(The full transcript of this episode can be found by scrolling to the bottom of this page (but please note it’s AI-generated so accuracy will vary)
Welcome to the first episode of The Tortoise - a podcast that digs deep into the power of slow.
I’m so excited to be back podcasting, and doubly excited to share with you the first full episode of The Tortoise. (If you missed it, we dropped a sneaky little preview episode earlier in the week, which you can take a listen to here, or in your favourite podcast app.)
Before I dive in though, just a quick bit of house-keeping. If you were a subscriber to The Slow Home Podcast (RIP) then you should see The Tortoise in your podcast app already, but if not, you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and wherever else you get good pod.
For now, episodes will be coming out monthly, and you will automatically receive them in your podcast app, as well as here on Substack. I’m not sure if I’ll email you every time a new episode drops, but wanted to make an exception today, because A) I want you to know that the new pod is here, and B) I’m too excited not to share!
So with that, let’s get into it.
The Topic: Is a four-day work week feasible?
This is a hot-button issue right now, as many companies around the world look to the results of a recent six-month four-day working week trial. Ben talks through his own experiment with trying to establish one, as well as the benefits and challenges of doing so as a self-employed person, while I put my idealist hat on and talk through a couple of interesting case studies.
We explore:
the amount of preparation that needs to go into establishing a four-day work week
whether the reported boost in productivity is more or less important than the boost in well-being of employees
how the four-day work week is being applied across different industries
why it’s not going to be a good fit for some types of work
why many of us feel we’re working longer hours now than years ago
the likelihood that people will use their ‘day off’ to build a side hustle or get a second (or third) job
the role capitalism plays in the perception of laziness as more people push for a shorter working week.
The Reflection: Hobbies and why it’s good to suck at them
Two things sparked this episode’s reflection. The first was an article I read a couple of weeks ago about the joy of being bad at something, and the second was the conversation that happened in our Friday Confab chat when I shared a quote by Tricia Hersey, founded of The Nap Ministry.
“Being booked and busy is not a flex to me. Being relaxed and aligned and living in leisure with hobbies you don’t monetise is a flex to me. Y’all be proud of overworking and constant labour. It makes no sense.”
I have some experience with monetising my hobbies (both on purpose and accidentally) so we spend some time exploring that, as well as:
how do we classify hobbies?
do we need to try and improve at them?
does improvement make the hobby more or less enjoyable?
what happens when we turn a hobby into an income?
In short, we discover that it’s harder than we think to separate productivity from leisure, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!
The Check-In: This month’s 1%
As I mentioned in Episode 0 and the final ep of The Slow Home Podcast, I’m also a few months in to my year-long experiment of the 1%. I give an update on this month’s efforts (I’m back working on my middle-grade novel) and Ben talks about his Japanese lessons as his current form of continual improvement.
The Links
If you’re new here, hello! Thank you for joining us! Please feel free to subscribe to The Tortoise newsletter. That way you’ll never miss an episode, and will receive a free slow-living letter in your inbox most Fridays.
Here’s a list of relevant links discussed in today’s episode. If I’ve forgotten any, please let me know in the comments:
Labor and Greens senators back four-day work week — The Guardian
The joy of mediocrity: We need hobbies, even if we’re bad at them, to free us from perfection — The Guardian
The four-day work week seems impossible - so why is it working? ABC News
On keeping a logbook — Austin Kleon
What is the 1%? — The Tortoise
Listen to the final-ever episode of The Slow Home Podcast here or on your favourite podcast app
Listen to Episode 0 of The Tortoise here or on your favourite podcast app
The full transcript of this episode can be found by scrolling to the bottom of this page (but please note it’s AI-generated so accuracy will vary)
And I think that’s it for the first episode of The Tortoise. I hope you enjoy it, and if you have any thoughts or suggestions, let us know in the comments.
I’ll be back tomorrow with your regular slow-living letter, but until then, take good care.
Brooke xx
The Four-Day Work Week: Episode 1