Four Hour Work Week For Meaningful Work?

Does the four hour work week apply to cause-driven work?

It could… but it’d miss the point:

The goal of cause-driven work isn’t to suffer the least amount of pain necessary to get through the week. If doing work that matters is uncomfortable, you have a “why” problem, not a “what” problem. Without a daily commitment to “why” you’ve chosen to make this contribution to the world, you’ll invariably start nitpicking “what” or “how” you’re doing it.


The goal of cause-driven work is to do as much of what matters to you as you can possibly fit into the week. It engages you, it fulfills you, it energizes you. The conventional four-hour premise was predicated upon freeing up time to do what engages you, fulfills you energizes you. When you’re striving to create a lasting contribution, they’re the same thing.

When it comes to doing meaningful work, long-lasting impactful work, work that makes a difference, get your “why” right and do work that engages you, energizes you. That way, forty hours will be the dream, not four.