, or in the case of many doctors, the 7-7 thing, is over.

What ever happened to Friday?

Four-day work weeks have been given their fair share of experiments around the globe. And although some trials have been deemed an?"overwhelming success,"?the majority of us are still working our 9-to-5 jobs, five days a week ... and then some. But research shows working fewer hours can actually?decrease stress and improve well-being, while maintaining productivity — a potential solution to the burnout workers have been battling over the pandemic.

Thousands of UK workers are starting a?four-day work week?from Monday with no cut to their pay in the largest trial of its kind.

The pilot, which will last for six months, involves 3,300 workers spanning 70 companies, ranging from providers of financial services?to a?fish-and-chip restaurant.

During the program, workers receive 100% of their pay for working only 80% of their usual week, in exchange for promising to maintain 100% of their productivity.

Or how about Friday afternoon off by the pool?

Over the pandemic, many people were inspired to shift their passion projects from side hustles to full-time businesses. But taking that leap is only the first step. Lawyer?Joanne Molinaro?is beginning to embrace the content creator life full time, and her journey has been a learning process of how to balance her personal life with her new brand. She says, “You're not always going to see the same things on each different platform because I know my communities there."

Side gigs and work from home jobs have exploded too. The pandemic has not only cemented working from home on a quasi-permanent basis for many, but it's also boosting the remote paycheck. Remote positions paying $80,000 or more rose to about 15% of all job listings in the U.S. and Canada,?per recent data, compared to 4% in early 2020. Among the industries with the?biggest bump in lucrative remote work?include finance and insurance, legal and accounting, and retail and consumer goods.

Why do we work so much?

Salesforce seems?to think so. The San Francisco-based cloud computing giant this week revealed a new work policy for its 54,000 global employees, including over?9,000 Bay Area workers, giving them three options: flex, fully remote and office-based. Flex will apply to the majority of their workers, meaning coming into the office a few days a week for meetings and such, fully remote will mean never having to come into the office and office-based, is, well, self-explanatory. The company believes that “in our ever-connected world,” employees no longer need to adhere to a strict 8-hour schedule and rather can work around other duties, such as childcare.

COVID-19 now has a face for every medical student - in more than just a Sketchy image - that will be carried throughout their careers and for the rest of their lives. As students and faculty adapt during this pandemic, it will be important to study the extent to which the changes currently being introduced in response to COVID-19 impact medical education overall, as well as medical student career progression, personal health and safety.

Many retired doctors heeded the call to return to practice. But a majority of 120 former?NHS?employees who responded to a Guardian callout were resistant, and in some cases hostile, to the idea. Many respondents said unprompted they did not want to a return to a working environment where they suffered stress, bullying, burnout and even breakdowns.

How do you feel as a pediatrician making $88/hr before taxes and inflation? Or, how about these medical specialties making less than $200/hr. Remember, the average medical student debt is about $200,000 and salary cuts and layoffs are happening. The sickcare bubble has popped.

Here's how to crush your 80 hour work week earning minimum wage.

Doctors, soldiers and entrepreneurs seem to have a warrior mentality that?has a common thread-it?encourages them to suck up and repress feelings of anxiety, inadequacy, or depression, to "fake it till you make it" or to hide things for fear of retribution or adverse consequences.?

We've heard a lot about burnout and, from my perspective, most of the recommendations to identify and treat it usually include ideas about how to take more control of your time and use it for rest/relaxation, exercise, practicing a hobby to spending the time with family, friends or other members of your social network. That is an important step, but the most important cause of physician burnout is a toxic system of systems with a faulty business model that causes moral injury.

Working long hours is bad for your health.?In an analysis of more than half a million men and women from around the world, those who put in long hours at the office were 33% more likely to suffer a stroke than their colleagues who clocked out earlier.

If you are doing more and enjoying it less, maybe you should consider Plan B.?Here an example of what happened to a company that moved to a 5 hour work day.

Millennials are saying "take this job and shove it" embracing the FIRE movement (financial independence and retire early. However, there are several downsides to early retirement. On the other hand, here's how a few have made it work.

