Introduction
To close this introduction, it's important to address a central idea: working less does not necessarily mean reducing your hours. It can also mean feeling like you work less.
That nuance matters, because our relationship with time is not purely objective.
Objective time and subjective time
There are two ways to think about time.
Objective time is physical time, the one you measure with a clock or a watch.
Subjective time is how time is perceived by your consciousness, and it does not flow at the same speed.
You've experienced this: time passes much faster when you're doing something you enjoy. On the other hand, an unpleasant activity can make minutes feel endless. Time contracts or expands depending on what you're doing.
That difference has very concrete consequences at work.
Working a lot is not always a problem
In some periods of life, you may work intensely on a project that you love. Evenings, weekends, long days: when the activity is stimulating and chosen, it usually isn't a problem. In those moments, you don't really experience the effort as "work."
The real issue shows up when you have to do tasks you don't want to do.
Make time feel like it goes faster
When a task isn't motivating, the goal is not only to finish it faster, but also to change your perception of time. In other words, you want to gently trick your brain into feeling like time moves faster.
There are several levers for that.
The first is building a pleasant work environment. A clean desk, good coffee, music you like, or changing locations when working from home can make a session feel lighter. These small adjustments directly influence your perception of time, as you can see in setting the right conditions.
The second lever is group work. We are social beings: working with colleagues or friends you like can transform a constrained task into something stimulating. Simply sharing a goal and a friendly context changes the experience deeply.
Productivity as a source of enjoyment
The third lever, and probably the most important, is productivity itself. Contrary to a common belief, productivity isn't only about working faster. It can also become a source of satisfaction.
When you're well organized, priorities are clear, and you know why you're working on something specific, work becomes smoother. Good work organization reduces useless friction and prevents the feeling of constant scattering, for example with the compass system.
In the same way, improving your ability to focus reduces interruptions and makes it easier to enter deep focus, which is often associated with real intellectual pleasure, as explained in create your focus bubble.
Working efficiently feels good because you know your time is well used.
Change your relationship with work
It's time to drop the idea that work must be suffering. That belief is culturally ingrained, but it's not inevitable.
Of course, nobody can turn every minute of work into pure passion. A job that is thrilling at every moment is rare. But it's often possible to change your mindset, adjust your environment and methods, and find enjoyment even in tasks that felt tedious at first.
Work takes up a large part of life. You might as well try to have a good time while you're there.