The 8-8-8 principle

There are very few unicorn people that have found an ideal balance between work and life. It’s a magical experience between what we want to do and what we have to do. We all go through it. For most, it starts with the belief in the 8-hour work week. But the 8-hour work week is arbitrary.

A little history lesson: the industrial revolution accelerated a boom in factory life and changed humanity. This led to 14-16 hour workdays, including child labor. Fun! It wasn’t until the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1937 was passed as part of the New Deal that the 8-hour workweek was codified into law in the States. During that time, people were protesting to even have 10-hour days! Who knew it was so relatively recent?

Thankfully, the technological age has afforded us balance and perspective in ways we couldn’t have imagined when our work choices were much fewer and less protected. So how can we leverage this 8-hour work day we all know?

One idea I’ve found interesting is applying the 8-8-8 rule. For my overachiever, entrepreneur life, this has been incredibly impactful. The premise is 8 hours of work, 8 hours of sleep, and 8 hours of me. So what does this look like in practice?

8 hours of work

When creating my weekly schedule, I start by placing in my work hours. My workday begins at 10:30a and ends with my last client at 7:30p. This is actually 9 hours (and I’m sure many of you can relate to what feels like a 9-hour day), but I take a full hour for lunch each day. Without judgement, I spend that lunchtime on me, doing whatever I’d like to do.

8 hours of sleep

I next put in my sleep time. Each night, I aim for bed at 10:30p with a wake-up time of 7:30a. Another 9 hours, but I don’t fall asleep right away. It takes me an hour to wind down anyway.

8 hours of me

That leaves me 8 hours of ME time. That, for me, is filled with things like gym, fun emails, social life stuff, movies and TV, as well as fun side hobbies.

The idea here is balance. For some, this has meant 14-hour workdays. For others (🙋‍♂️), this has meant less than 4-6 hour workdays. Sounds nice, but I was also dissatisfied with my work output. In hindsight, it became clear that it was because I wasn’t putting in the time necessary to make it happen.

If you haven’t already, try on 8-8-8 for your life and see how it feels.