Here is how an anesthesiologist and his family made FIRE work for them and helped prepare them for the pandemic,

The biggest labor union in Germany negotiated a big new deal with hundreds of German companies. Workers didn't just get a raise, they also won the option of working just 28 hours a week for up to two years without losing ground in their careers.

Here's what happens when you work a 6 hour work day.

The first step to turning things around is to have a career strategy. Here's what that means and how to plan one.

Hint: Find your ikigai. It's good or your health.

The way we all work is going to change. One of the biggest barriers to employment in the coming years will be the rise of technology. But there is a middle ground to be found, which will end the 9-to-5

One of the biggest questions businesses will face in 2021 is where — and when — employees can work.?Companies may let employees work from home two or more days per week, with some opting for three days in office, two days remote and then two days off — or a so-called 3-2-2 work week — according to?Ashley Whillans, a professor at Harvard Business School. Some employers may even cut down to a four-day work week altogether.?

I'd suggest the 10/20/30 Plan as soon as you can. No, not the one Guy Kawasaki advised when pitching to investors with Powerpoint.

My plan includes:

A 10 month calendar

Lots of teachers and academics use it and you can too. It's called vacation or personal time and every year on July 1 you should plan your calendar for the upcoming year. Don't be one of the 42% of Americans who didn't take a single vacation day last year.?Better yet, give yourself or ask your employer to give you unlimited vacation time.?More companies are offering it because 1) they know most of you won't take it and 2) they are accumulating gads of liabilities on their balance sheets for CEOs who don't take it but get the money and run when they retire or their is a change in control.

In case you have forgotten, here's how to take a 2 week vacation.

Work 20 hours a week

Given the different stages of our careers, your goal is to do this as soon as possible for as long as you want. Be a work contrarian and work 7-9am and 7-9pm when others aren't?around to bug you and you can actually get some things done. Besides, if you are posting things on social media, it's a good time to get a jump on everyone.

Amazon is offering it's employees a 30 hour work week. Take it one step further. How about a 15 hour work week?

If you really want work-life balance, it also helps to spend more time in front of a computer instead of fighting that rush hour traffic and struggling to find a parking space. In fact, why not just replace yourself altogether with a robot and have all the time you like.After all, face time is a fallacy and being perpetrated by your unknowing boss who is following the party line.

Do the math. If you make $250/hour x 80 hours, that equals $20k a month. Since you will working only 10 months, then your yearly income will be $200,000.?Congratulations. You make twice as much as the average American.?Impossible to find that kind of job, you say. Think again and be creative. Remember that 34% of Americans work freelance.

So how do you do this? Try the Pomodoro Technique

Plus, it is no about making money in before tax dollars. Imagine what you can save if you did these 100 things.

Save the 30%

Many doctors, despite the conventional wisdom, have less net worth than their salaries.You won't be one of them because you are saving for your future.?Put aside 30% for taxes after you reserved 30% for debt repayment and pension and nest egg investments and that leaves roughly 200,000-30% for taxes=140,000. Take 30% of that which leaves 140,000-42000=98,000/12=$ 8,166/month. Who knows, throw in an occaisional windfall, side job or inheritance and pretty soon you are in fat city.

FInd a job that is part of the sick care gig economy that lets you work anywhere, anytime as your own boss. Here are some examples

Now comes the hard part. You and your family will have to temper their expectations and moderate your spending. But let's face it. It won't mean you have to live in a mini-house with 400 sq ft. but you won't be living in the "doctor house" on the hill either. That's the good news. Public golf courses aren't so bad?either.

Of course, we can take this even further and you can plan to retire before you are 40.?Then, it's the 10/20/30/40 plan.

Plus, instead of wasting all that time on the newest, shiny apps for that new iPhone, reach out and touch someone.

Another option is to be a digital nomad, working anywhere in the world with a laptop, a cell phone and these apps to help you.?You might start by doing this in your home town as a cheap experiment and then expand your radius of interest.

Simplify, simplify,?simplify and take control of the most important asset you have-your time. You can do more by doing less. Or, you could just take unlimited vacation time. Want less, work less.

There. Now don't you feel better already.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack and Editor of Digital Health Entrepreneurship